Africa, Swaziland: My Introduction to Swaziland

I spent last week in Swaziland. It was my first ever trip to Africa. I was there getting to know the countryside, the people and a huge philanthropic initiative my Swazi-friends have taken on to help their local communities.

I flew to Johannesburg in South Africa and from there I was picked up by my friends and we drove five hours on a very good road to Mbabane, the capital of Swaziland.

I wasn't a tourist, so there were no safaris or other kinds of touristy things on my schedule. I was there to get acquainted with a grass roots level organisation, helping the communities in Swaziland in six centres situated in the main cities and in the rural area. I was there to see how I could share my leadership experience with community development and lend a fresh perspective to overseeing the organisational operations my friends have undertaken. This is what I have always wanted to do as a compassionate world traveler. Really practical application of compassionate action.

What I found was short of breathtaking:


The population of Swaziland is around one million mark in the country. Around 3.5 million Swazi-people are living on the South-African side in the immediate area to their country, all under the leadership of a king and his mother. I was touring with the best possible people so I had an opportunity to get an understanding of the Swazi culture from the inside.

I found it very fascinating and would recommend that a newcomer would take care and practice his/her cultural intelligence carefully by leaving their pre consisting attitudes behind and only after listening make judgements about the culture they encounter.

The Swazi-culture is dual in its every facet. There is the traditional tribal culture intertwined with the modern civilian laws which take some absorption to understand but in the end can make good sense. All Swazi-people love their King to bits, undivided.


Coming from Australia, I found it most fascinating that there is so much red rock and earth around. Iron ore is mined and transported in huge trucks to Mozambique for shipping to wherever it will be developed.


This looks so much like walking in the bush in the Australian outback.


There is plenty of scenic variation in the country from very high country to low lands. The huge lake in the previous picture is actually a dam that provides irrigation to a large highland region of the north Swaziland.


I met lots of local people. Here are some women from a women's group at the Kuphila (to have life) Centre at Mbombotha. They meet every Tuesday to produce whatever is decided as a weekly product for co-operative sale. Here with newly cooked floor polish that is used to protect and polish the concrete floors in their homes. Many other products are also produced from peanut butter to crocheted shoes.


Floor polish


Traditional crafts made from crass


Vaseline from Aloe Vera and shoes.


However, the most urgent need in Swaziland is to help the orphans, whose parents have died of AIDS to a better future. My friends help them on the crass roots level, directly in their local communities by feeding them daily, by education, activities and skilling.

Here is the coordinator at the Kuphila Centre at Emkhuzweni cooking what might be the only daily meal the vulnerable children and youth get in the area. There might be some adults there also.


These children really need your support. There are pre-schools that can take orphans in with other children. The term fee is around $50 AUS or €45. There are three terms in a school-year. Just email me on ejuusola@bigpond.net.au if you want information on how to directly support orphans in Swaziland through my consultancy's 'immediate relief fund'.


You can see this type of huts at every house in the country. They are used as dwellings but at least one is there for the family meetings. The attached roof is made from the ordinary crass that grows everywhere. The sun and the rain turns it black.


Here seen from the inside.


And here is the edge. It is really thick, about 30cms.


On the roadside, you may encounter local craft centers, where talented artists and other people sell their artworks and products. This man, for example has learned his trade from his grandfather and is now producing African animals carved from local wood and stone. He regularly attends national competitions and has won several prizes.


The roadside craft market at the north of Swaziland


At the chief's lands there are bush that can be turned into gardens to help with the food security of the community.


It is possible to grow crops also in winter, however, often the irrigation is a huge problem. Here, for example the irrigation could be lead from the nearby river, if there were some resources. My immediate relief fund can help you to support the gardening activity also. Just let me know by email and I will send more information.


Here is the recently built Mbombotha Centre, that has such potential for helping the people of the local community. A pre-school has already been founded and started here. But more needs to be done, especially by skilling youth and women to a better future.

There is space to expand to help orphans as well. Your direct support would be greatly appreciated in any form. Just let me know and I will be able to network with you about information. I can be befriended on LinkedIn as well.


This now an empty center was built by a Canadian person, who came here to help. She is gone now and the centre is idle but in prime condition. There are plans for its development as it would be ideal as an arts centre. Support is needed there, too.

Everywhere, I travel in Swaziland, I encounter huge possibilities and enormous need for co-operation with compassionate projects from abroad and such warmth from the local communities and especially my hosts, who coordinate voluntary teams that work in the communities, maybe only once a month. Lots of pastors are involved in the grass roots community work as is expected. My friends organisation for example provides skilling in how to psychologically manage the huge tasks taken on by direct voluntary or paid staff.


There are people who have developed very successful tourist businesses in Swaziland. The owners of this famous establishment came to visit the country and never left. Here they have a multi-purpose events area, an excellent restaurant, shops and tourist services under one roof, so to say.


Here is the restaurant where we had a fabulous meal.


In this area there will be a huge youth event just as I am leaving the country. Some wonderful craftsmanship and design ideas are used to create new environment for different purposes.


'Gone Rural' is one of the Swaziland's success stories in exporting high class designer items abroad. This is the local store right there.


