{"id":1299,"date":"2010-09-27T14:16:24","date_gmt":"2010-09-27T19:16:24","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/kickert.info\/blog\/2010\/09\/27\/organizations-in-swaziland\/"},"modified":"2010-09-27T14:16:24","modified_gmt":"2010-09-27T19:16:24","slug":"organizations-in-swaziland","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/kickert.info\/blog\/2010\/09\/27\/organizations-in-swaziland\/","title":{"rendered":"Organizations in Swaziland"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Last week I shared with you that after nearly 3 years of research and planning, <a href=\"http:\/\/beth.kickert.info\">Beth<\/a> and I <a href=\"http:\/\/kickert.info\/blog\/2010\/09\/23\/swaziland-the-decision\/\">accepted a position at Cabrini Ministries<\/a> in Swaziland.&#160; While we are very confident in our decision, we would remiss if we did not mention that there are countless other great organizations in Swaziland all doing great work.&#160; I wanted to list a few of them in hopes that our research can be helpful to others who may make a similar journey:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Bulembu<\/strong> \u2013 This organization is truly doing holistic ministry: everything from infrastructure to orphan care to community enterprise to education.&#160; The location in northwest Swaziland is beautiful and the people there are very committed to the vision of creating a sustainable community.&#160; Bold vision with the drive to get things done.&#160; <a href=\"http:\/\/www.bulembu.org\">www.bulembu.org<\/a> <\/li>\n<li><strong>Sifundanzi Primary<\/strong> \u2013 The first school we visited during our trip.&#160; This charter school has governmental ties and subtle Christian influences.&#160; The headmaster was kind enough to show us around the school while the children enjoyed a field day.&#160; A highly regarded institution by everyone we met. <a href=\"http:\/\/www.state.gov\/m\/a\/os\/1344.htm\">http:\/\/www.state.gov\/m\/a\/os\/1344.htm<\/a> <\/li>\n<li><strong>Usutu Forest Primary<\/strong> \u2013 We headed from Mbabane to Mhlambanyatsi to meet with another charter school.&#160; Usutu Forest is of the same high caliber as Sifundzani, but seemed to be a bit more laid back.&#160; We did meet one of the King\u2019s daughters there.&#160; <a href=\"http:\/\/www.usutuprimary.ac.sz\/index.php\">http:\/\/www.usutuprimary.ac.sz\/index.php<\/a> <\/li>\n<li><strong>Hawane Farm \/ Lighthouse Ministries \/ Teen Challenge \/ Potter&#8217;s Wheel Church \u2013 <\/strong>Jon and Jude Skinner were two of the first people we connected with (via email) in Swaziland.&#160; They now help run the Hawane farm which provides practical training for recovering youth in the Teen Challenge program and also provides residential care for orphans.&#160; These are all affiliated with Kevin Ward who runs the The Potter&#8217;s Wheel Church.&#160; <a href=\"http:\/\/www.swazitc.com\/\">http:\/\/www.swazitc.com\/<\/a><\/li>\n<li><strong>Sandra Lee Centre<\/strong> \u2013 This orphanage tucked away into a wooded section of Mbabane is doing some great stuff.&#160; They run several orphan homes on site where up to 8 kids have a \u201chome mother\u201d who raises them.&#160; Right now between 30 and 40 kids live at the Centre.&#160; Michael and Robin, who run the centre, are great people with great hearts.&#160; <a href=\"http:\/\/sandraleecentre.org\/\">http:\/\/sandraleecentre.org\/<\/a> <\/li>\n<li><strong>Baylor AIDS Clinic<\/strong> \u2013 In a country where the AIDS rate is nearly 40%, there is a need for top notch medical facilities and Baylor Clinic fits that bill.&#160; Without doubt it is the highest regarded medical organization in the country.&#160; In addition to Pediatric AIDS work (their focus) they also have a youth program for HIV positive youth. <a href=\"http:\/\/bayloraids.org\/programs\/swaziland\">http:\/\/bayloraids.org\/programs\/swaziland<\/a>&#160; \/ <a href=\"http:\/\/swazilandteenclub.wordpress.com\">http:\/\/swazilandteenclub.wordpress.com<\/a><\/li>\n<li><strong>Claypotts<\/strong> \u2013 This foundation is run by <a href=\"http:\/\/kenjefferson.wordpress.com\/\">Ken Jefferson<\/a>, a Scottish Pastor.