Team Information and Philosophy of Ministry
Our mission
To provide short-term aid and long-term development to the kingdom of Eswatini in partnership with the emaSwati people.
Who we are
Comfort for Africa is an organization that was founded in 2009 as “Swaziland Relief.” We are a group of volunteers who are inspired by the love of God and moved by the needs in Eswatini to bring short-term aid and long-term relief to the emaSwati people. We are a grassroots organization working with the local church to pursue holistic solutions to the economic, social, and medical challenges facing Eswatini. We grew out of a partnership with Bridge Community, Vision of Missions of Philadelphia, PA and Christian Ministry Church in Eswatini. Comfort for Africa is a registered 501(c)(3). Since 2007, when the first summer team went to Eswatini, we have helped to build a church and a school, drilled a well, provided micro-loans, distributed containers of clothes, coats, shoes, and other supplies from our annual sea container, and brought mobile medical clinics to rural areas throughout the country.
History of Comfort for Africa
Our journey began in 2006, when a pastor from Eswatini approached Pastors Angelo Juliani and Van Moore with a proposition. He had travelled from Eswatini to Johannesburg, South Africa to speak with them as they ministered at a compound that included an orphanage, clinic, and church. The pastor shared the devastation that his country was experiencing with the highest HIV infection rate in the world, a declining population, and more than 80,000 AIDS orphans. With tears in his eyes he said to them, “This is what we need in Eswatini; we need a holistic approach that includes primary aid, clinics, and schools. Will you come help us?”
Pastors Juliani and Moore agreed to lead a team to Eswatini the following year. In the summer of 2007, a team of 50 Americans and South Africans arrived in Eswatini. The team went to Madudula, an impoverished rural village in northern Eswatini. About 3,000 people inhabit the nearby homesteads, which are an hour walk from the nearest paved road. The team erected a tent to house their clothing distribution, medical clinic, and nightly church services. After the team left, the tent continued to serve the community as a church.
The team returned to Philadelphia and worked to build an ongoing partnership with local pastors in the kingdom of Eswatini. From 2007 until 2019, Swaziland Relief (which changed its name to Comfort for Africa in 2018) brought a team to Eswatini every July. Gradually the field where the tent once stood transformed into a primary school with a hall that serves as a church. The school is now a complete primary school with grades 1-7. The first class of 7th graders graduated in 2017, with 100% of them passing and qualifying to move on to high school.
In 2017, Comfort for Africa called its first full-time missionaries to serve as the organization’s “boots on the ground” in Eswatini. After two years of training and support raising, Michael and Catharine Sander moved to Eswatini in January of 2019.
Comfort for Africa’s Philosophy of Ministry
Comfort for Africa is a faith-based volunteer organization committed to working alongside indigenous African leaders to evangelize and disciple the next generation of believers and to equip and empower them to overcome the many obstacles that they face.
As partners, we work alongside local churches and community leaders in the Kingdom of Eswatini and the Republic of South Africa. When the first team arrived in Eswatini, it was clear that only the church was able to make a difference in the lives of the orphans and others devastated by AIDS. As Americans coming in for a short period of time, our aim is to come alongside the local church as they help the people of Eswatini. While we come with compassion and resources, until 2019 we did not have any permanent presence in the country year-round. Thus, partnering with the local church has been vital to the success of our ministry.
Our missionaries in-country continue to partner with local churches. In Eswatini, we have a network of several like-minded churches with which we work. In South Africa, we are in partnership with Bridge Community Church in Ivory Park and Light Reformed Community Church in Pretoria. Bridge Community Church is pastored by Abednego Maluleke, who was our partner since the 2006 trip to South Africa. Light Reformed Community Church is pastored by Hulisani Ramantswana, who attended Bridge Community Church in Elkins Park with his family while he was a student at Westminster Theological Seminary.
We believe that whatever strengthens the church in Africa will help the people of Africa. Our partners are people who have demonstrated integrity, sacrificial love, and a deep desire to help their people. So when we are in their countries, we follow the lead of our church partners and their leaders. In the past they have asked us to hold medical clinics, bring containers full of clothes and supplies, build a school, drill a well, start churches, and strengthen existing churches. Each year we ask our partner churches how we can best assist their ministries, particularly in the area of mercy and outreach.
As Americans, we value immediate and dramatic impact. We want to do something that is tangible and which yields immediate and effective results according to our standards. It is a hard mindset to shed, but it is necessary that we do so. There is a saying in Eswatini: “kancane kancane” which literally translates as “small small” but which is better paraphrased “we make progress a little bit at a time.” Instead of asking ourselves every day what we would like to do to make ourselves feel as if we are making a difference, we need to listen to our emaSwati partners and do the things that will help them with the hard task that they have of living in a country with deep and ongoing needs. The guidelines in this manual all stem from this core philosophy and have been field-tested through over a decade of partnership.
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