Our most asked question....and the answer. :)

The question I am asked the most is: “So when are you moving to Swaziland?” This simple question makes perfect sense but the answer is not so simple. I often respond by saying, “When we get our budget raised.” However, I am finding that most people don’t really understand what that means. I think they get that we need money to buy food and rent a place to live, but aren’t really clear what else is involved. After all, isn’t it much less expensive to live in Africa!

Imagine all of the expenses related to running your household, not any extras just the basic things. Then add to that the cost of education for your children because that is not free in Swaziland. When you’re thinking of the basics don’t forget everything from health insurance to toilet paper. Think of everything. Once you have that in mind, think of the expenses related to running the daily operations of your office, a ministry, or nonprofit organization. Things like office supplies and gasoline to get to places of ministry.

There are the one-time expenses like flights to the field and flights home three years later (there are six of us- btw). The cost of setting up a home and shipping stuff to the field is also included in our budget. There are deposits, visa fees, etc. The mission we are a part of is so helpful and gives such great assistance. WE ARE SO THANKFUL FOR THE TEAM WE ARE A PART OF! They have our back and we know that. They help us keep our costs down, but even with their help our monthly budget is substantial. The cash budget is also substantial.

We have to raise all of this before we go to the field and for our first term we go for three years. So we have to find people who are willing to partner with us monthly for 3 years and how ever long it takes us to raise the budget. This can be hard because for some folks a monthly commitment for that long is hard to imagine. The quicker we get people to come on board as monthly supporters and get the cash budget raised the sooner we get to the field. The benefit of that is that less money is wasted itinerating and less time wasted before we get feet on the ground meeting the need.

So people often ask next what our greatest need is. My answer is daily prayer warriors and monthly partners. We need people who will come along side us and through our Missions organization support us monthly starting now. We need people who will hold us up in prayer daily.

I hope this answers the question and I would be happy to discuss it further with you if you have any more questions.
Randy Freeman (follow me)
www.lifeforswaziland.com