&#160; They supply funding to some of the most effective projects in the country.&#160; We only intended to spend a few hours at Claypotts, but Pastor Ken took time out of his busy schedule to show us projects across the whole country; he is definitely a good guy to know. <a href=\"http:\/\/www.claypotts.org\/\">http:\/\/www.claypotts.org\/<\/a><\/li>\n<li><strong>TechnoServe<\/strong> \u2013 There are a lot of large NGOs active in the country and many of them are doing great work.&#160; However, TechnoServe seems to rise to the top when it comes to providing big picture solutions for systematic problems.&#160; Their work focuses mainly on economic development through sound business practices.&#160; <a href=\"http:\/\/www.technoserve.org\/work-impact\/locations\/swaziland.html\">http:\/\/www.technoserve.org\/work-impact\/locations\/swaziland.html<\/a><\/li>\n<li><strong>All Out Africa<\/strong> \u2013 Not everyone is ready to commit 5-10 years to a 3rd world country.&#160; That is where places like All Out Africa come in.&#160; They provide 3-6 month voluntourism opportunities for people looking to get involved in local communities for short term projects.<a href=\"http:\/\/www.alloutafrica.com\/\">http:\/\/www.alloutafrica.com\/<\/a><\/li>\n<li><strong>Children\u2019s Cup<\/strong> \u2013 If you are looking for an evangelical mission organization doing good work in Swaziland, you must check out Children&#8217;s Cup.&#160; They primarily do their work through Neighborhood Care Points and are active across the country.&#160; Their director <a href=\"http:\/\/benrodgers.blogspot.com\/\">Ben Rodgers<\/a> is a great guy and shared sound very sound wisdom with us during our visit. We have also been fortunate enough to connect with <a href=\"http:\/\/www.markandkay.com\/\">Mark and Kay Bojovic<\/a>, two fine Christian missionaries.&#160; <a href=\"http:\/\/www.childrenscup.org\/v2\/\">http:\/\/www.childrenscup.org\/v2\/<\/a><\/li>\n<li><strong>PACT<\/strong> \u2013 Simply put, we would not have ended up at Cabrini Ministries if it was not for the wisdom of Todd Malone at PACT.&#160; This organization manages NGO funding and provides capacity building for groups on the ground.&#160; Todd, the director, has an excellent grasp of the situation in the country and how resources can best be used.&#160; He insisted we visit Cabrini and knew we would end up there well before we did.&#160; <a href=\"http:\/\/www.pactworld.org\/cs\/africa\/swaziland\">http:\/\/www.pactworld.org\/cs\/africa\/swaziland<\/a><\/li>\n<li><strong>Caritas<\/strong> \u2013 This organization is affiliated and funded by the Catholic church with their main emphasis on social justice and empowerment.&#160; They are involved in many areas of Swazi society with a strong history of practical faith.&#160; <a href=\"http:\/\/www.caritas.org\/worldmap\/africa\/swaziland.html\">http:\/\/www.caritas.org\/worldmap\/africa\/swaziland.html<\/a><\/li>\n<li><strong>UNISWA<\/strong> \u2013 During our time in the country we were able to visit the University of Swaziland.&#160; While not an academic powerhouse by any means, it is certainly an institute of higher learning and is ground in the local community.&#160; I would certainly be interested in pursing the possibility of teaching in their Religion and Theology department in the future.<a href=\"http:\/\/www.uniswa.sz\/\">http:\/\/www.uniswa.sz\/<\/a><\/li>\n<li><strong>Swaziland Skills Centres<\/strong> \u2013 The Manzini Industrial Skills Centre, which we visited, is one of three institutes that comprise the Swaziland Skills Centres.&#160; These trade schools take youth who are on the fringe of society and offer them practical skills from auto repair to construction to upholstery, etc.&#160; <a href=\"http:\/\/www.gov.sz\/default.aspx?pid=1685&amp;stepid=1&amp;oid=1692\">http:\/\/www.gov.sz\/default.aspx?pid=1685&amp;stepid=1&amp;oid=1692<\/a><\/li>\n<li><strong>Moya Center<\/strong> \u2013 This small organization is run by Jane Cox and serves the youth in the Malkerns \/ Mahlanya.&#160; They are active in a wide variety of projects for Orphaned and Vulnerable Children.&#160; Their work with education and life skills training is particularly noteworthy.