Mission Report: Swaziland: February 2009

Fr. Thomas Euteneuer, February 21-26, 2009

The first and most important thing to know about the Kingdom of Swaziland, as it is officially called, is that it conforms so little to any measure of Western ways or customs. One has to accept that reality in order to be able to minister to a culture that is so radically different in mentality and practices. With this as background, I joined Mr. Emil Hagamu, HLI's Regional Coordinator for English-speaking Africa, on a week-long trip to Swaziland at the end of February. It was Mr. Hagamu's second trip to the country of one million souls.

This small, round patch of a country is immersed inside the larger country of South Africa and achieved its independence in 1968 when the British insisted on the sovereignty of this ethnic group as a single country. The Swazis are united by a single culture and one language (called SiSwati), with a small portion of their people representing tiny ethnic minorities. Basically, however, they are one people united under one ruler, an absolute monarch, which may seem strange in the modern day, but it is a system of governance that has satisfied them since time immemorial. They seem in no real rush to change it, although there are movements to increase democratic participation in the political process. Democracy doesn't get very far though when the monarchy owns all mechanisms of government, 60% of the land and much of the industry in the country.

THE CAUSE OF LIFE IN SWAZILAND

One does not need to convince the Swazis that abortion is an abominable crime. They already have laws against it, and as far as I can see, they try to enforce their laws. Like all cultures that have not been subjected to 40 or more years of feminist propaganda, the idea of killing a baby is just abhorrent to them. They know nothing of "freedom of choice," "women's right to choose," "sexual and reproductive

King Mswati III of Swaziland.

health" and "gender justice," to name a few of the slogans that corrupt westerners throw around with their dollars. I asked a group of young people gathered for a seminar on Peace and Justice if the SiSwati language had any equivalent to these words. Nothing at all.

That question drove home my point to the young people that when they see these terms in documents and conferences, they must immediately recognize them as part of a Western abortion agenda which is being forced upon them by the white supremacists who work out of offices in New York, London, Washington and Brussels. How they took that message with gratitude! Indeed, the very week I was in their country they had a visit from a high official of the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) who was sent down to make sure they were faithfully implementing their agreed-upon quotas for population reduction.

THE HIV-AIDS EPIDEMIC AND THE ANTI-LIFE OPPORTUNISTS

The very sad part of the southern African social situation is the literal epidemic of HIV-AIDS that will not be driven out. The irony of the population-reducing UNFPA official's visit is that if

Condom billboards are everywhere in Swaziland. This one touts the message, "Pride yourself by being protected."

there is any country that should NOT be lowering its birth and fertility rates, it is Swaziland, which has the highest rate of HIV infection in the world. Yes, the epidemic has supposedly affected a whopping 42.6% of the Swazi population (Ministry of Health numbers), which has occasioned a precipitous fall in the life expectancy rate of the average Swazi-a shocking 32 years of age. There is no logic to pumping birth control into a country whose fertile population and life expectancy is so dramatically decreasing that they are likely to fall into an absolute population implosion in the next decade if something is not done about it soon. The Family Life Association of Swaziland (or FLAS) is the main purveyor of the anti-life messaging in the country. This organization is, not surprisingly, the local Planned Parenthood (IPPF) affiliate, and they slavishly follow the IPPF dogma like the perfect little ideological robots that they are. They are the ones that are the leading force for the indoctrination of the youth with condom propaganda further putting them at risk for transmission of the disease through promiscuous lifestyles. I constantly called them the Family Limitation Association of Swaziland, for that is the more appropriate term! This got a lot of laughs out of my audiences while I was there because it brought home a truth that all recognized.

THE CONSTITUTIONAL QUESTION

The Swazis that I spoke to all week seemed to be utterly unaware that the anti-life lobby had surreptitiously snuck into their new Constitution (2006) the most radical abortion permissions of any African country other than their neighbor, South Africa. When I mentioned that their Constitution permitted abortion for virtually any and every reason, no one believed me until I showed them the document. As plain as day, the legal language permitting abortion was shocking in its breadth and reasoning. They all thought that abortion was against the law. Yet, once the legal framework for abortion-on-demand was inserted into the Constitution, the change will come with a simple lawsuit by FLAS or any "aggrieved" party making a legal challenge because the judges will have to declare those laws unconstitutional. Sound familiar? Yes, it's simply Roe v. Wade, African-style.

Section 15 of the Constitution is called "Protection of right to life" but does anything but protect life! Here is the language from point 5 of that section, so that you can judge for yourself how extreme it is:

Fr. Thomas Euteneuer with the Rt. Rev. Bishop Louis Ncamiso Ndlovu of Manzini, Swaziland.

(5) Abortion is unlawful but may be allowed -

a. On medical or therapeutic grounds including where a doctor certifies that:

i. Continued pregnancy will endanger the life or constitute a serious threat to the physical health of the woman;

ii. Continued pregnancy will constitute a serious threat to the mental health of the woman;

iii. There is serious risk that the child will suffer from physical or mental defect of such a nature that the child will be irreparably seriously handicapped;

b. Where the pregnancy resulted from rape, incest or unlawful sexual intercourse with a mentally retarded female; or

c. On such grounds as Parliament may prescribe.

Note that any abortion requires only the certification of one doctor without even so much as a gestational limit placed on it. The loophole to drive a truck through is, of course, the provision that abortions can be performed for "threat to the mental health of the woman," which means absolutely any reason whatsoever. Basically, then, the new Swaziland Constitution gives this truly life-loving country one of the most extreme legal frameworks for abortion of any country in the world-and no one seems to know about it!

TILLING THE SOIL AND PLANTING PRO-LIFE SEEDS

Mr. Hagamu and I were hosted by the Salesian Fathers in the main city of Manzini where Fr. Larry McDonnell went above and beyond the call of duty to make every resource available to us for travel, meals and

Fr. Euteneuer speaking to the senior boys of the Salesian High School.

lodging. My favorite part of the week was a talk to about 100 of the senior boys of the Salesian High School, who listened very attentively and respectfully to my messages about abortion, male responsibility in relationships and the condom. Their questions were excellent, and they all laughed when I told them that the condom just destroys the marital act because it pits man against woman in a cat and mouse game where they each feel they have to "protect" themselves from the other. They all had to admit that this was the mixed message they were getting from their condomized culture. Of course you could see the despicable condom billboard everywhere, too.

We met with the local bishop, the Right Rev. Louis Ncamiso Ndlovu, and then with Mrs. Kangazile Dlamini of the Council of Swaziland Churches for discussions on these very items. Several other meetings with pro-life youth and potential leaders capped off our week, and on the Sunday I was there, I addressed two Masses that had more than 1,000 people in attendance-despite the terrible fertility rate, you should have seen all the kids from the Catholic families! (Catholics make up only about 6% of the Swazi population.)

LOOKING TO THE FUTURE

While Swaziland still retains a fairly high total fertility rate (3.3 children per family) the future of the country absolutely hangs in the balance due to the HIV situation and the clear and present danger of the new Constitution. If they are not vigilant and forceful in their defense of life, they will become just another notch on IPPF's gun handle of those who have capitulated to the logic of the culture of death.

Mr. Hagamu and I went to Swaziland to plant the seeds of the pro-life movement there. We left with the assured hope that they have a core group of good people that will work for this end and help to keep their already pro-life culture free from the infection of the culture of death. Please pray that this beautiful but suffering people will keep their deep pro-life culture strong.