The products are magnificent.


And the proof of the quality can be witnessed around the world in the most prestigious shops.


This is the Ematjeni Guest House courtyard. Such luxury is hard to find anywhere where the guests are so warmly and individually cared for. It is like being a visitor at someone's private home.


And here is the fabulous view, right from my window:


So, if you are planning a trip to Africa, why not plan on visiting Swaziland. You won't be disappointed. It will be interesting in a very wonderful way.

Next time around, I will do some 'touristy' things as well and see what more there is to offer. For now, I thank the compassionate people of Swaziland I have had a pleasure of getting to know and look forwards to my next visit there, which surely will be in an immediate future.
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USA, South Carolina, Greenville: A Very Special Kind of Scavenger Hunt

Be charmed by a visit to Greenville in South Carolina in the USA. This city has a special treat to offer for those on the hunt for fun activities for the whole family.

In 2000, Jimmy Ryan, a high school senior from the local area wanted to do something special for his community by designing and developing the famous Mice on Main Scavenger Hunt for little mouse sculptures inspired by the popular Children's book Goodnight Moon. He raised funds and worked with a sculptor Zan Wells who created the little mice in bronze. They can be found hidden along the Main St of Greenville where thousands of people come to find them.


According to what I was told, the city has done a lot in beautifying the Main Street and the local Falls Park. The partnership of Jimmy Ryan and Zan Wells now also includes a writer Linda Kelly who wrote a book about how the Mice on Main found their 'freedom' and 'sparkle' prompted by her grand daughter who wanted to know about how the mice found their places on the street.

The combined efforts of the city, the creator, the artists and the writer have certainly paid off with the popularity of the park and the hunt that fills the city with tourists on a nice autumn day. It can be said that the realization of one brilliant idea has really created value for the community of Greenville. We certainly enjoyed our day there.


There is lots of information to be found by just googling Mice on Main or the name of artists. They have created additional goodwill with little mice sculptures and special t-shirts. The proceeds from the book and the shirts go to a charity it the area.

So, it can be said that Greenville presents its compassion and friendliness for the community and the world in practice with a very charming front. I look forwards to visiting there again and recommend you to do the same.

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USA, Indianapolis, Indiana: Christmas Cheer at Eiteljorg Museum of American Indians and Western Art

If you ever think of visiting Indianapolis for family fun, you could choose the time when the Eiteljorg Museum of American Indians and Western Art is at its best. That would be in November and December, every year.

For the past three years, during the Christmas season, the museum has exhibited an ever expanding Model Trains and the American West section where the whole family can enjoy the joy of seeing many of the famous landmarks of the American West in 1:32 and 1:28 scale. What a fun thing to do!


The attendant, I interviewed about it said that the aim of the exhibition is to get families to the museum and also at the same time introduce them to the magnificent collection of Western Art exhibited at the Museum otherwise.

I can surely appreciate that it truly is magnificent. The best I have ever seen. It draws you and gives you insights to the way the American West was occupied by the white people. The art is absolutely fabulous.

I saw a painting which made me comment to the friend that I recognise the style. It is the Russian St Petersburg School of Art style which I have seen in my own country.

It tuned out that the painter was Russian. How marvelous was that. In fact there were two Russian style painters depicting the Western life. It soon became clear that it were the painters who were the true anthropologists of the West, preserving the lost Indian culture to the future generation.


The Christmas exhibition brings people from all over to the museum. Is makes around 50% of the total visitor numbers to the museum during the whole year.

For the compassionate world traveler, the museum is a gem. It reminds us of the times gone by and the commitment of some truly talented people who saw the future of the West and wanted to gift the pictures of the life in the past to the future generations.

Visiting the Museum makes you sad but also makes your heart sing to see the quality of care that has gone into presenting the artifacts and the art to the modern audience.

I warmly recommend the experience to everyone.

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Australia, Victoria; Be Inspired by the Changing Seasons in Melbourne

Recently, I went to Melbourne for a long weekend for work. Usually, up north in Queensland, we do not get to experience the seasonal change as those who live down there do. I was really inspired by the possibility of a walk along the streets, where I could spot the falling leaves of the front gardens and experience the coming winter in Australia.

Sometimes that is the only touristy thing a person who is travelling for work can expect to experience. There might not be time for going to museums or visiting the cultural monuments or events or anything else that might be recommended. While enjoying the services of a good hotel or a wonderful restaurant, it still could feel like there might be very little time to getting to know the place.

Taking an inspired stroll from the place of your conference, hotel or work could well be the only option available to you. So, instead of taking a taxi, why not walk. It cannot really be put down as exercise if it is leisurely but it could be said to be a touristy thing to do. Besides you get to know the location for when you go there again.

If you are from the northern hemisphere where you are used to Birch, Oak and Mable trees, walking the streets of Melbourne is a treat. They are everywhere. It is even possible to spot trees like in the Lapland tundra as some are grown in a very peculiar way. The other things to watch for are the roses in bloom. The whole walk will remind you of Europe, UK in particular with the small fenced off front gardens and flowerbeds.