&#160; <a href=\"http:\/\/www.moya.co.sz\/\">http:\/\/www.moya.co.sz\/<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>In addition to the groups we visited there are several other organizations that are active and highly regarded in Swaziland:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Adventures in Missions<\/strong> \u2013 Similar in approach and function to Children&#8217;s Cup.&#160; We tried to meet up with Jumbo who oversees operations in the country, but unfortunately we could never make it happen.&#160; <a href=\"http:\/\/www.adventures.org\/a\/centers\/swaziland\/\">http:\/\/www.adventures.org\/a\/centers\/swaziland\/<\/a><\/li>\n<li><strong>Waterford UWC<\/strong> \u2013 Widely regarded as the best secondary school in Swaziland.&#160; It comes from the <a href=\"http:\/\/www.uwc.org\/\">United World College<\/a> tradition and provides its students with great cross-cultural experiences. <a href=\"http:\/\/www.waterford.sz\/\">http:\/\/www.waterford.sz\/<\/a><\/li>\n<li><strong>Gone Rural<\/strong> \u2013 This organization sets the bar for hand crafts and rural empowerment.&#160; Their woven products are of the highest quality and provide local women the opportunity to earn a competitive wage.&#160; <a href=\"http:\/\/www.goneruralswazi.com\/\">http:\/\/www.goneruralswazi.com\/<\/a><\/li>\n<li><strong>International NGOs<\/strong> \u2013 Many of the large &quot;western&quot; NGOs are active in Swaziland such as: <a href=\"http:\/\/www.wvafrica.org\/index.php?option=com_content&amp;view=article&amp;id=153&amp;Itemid=170\">Word Vision<\/a>, <a href=\"http:\/\/www.clintonfoundation.org\/what-we-do\/clinton-hiv-aids-initiative\/\">Clinton Foundation<\/a>, <a href=\"http:\/\/www.unicef.org\/swaziland\/\">UNICEF<\/a>, <a href=\"http:\/\/www.undp.org.sz\/\">UNDP<\/a>, <a href=\"http:\/\/www.sos-childrensvillages.org\/Where-we-help\/Africa\/Swaziland\/Pages\/default.aspx\">SOS Children&#8217;s Villages<\/a>, etc.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>There are probably another 20-30 organizations that we either researched or communicated with in preparation for our trip.&#160; Just because they are not listed here does not mean they are not doing good work; many did work outside our skill set or were unreachable by email.<\/p>\n<p>If you found this blog post while researching organizations in Swaziland, please feel free to contact me if you have any questions: <a href=\"mailto:ben.kickert@gmail.com\">ben.kickert@gmail.com<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Last week I shared with you that after nearly 3 years of research and planning, Beth and I accepted a position at Cabrini Ministries in Swaziland.&#160; While we are very confident in our decision, we would remiss if we did not mention that there are countless other great organizations in Swaziland all doing great work.&#160; [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[140],"tags":[589,326,551,616,614,580,582,613,283,612,615],"class_list":["post-1299","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-swaziland","tag-aids","tag-bulembu","tag-economics","tag-faith-based-organizations","tag-foundations","tag-hawane","tag-ngos","tag-orphanages","tag-orphans","tag-schools","tag-un"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/kickert.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1299","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/kickert.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/kickert.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/kickert.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/kickert.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1299"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/kickert.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1299\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/kickert.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1299"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/kickert.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1299"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/kickert.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1299"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}