"SKRUM and its coaches reached an amazing landmark this month when they held a SKRUM coaching session at Entfubeni Primary School. Entfubeni is the 500th school to be introduced to the SKRUM Programme". At the last Swaziland Society AGM, SKRUM Trustee, Jeremy Dudman-Jones, was awarded a 600 GBP donation to support their work. Read the latest SKRUM Newsletter here.

Click on the poster for details of the concert being performed in Bedford on Saturday 11 May 2013. All proceeds go to the Swaziland Schools Project.

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Louis Mariette was born in Swaziland and our Chairman Ken Charles has known him since he was a child. Louis designs hats for the stars, has judged on ‘Britain’s Next Top Model’ and was seen commenting on hats on the BBC coverage of Ascot. Last year he ran the London Marathon and this year he climbed Kilimanjaro - all for the Childrens’ Trust. Read more about Louis on his website. We have permission to use his Kilimanjaro article for Focus, but with over 3,000 words plus many photographs it would take too much space so you can read the article here. Take a look and think about donating to the Children’s Trust.

On Friday 16 Nov 2012... 'before a crowd of thousands, 61-year-old Ellinah Wamukoya was consecrated as the first female Bishop of Swaziland and the first woman to enter the Anglican episcopate in Africa.'...It was 'a momentous occasion' Thabo Makgoba, archbishop of Cape Town, said, and a sign, perhaps, that his church (the Anglican Church of Southern Africa) was keeping pace with social change. ACSA joins the handful of churches

Read more: First Female Bishop in Swaziland

(Message from the Chairman). I am delighted to tell you that the Most Reverend Archbishop Emeritus Desmond Tutu has agreed to be the President of the Swaziland Schools Projects charity. He used to visit Swaziland when his children were attending school there in the bad old days of apartheid... More here swazilandschoolsprojects.org . Support them by buying their Christmas cards.

There’s a healthy democracy thriving down in the Low Veld, as shown by the 90% turnout of Member Group representatives of Swazi Indigenous Products who gathered on 19 July for their 4th Annual General Meeting. Aside from the normal business of receiving the Annual Report and the audited accounts, members also had good cause to celebrate their recent awards at the Rio+20 Climate Summit... The Quarterly Newssheet from Swazi Indigenous Products - August 2012. Download as .pdf

"It marked the proudest moment of her life when Sindile Mamba went on stage at the Awards Ceremony in Rio de Janeiro... to receive the Marie Aminata Khan Award, recognising the achievements of Swazi Indigenous Products (SIP) towards Women’s Empowerment." Read more in the Swazi Secrets latest Newsletter...

"I was born and raised in Swaziland and, even though I emigrated three decades ago, like a homing pigeon I make the journey back every year..."

Actor Richard E Grant was born in Swaziland and shares his enduring love of the country in this Daily Mail article
 

Jeremy Varcoe - Swaziland Society member, and UK Ambassador to Somalia 1987-89 - wrote a letter to the Times (March 8th 2012), marking this 70th Anniversary year of the BBC World Service. He praised its role in providing a trusted source of news in troubled areas of the world: "Yes, the World Service remains worth every penny of its comparatively small budget".

Member Bill Goldsworthy has produced a small booklet entitled Ghosts of the Lebombos. It features Van oordt, Lebombo Intelligence Scouts (both anglo boer war) hunting the southern lebombo, John Major of Palata. Then Siteki and North to Pikesti mountain and up to Lomahasha.

The 36 page booklet is free and can be ordered direct from Bill This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.  

From Swazi Observer, 2 Feb 2011

The Swaziland Society in England has donated a sum of 1,000 Pounds (about E10,720) to women incarcerated at Mawelawela Women's Correctional Institution. Commissioner of Correctional Services, Isaiah Mzuthini Ntsangase, presented the money to Officer in Charge Gabsile Manyatsi.