Helping the children and women of Swaziland affected by the HIV/AIDS pandemic.

Lomngeletjane Memorial Methodist Primary School is the newest Methodist School in Swaziland.  It started because of the vision and passion of the former Chief Lomngeletjane, a Methodist and now deceased, and a few people who live in the area.  This school is in a very rural, very poor area of Swaziland.  There are many orphaned and vulnerable (extremely poor) children in the area that could not go to the closest school because it was too far away for them to walk to and/or they didn’t have the means to pay the school fees.   Construction of the school started in 2007.  In 2008, the first four-classroom was finished and a team from Round Rock, TX came to build a perimeter fence with the assistance of parents and community members.  Construction was also started on a building that would serve as a head teacher’s office, storage for food and building materials.  It also has a large veranda to cook under.  In 2009, two four-hole pit latrines were built for the students and a 2 bedroom teachers house was constructed.  Two teams from the United States, one from New Olreans, LA and the other from Nashville, TN came in the summer of 2009 they painted the latrines, dug for the foundation, planted trees, repainted window and door frames in the first classroom building, and did a variety of other small projects.

The school opened in January, 2009, which is the start of the school year in Swaziland.  It started with grades 1 – 3.  In 2010 the school increased to having grades 1 – 4.  There are 112 students now attending school.  Sixty-nine of these students (61.6%) are registered with the government as being a single or double orphan (one or both parents have passed away) or vulnerable meaning they are extremely poor.

The goal for 2010 is to build a second four-classroom building so that the students in grade 4 this year will be able to move into grade 5 in January, 2011.  The cost of this four-classroom building is anticipated to cost approximately $45,000.  In May, 2010 a team from Lake Charles, LA came and dug the foundation and laid the slab for this building.