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Yebo Hampton
By Mark Bettle

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Nontokozo Dlamini is a recent graduate of Fundukuwela High School in Nkomazi, near Piggs Peak. She will be visiting Hampton for several weeks in May and June.

"A nineteen year old Swazi girl has been invited to visit Canada as a representative of the young people of Swaziland and to raise awareness of the problems of HIV/AIDS and poverty in Swaziland. The young girl is Nontokozo Dlamini who is a recent graduate of Fundukuwela High School in Nkomazi, near Piggs Peak. Her trip has been sponsored by the Hampton/Piggs Peak Partnership, an organization in Canada which supports Swaziland's goals to alleviate the effects of the HIV/AIDS pandemic."

These are the opening lines of a press release distributed to the media in Swaziland.

Nontokozo and John Lovett, our Canadian partner in Piggs Peak, will be arriving in Hampton May 14. During Nontokozo's six week visit she will be attending classes at Hampton High School as well as enjoying the graduation ceremony and the festivities around this exciting time in the life of a high school student.

Through all these experiences, Nontokozo should get a real sense of the life of a Canadian teenager. But Nontokozo is also a girl on a mission, and so while she is here, she is prepared to talk about her life, the challenges which she and other Swazi youth face, and what she has achieved in overcoming these challenges. She looks forward to meeting the people of Hampton and it is our intention to give Nontokozo the opportunity to speak on a number of occasions in the community, including a dinner in June and the unveiling of the Credo tribute to John Peters Humphrey on June 15.

John Lovett tells us "She is excited and enthusiastic about her visit and the role she will be playing. I do not think we could have chosen a better ambassador for Swaziland to visit Canada."

John has also prepared a short presentation on his own experiences of Swaziland and the problems which confront Swaziland and Africa. For those of you have been following this column and reading regular excerpts from John's reports, you will know that John is a compelling story-teller. We all look forward to meeting him, hearing his views on the situation in our twin community and learning more about what we can do to help.

In other news, we were excited to learn that Hampton High School's very own Achsah Walsh was recently awarded the 2008 New Brunswick Family and Community Volunteer Award (youth category). The award was presented by Social Development Minister Mary Schryer during a special ceremony in April.

As winner of the award, Achsah was able to donate $1,000 to a non-profit organization of her choice. We were thrilled that Achsah named the Hampton-Piggs Peak Partnership as the recipient of her award. Thank you very much, Achsah. We are all very proud of you.

To learn more about the partnership or make a donation to support one of the projects, visit www.hamptonpiggspeak.ca or contact Mark Bettle at 832-0003.