Eswatini Part Four – Sala Kahle with Love, Eswatini

We love making new friends...Facebooktwitterpinterestmail Please share us with yours!

Sawubona friends! Glad to see you came for another visit. It's been another great week in Eswatini! I've spent more time admiring the beautiful nature, watching the unique animals, and I got to visit the MTN Bushfire festival as well.


The festival was a lot of fun, full of people from all over the world who came together to celebrate just how unique people can be. There was music, theater, art, poetry, and so much more! I even got to see some pretty unique crafts, like a giant walking lion puppet! Rawr!

I spent most of my time there visiting the Schools' Festival, a place where kids from different schools around the country got together to share their creativity. There were performances like singing and dancing. A big part of the Schools' Festival is helping kids learn how to work together and how to unite, to create positive social change. How can you and your friends get together to make your world a better place?

Mtn Bushfire Schools' Festival 2016-All photos and video in this blog courtesy of MTN Bushfire. Photos taken by Alicia Carter, Bram Lammers and Sydellewillowsmith.

There was an area at the festival called "The Barn", where people would talk about things like health, taking care of the environment, and treating yourself and others well. It was filled with many creative people and everyone seemed to have something wonderful to say. What a great gathering of minds!   

After that, Qiyana and Itembe showed me an area at the MTN Bushfire festival that was dedicated to families. They really enjoy this area of the festival because it gives them a chance to explore art, theater and music together. It is so much fun to do things with your family, and that also helps create a strong family bond. Strong family bonds help when someone in the family needs help because then everyone feels motivated to unite to help that person. We aren't just our own bodies, we're everything we interact with!

I also got to visit the KidZone, an area of the festival just for kids where they can play and be creative, and face unique challenges in special activities. There were even a couple of rides! I had to be careful that my long claws didn't rip anything though!

Video above showcases quick highlight of KidsZone festivities.

The festival has done many great things since it started in 2006. The profits it has generated has helped the following local organizations in so many important ways:

Even better, the festival has brought people together in the spirit of unity, to enjoy art and music, and to discuss ways they can work together to make their community a better place.


All photos and video in this blog courtesy of MTN Bushfire.


If you want to help Eswatini, 
you can travel there to volunteer when you are older, but most of my friends are a too young for that just yet. For now friends, you can help Eswatini by celebrating the Bushfire festival every day, wherever you are, "bringing your fire" by expressing yourself and being passionate about making the best of the world right where you are! Be creative, be excited, be loving, be adventurous, and be yourself! Practice accepting others and being okay with those who are different from you. See what you can do to bring people together and help Mother Earth! Like this six year old girl from California, U.S.A. who is helping Mother Earth by creating and posting signs around her neighborhood to take better care of the community. No matter what age you are or where you live, you can find your special way of helping too! 


I'd like to take a special moment to thank the 
Kingdom of Eswatini Tourism Board for all of their help with my travels through their beautiful country! Also, another thank you to MTN Bushfire, for letting us share their amazing pictures and videos of this year's festivities in this blog. Ngiyabonga!

Below is a video provided by MTN Bushfire with some highlights from the festival this year, enjoy!

Thanks for joining me on my adventures in Eswatini! I've had a great time meeting my new friends and all the friendly people here! Hope you get to visit and see it for yourself one day.

Viracocha joined me at the end of the Bushfire festival to see how I enjoyed my visit and gave me clues about my next secret destination. I am so excited! This country:

  • is home to over 100 volcanoes,

  • handball is the country's national sport,

  • and it's one of the last places in the world to be settled by humans.

Have fun trying to guess where I am going next and stay tuned for more...

Sala kahle and have a great week friends!

-Joy Sun Bear

joysunbear
Author: joysunbear

We love making new friends...Facebooktwitterpinterestmail Please share us with yours!

1 thought on “Eswatini Part Four – Sala Kahle with Love, Eswatini”

  1. Wow I never knew about this festival! So interesting, thanks for sharing! <3

Comments are closed.