In 2006 Partners in Action began its work in Eswatini by partnering with Challenge Ministries Swaziland to help them acquire and transform the once abandoned mining town of Bulembu into a haven of hope for orphaned and vulnerable children (“OVC’s”). At the time, the country had an estimated 120,000 OVC’s. Our goal was to rebuild Bulembu to care for 2,000 OVC’s in family-style care. But we quickly realized that meeting this monumental goal would still fall short of 118,000 children who still needed our help.
So in 2008, Challenge Ministries Swaziland began planting rural community sites, with a mission to place help within walking distance of every OVC in the nation.
Churches form the center point for our community sites. They are the central point of meeting for the community and offer a space for evangelism and discipleship on the weekends and in gatherings throughout the week. Our pastors go through a minimum of 2 years of theological training and before being placed in a community site.
Our community sites include the construction of a kindergarten school. Orphaned and Vulnerable Children are then provided with sponsorships to attend the school. The average child graduating from one of our community site kindergarten's is educationally and developmentally 2 - 3 years ahead of other children entering local elementary schools.
Each community site has a team of approximately 30 volunteers who are trained in First Aid and public health practices. They are also trained on identifying child-led homes, elderly in need, and unsafe members of the community. Through these teams, we are able to offer over 7,200 home visits to rural families in need, bringing needy families, orphaned children, and the elderly clean water and emergency meals.
Emergency meals are a critical component in the fight for Eswatini. Not only is good nutrition a basic need of every human, but it is also a core component in the battle against HIV/AIDS. Antiretrovirals, the medication taken to prevent the onset of AIDS, must be taken on a full stomach. So in the country with the highest HIV rate in the world, ensuring that people are fed and therefore, able to take their medication, helps us increase life expectancy and thereby reduce the rate at which the orphan population is growing.
Our holistic community development model, referred to as “ICBC” which stands for In the Community, By the Community, is our most effective method of deploying sustainable locally empowered solutions to rural Eswatini. ICBC was birthed out of an effort to stand against the mind-set of dependency upon aid organizations. At its heart is the desire for church and ministry plants to be established in the rural areas by the people that live there. We have seen how establishing a church plant alongside a local Pastor, with a heart after God and a love for his people, is gradually giving those rural communities much-needed hope for a sustainable future. We has a vision to see 60 ICBCs planted throughout Eswatini. The ICBC vision seeks to serve those most in need, in the most deprived areas of Eswatini bringing healthcare, education and assistance to their community, and putting hope within walking distance of every rural orphaned and vulnerable child in the nation.
To reach the entire country and transform the nation within a single generation, we need your help. If you are interested in bringing hope to destitute rural communities in Eswatini, please reach out and let us know. Here are some examples of partnership opportunities that we have seen bring incredible impact to our rural community sites:
Church Twining – Make one of our community sites a “sister church” of yours, and journey together to see each other’s communities transformed
Agriculture Impact – Help plow a farming family’s field and triple their average annual income
Sponsor a Child – Give a child the opportunity to go to Kindergarten and watch as they grow
Drill a Well – Give an entire community access to clean drinking water
Solar Power – Help bring electricity to an isolated community