While walking you can marvel of how much effort, compassion and dedication the ardent gardeners put into their small front gardens. It is a pleasure to find gardens are so dear to us and that often we try to replicate of what we have liked or know even tough living on the other side of the word to our original country of birth.

In Australia, it is a real effort to grow a tree that drinks so much from the ground where there is not so much water around. So, it is a pleasure to travel to Melbourne to see that clearly the trees we wouldn’t be able to grow up north thrive and the leaves fall just like on the other side of the world. Maybe just when it is spring in my birth country, but who cares anyway. This is the seasonal change in Australia we are talking about.

So, do it. It will be jolly good fun and healthy, besides. It is highly recommended!

Australia, Victoria: Visiting the Historical Town of Yackandandah

Australia is a huge place to tackle to visit on one go.

I have heard a few stories about how people who are not so familiar with the distances have asked their friends to give messages to other friends thinking that it is only a short way to travel from one capital city to another on the Australian continent. This kind of stories are a great amusement to the Australians who of course know that it takes days by a car or the train to travel between the largest cities and that it is not possible to know everybody from your ethnic background across the nation, not even if you live in the same city.

So, when my friend said to me that she had moved to Melbourne, I believed her to mean the CBD, or there abouts and said that of course, I'll come to visit. And true to my word, I hired a car, and started driving along the Hume Highway towards Sydney. It took me three hours to reach my destination. By that time, after seeing all the beautiful countryside along the way, I was quite intrigued by what I would find.



What a person will find is a very interesting scenic drive through a few of the most adorable little historical country towns that have become a very popular destination for tourists.

On a fine sunny day, we visited Yackandandah (forgot to ask the meaning of the name), a little historical town along a route of several other similar town. We found a lovely street full of shops, including a large Buddha shop, nice cafeteria and a very interesting Art Gallery. And I should not forget to mention the the organic store and bakery, which by the way bakes rye bread in the style I am familiar with from my Scandinavian heritage. Yum!




It will be worth your while driving around the place, absorbing some Australian autumn weather by walking up and down the main streets of the little towns, visiting interesting stores, parks and art galleries. At the same time it will give you an opportunity to remember the history of the Australian Gold Rush of the 19th Century that led to the building of these towns.

It will also be a compassionate act to help the local economy by finding some cool things to buy, like for example this nice leather case from b.sirius® for an iPad to keep it safe while writing the blogs about where you have been.




I most warmly recommend to anyone a few days holiday along the Victorian Historic Towns of Indigo Shire.
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Australia, Queensland, Logan; Local Library as Art

If you are truly interested in books, a library near your home would be the easiest, cheapest and the most accessible place to find them. Sometimes the library experience can also be inspirational to your senses. It can be true art.





Sharing of knowledge through the free libraries of the world can be looked on as an expression of compassion and kindness. It is wonderful how reading books, magazines and other materials that can be found there can help to make the world a better place by providing an outlet for easing everyday worries. Enjoying a moment of peace and quiet reading, listening or browsing amongst the treasures that can be found in any library can contribute to the general wellbeing of any community.





Many libraries also contain art or house various exhibitions that highlight the importance of knowledge. Some libraries are built on a theme. This is a case of the main library at Logan in Queensland, Australia. Curiously, the theme it shares with the clients is 'books'.





Being a great admire of books, I found that visiting this particular library inspired me to find thing about using books as art in other places, too. Throwing away old books is often a hard thing to do. Many find it difficult purely on the basis that it does contain information that can be useful. In this high technological age, where eBooks and eBook readers rule the world, finding additional use for old books is a kind thing to do. For people fond of libraries, visiting your nearest one with friends and children can open up a new world to you and the people around you.

Let's enjoy the libraries of the world and promote their usage as an compassionate act to everybody!

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Traveling the World with Compassionate Appreciation

Many people choose to travel the world in pursuit of great and famous sites and sights. I am much like that, also. But lately just traveling and sightseeing has not really been so attractive to me any more. What I want to do is to be challenged by what I see. I want to be immersed and fully participating in my travels. Otherwise, I feel the time is wasted.

I want to be able to tell a great compassion in action story. I want to be able to see something that really makes me think about what is special about the site where I visit. I also like to ponder about what it represents or how it relates to the transformation of human consciousness.

Many recommended famous places that are perused by visitors in thousands are great historical monuments dedicated to wars, fame and money. Genarally I am less interested in them.

I want to see the places and monuments that reflect compassionate actions. Something that has or is having a continuous effect in the changing human consciousness.

I am quite happy with small deeds. Lot's of small and less noticeable actions combined can contribute to the wellbeing of the humankind in a big way.

In the theory of apprehensive inquiry and strategic questioning it is determined that the questions have to be set up right to produce the desired results. It is better to start from the positive actions than try to fix the negative behavior. The positive strategic positioning will increase the positive result and outcomes.

This blog is my answer to the quest. It records where I have been searching. In the beginning I will go backward in time to the places I have already visited but will also collect new interesting places or stories in preparation for visiting more places.

I hope this will prove to be an enjoyable journey that will enhance our understanding of compassion in action. Please come again and enjoy!

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