Grand Staff Ministries

It only took one trip to Swaziland for our hearts to be won by the precious children there whose lives have been ravaged as a result of HIV/AIDS.

Swaziland is a kingdom of about 1 million people. It has the highest incidence of AIDS in the world.

We were shocked by how few middle aged adults were living. Then stricken to learn that only one in ten children will live to be 35 years old.

The statistics were blows to our way of thinking. 11% of homesteads were led by children. Let that sink in. Try to picture it in a small town here in the States, perhaps where 1,000 homes grace the streets. Now imagine 110 of those homes having zero adults present. The parents aren't at work. They're not out of town for the weekend. They're dead. And the children fend for themselves.

That's just the homes--and I use the term lightly. It's usually a shack with sparse furnishings. It doesn't take into account the children who are living with relatives who don't want them. Aunts and uncles who are already strugging to feed their own children. Grandmothers, called gogos, who feel like has paid a dirty trick on them, for after raising their own children and expecting to be cared for in old age, they are now raising several grandchildren while grieving for those who have died. Often they're trying to keep the sick children alive with little food or medication.

Then there are the children who don't have a home at all. Some of them live in the streets and sell their bodies, steal what food they can find, and accept alcohol and drugs when it's available so they can numb the pain. Some of them live in the bush where there might be some berries for meager sustenance. If the police find them, often the children have scars from repeated beatings received before escaping abusive situations with adults who resented caring for them.

Many of these children can't attend school. Government schools charge tuition and require uniforms, so children left to their own devices don't have that luxury. Those who do attend school are often raped. Myth tells the infected adults that having sex with a virgin will cure the AIDS, so the cycle continues.

And these precious children think so little of their bodies and purity that they trade sexual favors for a ride on the school bus. Elementary students. Children who should be trying to decide who to invite to a birthday party instead of planning another funeral.

They don't dream of what they'll be when they grow up. Most don't expect to grow up. And they're right; without a miracle, this kingdom will be extinct within the next 16 years . . . or less.

Many pastors in Swaziland end up taking in these children. They try to find a way to send them to school, knowing that literacy and an education give them some hope of a future. They involve the children in their churches where they find adults who want to serve them instead of using them.

We partner with these trusted pastors so that we can find sponsors to help ensure the children will be able to attend school and eat regular meals.

And by the time we returned to visit the children again, we were delighted to find so many of them happily serving in their churches in the music, as interpreters, and with the younger children.