Swazi Airport and a Note on Aid

We arrived in the Kingdom of Swaziland today 🙂 ! After 36 hours of travel, we reached the Swazi airport and were greeted by a beautiful sunset and a cool breeze. As we walked into Manzini’s recently renovated airport, we saw three large photos on the main wall: One of His Majesty King Mswati III, one of Her Majesty Queen Mother Ntombi, and the last of His Excellency the Prime Minister of Swaziland- Dr. Barnabas Sibusiso Dlamini. I was surprised to see a picture of the Prime Minister because I was under the impression that Swaziland—the last remaining absolute monarchy in Africa— did not have a parliamentary system. Clearly, I was underestimating the complexity of Swaziland’s political system! (I will be writing a post on Swazi politics to better explain this).

I didn’t even have to leave the airport to realize how kind-hearted and friendly Swazi people are. As I was going through customs, the airport official taught me some Siswati words and gave me a map of the country. So, now I can say Sawubona (Hello) and Ngiyabonga (Thank you) 🙂

While we were waiting for the rest of our group, another airport official approached Katie and I and asked us what we were doing in Swaziland. We told her that we would be volunteering, but she did not seem satisfied with this answer. “What exactly are you doing?” she asked, out of curiosity. We explained that we would be interns at SOS Children’s Village in Mbabane and would be working with the “mothers” at the organization, but she still wanted more— “…but will you only be there to play with the children and spend time with the mothers? Or will you be providing some resources?” She seemed somewhat disappointed when we told her that we had not brought any resources with us. However, when we clarified that our work was based on research and program assessment, she got excited again: “Ohh, so you will write a report about the organization’s needs, send it to your country, and they will provide the resources!”

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[Incidentally, the novel that I am currently reading (“El Amor en los Tiempos del Colera”) has a very interesting passage that might help me articulate the contradictions of aid. In the book, affluent Doctor Juvenal Urbino and his wife fly across an extremely poor Colombian village on their modern hot air balloon. As they soar over the river, Fermina Daza literally starts to throw food, clothes and medicine to hundreds of naked children who begin to dive into the water in order to rescue the resources that the “beautiful woman with the feathered hat” is tossing. ]

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The conversation with the airport officer in Swaziland immediately reminded me of the complexities of development work. Of course, we do not simply want to “throw” food or resources at people from a hot air balloon like Fermina Daza. We must avoid replicating colonial models of aid by which a “wealthy” person with a feathered hat supplies the “least advantaged.” Above all, we must deconstruct the power dynamics and assumptions that underlie these models of aid. And by “we” I mean everyone – from the kids in the river to the privileged people riding the hot air balloon.

On the other hand, we also need to acknowledge that basic goods are necessary and, in some cases, urgent. The woman at the airport made it clear that resources are highly needed in some parts of Swaziland, especially because the political environment in the nation is not particularly conducive for aid (international institutions and developed nations are often deterred from supplying aid to so-called “non-democratic” nations.)

This got me thinking: to what extent are observation and research truly helpful when basic resources are scarce? Is there a way to balance participatory development and aid?

Hopefully, I will be able to further reflect on these questions as I begin my work at SOS Children’s Village Mbabane and get more familiar with Swazi society.