World Cup Mania

The World Cup has finally arrived! We've been hearing about this event for months, even years. And Friday the continent kicked off a month of celebrations. We are hearing vuvuzelas in our sleep and constantly planning out where we are going to watch the next game. Many local restaurants have set up big screens, and a local park put up a big screen for opening night.

But admist the revelry and excitement, life goes on for the people of Swaziland. By that I mean, they get sick, and they don't all make it. We suffered the loss of one of our clinic's favorite children last week; her grandmother was commited to this child's life despite her inability to walk or talk after having had TB meningitis last year. Even as she lay dying in front of my eyes, knowing I had nothing left to offer this child, her grandmother remembered how she was now learning to wave again and beginning to say some words.

So last Friday I spent the afternoon at a prayer vigil at this child's house, then rushed to a celebration of the second half of the opening World cup game. Saturday morning at 530 I attended the burial of this child; the service began in the dark at the homestead and as the sun rose the crowd emerged from the constructed tent and headed to the family graveyard, a few hundred meters away from the house. I admired the strength of this grandmother as she buried her grandchild, having buried two of her own grown children, including this child's mother, in the past two years.

And then, I watched the England-USA match, cheering and yelling amongst an international crowd of Americans, Brits, Swazis and more. This country is full of extremes. My experience here, on a daily basis, is full of extremes. It is the intensity of life that magnifies the highs and the lows. As I go to work tomorrow, worrying about which hospitalized child will no longer be there, I look forward to my weekend, my World Cup extravaganza. So look for me at the games (Argentina v. South Korea, USA v. Slovenia and Denmark v. Cameroon), and share both the lows and the highs of life in Africa.