Times Of Swaziland: SWAZILAND’S DOUBLE EDGED SWORD SWAZILAND’S DOUBLE EDGED SWORD ================================================================================ By Nontobeko Tshabalala on 02/12/2017 03:04:00 Come along December! As this silly season begins I took stock of my life and what has happened in it this year. The biggest thing has been the blessing to be able to travel (and discover that I quite dislike it. when will we be able to just appear in the places we want to visit without dealing with airport nonsense?) In being able to travel and see the little bit that I have seen of the world I have realised that the world is so big nebakitsi and this tiny country that we get to call home is truly among the best in the world. First of all we truly are a peaceful country – and it’s been said so much that it sounds cliché but its true. Peace matters and I’m not talking about a peace that passes understanding down in our hearts but I’m talking about the calm that is all around us. A calm which is difficult to appreciate until you realise how combative other countries are. My next thing is that we’re not a poor people. We’ve been told so consistently that we are that we began to believe it but no, not really. Kati ubohle alala etiko but there is a neighbourliness that doesn’t quite allow for us to be all the way within the dire straits. Other countries, the west in particular know poverty intimately. They can’t afford to own homes, they are in constant debilitating debt and they do not have the cushion of extended families that we do. Kute kunanisa shukela kamakhelwane, there is no emotional support system and that isolation from your larger community cannot be the foundation of why they think we need to be saved from a poverty they see. We have social ills that I would love for us to overcome, like when will Swazi men decide that they have had enough of gracing our newspapers with the latest attack on women. Cause the sooner that happens the better for us all. We need jobs, we need a government that works with longevity in the execution of its duties. Because it’s fair for the disgruntled among us to be that way because we need jobs, food security et al. After a trip I took earlier this year I remember making the observation that we need to define what poverty is for ourselves. I would love for us to be careful in how we phrase our criticism of this country, it cannot be through the gaze of foreigners.Ohho.