First Week

 On Sunday we attended service at Joy Church on the Emanuel Wesleyan Bible College campus.

 To enter, just like at stores, we received hand-sanitizer and a temperature check of our wrist/hand. 

Everyone sat spread out for social distance. 

The mission campus is at the top of the hill

Masking is taken very seriously here when in public, a group, stores, and even vehicles. 

The music was great and like Haitian churches, too loud for our ears.

It was interesting to listen to the worship leaders translate for themselves, frequenly changing back and forth in the middle of a sentence.

Thankfully the Pastor preached in English and a second gentleman translated as it was easier for our tired jet-lag brains to focus on one person.

We've been to town a few times this week: getting new SIM cards so our phones can work and use internet; shopping; and enjoyed a meal at Little India with the Cheney family. 

We're also learning our way around the campus.

One of the better mangos on campus

After receiving a tour of the main developed part of the mission property, Cory is encouraged by the agricultural potential of the land, although only a small part of the 120 acres is fenced well enough to keep grazing animals out. 

The undeveloped property tour will also be guided. Unlike Haiti, there is wildlife to learn about and avoid, like venomous snakes. "Be careful, the birds come to eat fruit, and snakes come to eat the birds."

 We are enjoying some of the mission mangos, but the season is almost done and they aren't high-quality varieties.

A macadamia tree is loaded with immature nuts, several varieties of citrus are doing fairly well, Avocado trees look good, one large avocado tree looks the healthiest Cory has ever seen (benefiting from a nearby house) and is blooming.

Guava, papaya, Java plum, and a grape that tastes and looks like 'Concord' are also producing well.

A garden area close to our apartment was rented this year and planted to corn and squash. Both mostly failed due to lack of fertilizer. the soil there is sandy and gravelly but light, soft, and the weeds growing well, so it may just need better management for soil fertility.

The supermarket has a good selection of local and South African produce at low to moderate prices.

At a hardware store Cory saw 110 pound bags of 6-9-6 fertilizer with zinc that seemed expensive at $40.

Neglected, failing corn and squash in a garden
 someone rented from the mission.

Gardens and fruit trees seem rather rare, at least within sight of the roads we have driven. 

The corn gardens are the most common and most of them look excellent this year, unlike the photo here from on campus.

Tomorrow we plan to head into Manzini for Covid tests before heading for a long weekend with the Crofts to visit Kruger National Park. 

We borrowed several books and are reading up on our African animals and birds to prepare for the trip.