Swaziland, now renamed eSwatini, is the last absolute monarchy in Africa. King Mswati III has reigned since 1986. This beautiful country, about the size of Vermont, is home to about 1 million people. It’s surrounded by South Africa on the north, south, and west, and by Mozambique on the east.

They have the highest incidence of AIDS in the world. Because of the lowered immune defenses from that disease, they also have more tuberculosis than any other country. Although some organizations estimate about 26% of the population has HIV/AIDS today, experts in the country believe up to 50% have contracted the disease, but not all have been tested.

Young girls account for 40% of all new HIV infections. Almost 2/3 of all deaths in eSwatini are caused by HIV/AIDS. Almost half of all deaths of children five years and younger are caused by the disease. And more than 1/3 of tested pregnant women are HIV positive, leaving infants at high risk for the disease.

Because of HIV/AIDS, this country has the seventh lowest life expectancy in the world.

Polygamy is legal for men in eSwatini, which naturally increases the risk of contracting HIV/AIDS. Many times, when a man brings home a second wife, the first one abandons the family for another man, leaving the children with a woman who doesn’t love or want them. The sense of abandonment and rejection in the children is overwhelming.

Unwanted children are passed from homestead to homestead, often forced to become slaves to the adults who live there. They’re severely mistreated, physically and verbally abused, reminded daily that they are unwanted, except for what they might be able to do.

Huge numbers of girls are sexually abused and raped by fathers, grandfathers, and uncles. Since there are no shelters for women and children, the mothers and grandmothers remain silent while the girls are abused, simply because they have no place to go, no way to provide necessities like food and shelter.

When Grand Staff Ministries started serving in eSwatini in 2006, it was believed the people would become extinct by 2026. No other nation has ever survived with the ratio of children to adults this country was experiencing.

Yet here we are still watching God make a way for the precious children of eSwatini. He hears every cry of every child. And He answers—through His people.

Is He calling you to be His hands and heart for one of these children?

Children in eSwatini, Africa, are as vulnerable as ever.  Burying parents who have died with AIDS, being driven from homesteads of relatives who don’t want them, foraging for food in the forests, stealing food from street vendors, and worst of all, finding themselves victims of deceived individuals who believe that AIDS can be cured by relations with a virgin.

Even those who still live with a parent are exposed.  So many adults are sick or unemployed, and those fortunate enough to work usually make only a dollar a day.  The children suffer.

About 200,000 children have been stripped of their parents.  And 20% of the children in this kingdom fend for themselves with no adult present to feed them or send them to school. Why? No one will take them in, and if they leave the homestead, someone will steal that family land from the child.

In troubled times, education falls by the wayside.  Unsupervised, uneducated children fall prey to the behaviors that lead to disease and destruction.

If only given the opportunity, the priceless knowledge gained in a quality school could be the key to reversing poverty and giving a child hope.

Shepherd’s Staff Christian Primary School will have quality curriculum. Enough textbooks for each child. Great teacher-to-child ratios. Chapels. A lunch program. Art and music and physical education.

And God-loving teachers who will share God’s love for each child.

Will you help us make this school a reality?