The Five Needs of Swaziland’s Manzini Diocese amid COVID-19 Crisis

In the one-page letter, Bishop José Luís acknowledges the role of information in curbing the spread of COVID-19, and has appealed for support to bring “vital messages and education into homes by providing radios and batteries in rural areas where there is none.”

“Social distance is essential to fight the virus and some families are crowded in a one room house,” the Bishop of Manzini has noted in his letter and appealed for support to build two-room houses.

“If you would like to support specifically one of the projects, please indicate the number of the appeal when making your donation,” the Bishop has clarified.

The 1.1-million-population country has confirmed at least 91 COVID-19 cases, 10 recoveries and 1 death.

On April 22, the Eswatini government retracted the easing down of lockdown regulations, after COVID-19 cases soared from 16 to 32. The partial lockdown instituted on March 27 was extended to May 7.

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To keep the faithful  in the country spiritually nourished amid the pandemic that has kept them away from attending Public Mass, Bishop José Luís shares “One Minute Gospel” preaching, on Sundays, on his Facebook page.

On his part, the Consolata Kenyan-born Missionary, Fr. Francis Onyango together with his confrere at Sts. Peter and Paul Parish, Eswatini, has pinned names of the parishioners on the parish benches in a way, he says, will make them feel not forgotten even as they miss public Mass.

The country, which borders Mozambique and South Africa has a 5 percent Catholic population, spread across 17 parishes that make up Manzini diocese. The diocese is under the ecclesiastical province of Johannesburg in South Africa, and falls under the Southern African Catholic Bishops’ Conference (SACBC).