Strike

This Monday, Ashley and I left the house in the morning on
our way to catch public transportation which would bring us to our carepoint.
The day seemed normal, until we were stopped halfway to town by our teammate
Ben, who informed us that the Kumbi drivers were on strike. Knowing that we now
had to way to get to the carepoint, we decided to accompany Elisa to her
ministry locations. We walked to the market where she has made friends with the
ladies. After spending time at the market, we started making our way towards
the Hope House. We had’nt made it more than 15 yards up the street when the
street vendors suddenly started frantically packing their things and running
down the street. We were extremely surprised and confused by the occurrence and
tried to figure it out as we continued walking up the street. Less than two
minutes later a group of about 30 men came storming down the street, holding
sticks of some sort. As they passed by us they turned to us saying, “Hey, How
are you white people?� which the three of us found extremely strange. The rest
of the day was very alive and chaotic in the streets of Manzini. We passed many
police trucks driving through town full of machine gun armed officers. Knowing
the situations that we were involved with, and the stories that our teammates
came home with, I am so thankful to have God looking out for us, and to have
everyone home safe. We don’t know how long the strikes and riots will last, we
have heard anything from a day to a month. But because the majority of the
country relies on public transportation, it has a huge impact. The last time
that public was on strike was in 1995. It caused schools and businesses to shut
down for an entire month because there was no way for employees or customers to
get any place. So please pray for the situation here in Swaziland, for safety,
and a quick resolution.