Earlier this week we met the Mayor of Siteki, Norman Sigwane. He popped in for a visit with his pastor in the hope that we might help some of the people in his community. We are hoping to visit his community next week to see what we can do.
Today Norman told us that the King was opening a new water project in Siteki. The project is a 23 million litre water treatment plant that will bring portable water to the Siteki township and some surrounding areas. We thought we might head down and have a sticky beak. When we called the mayor to ask him what time the King would be arriving he asked us to be his guests. Okey dokey! So we headed to the local sports field and to our surprise this was actually a HUGE event.
We were ushered to front row seats and took in all the cultural dancing and entertainment. Sitting next to us was a lady from the Ministry of Health as well as the royal photographer. Chris as you can imagine was slightly excited about the photographer! After comparing whose lens was bigger and better and Canon vs Nikon, he invited Chris to join him up close in taking photos of the royal entourage. This was such a blessing and an amazing opportunity for Chris as protocols prohibit just anyone taking random ‘royal’ photos.
After all the formal speeches the chiefs of the area gave the King 8 cows as a gift of thanks. Culturally the King then feeds the people. This was amazing as all of us including school children and community members were fed…..not with the cows (phew! no blood shed today thanks) but a banquet of chicken, meat, fish, vegies and yes even ice cream and cake!
We even got to sit with the Minister of Health along with some of his team (I am sure this may come in useful one day). I think they’ll remember us. Why? Because we swapped business cards and Chris pulled out his trusty red foam balls and provided some magical table entertainment. 🙂
During the celebrations, the King caught our eyes, smiled and waved at us! We waved back. It was a surreal and memorable moment.
Today we were honoured to be guests. One day we will be buddies… he just doesn’t know it yet 😉
