Day 3-070
Day totals: 16 hrs, 18 .2 kms

I have one more touristy thing to do here in Swaziland: go to the national museum.

It starts out with some of the typical displays about the wildlife and traditional Swazi dress. But it's the section about Swaziland's interaction with the colonial powers that intrigues me the most. The obvious question is, how did the Swazis manage to get their own country while hardly any other African tribes did? Well, one major reason is that the Swazis picked the winning team. They sided with the British, even if it meant fighting other tribes... on behalf of the British. Great Britain awarded their loyalty by helping them stay somewhat independent.

Hmmm...

Swaziland was occupied by the Boers for just a couple of years. And the Boers wasted no time in trying to humliate the Swazis. One very troubling picture shows a game of chess being played with real people . All the "important" pieces were Boers... all the pawns were Swazis.

Kind of summarizes how Europeans felt about Africa...

Swaziland got chopped up with the better lands being allocated to the white farmers. But afterwards the Swazis systematically bought back their land, until they got most of it back.

It strikes me that Swaziland and Lesotho are a glimpse of what Africa would look like if nations had been allowed to grow organically like they did in Europe... tribes gradually evolving into independent nations--or multiple tribes joining together to form a federation. Over generations that sense of tribal loyalty would have been transferred to a national loyalty, making these countries strong and united.

Instead, the colonial powers created artificial barriers that had no meaning to the native population, thus creating weak governments with divided people with little sense of national identity .

For all their faults, I like the way Lesotho and Swaziland have turned out. Its a wistful glimpse at the Africa that could've been...

Swaziland's Capital

Next on my "to do" list is, of course, visit the country's capital. My expectations aren't very high... and no, not a lot to see here. The downtown consists of a couple of shopping malls. But then you walk 3 blocks in any direction and you feel like you're in a hilly rural village.

I figure I'll just go ahead and walk from here back to Ezulwini, following the busy road as it wind down the mountain. On the way I pass the Baha'i School, and figure I should stop by to see what's it's about. So far on this trip I've visited a church, a mosque, a Hare Krishna temple and learned about traditional Swazi beliefs. Why not learn a bit more about the Baha'is? I have great memories of the Bahai gardens in Haifa ...

The security guard takes me inside. The principal of the school is giving a test, but he says if I wait a little he can show me around. He's a very serious, but friendly fellow who was raised in the Baha'i faith. He tells me how the Baha'i faith was brought by missionaries and has a small community here in the country. They run private schools that receive some government funding. Some of the Evangelical Christian churches aren't happy with that though.

"We don't feel our contradict traditional Swazi beliefs--we also believe it's important to be connected with our ancestors... However, we believe cultures need to evolve. Equality for women is important to us."

I had the impression that the Baha'i faith is a universalist faith--that you can be both a Baha'i and a Christian or a Muslim. But he tells me differently. "Each revelation builds on the previous one. We believe that we need to hold on to the latest revelation."

I thank him for his time and continue on my way. I'm a little disappointed. I think there are enough religions that teach "we're right and everyone else is wrong..." I was thinking that the Baha'is, like the Hare Krishna are different... I'll have to look into it some more.

I continue on my hike to Ezulwini, past a big convention center being built... a Qatari embassy (?) and a very modern business park. Clearly Swaziland has some ambitious plans... the question is, are they going to improve the quality of life for the common folks...