Eswatini

He returned to Eswatini in September 1920 and settled at a village called Mahamba, where he and his wife had both attended the same primary school.

He began his work by teaching his neighbors. Two years later, at the suggestion of I. B. Burton, a worker in the Zulu Mission Field, his wife began to teach the children of the village in the evenings in their home. At first they had only five pupils, but soon the attendance increased.

However, their evangelistic work met with prejudice. Hlubi was accused of being an agent for Whites, and there was much opposition to his establishing a regular school in the neighborhood. Nevertheless, when he approached the local chief for a reservation of land for a school and assured him that no alienation was intended, and that the school property would remain under the chief’s control, the chief, an acquaintance of his family, granted his request. However, funds were not immediately available for a schoolhouse.

Sometime later J. R. Campbell, superintendent of the neighboring Transvaal-Delagoa Mission, who had visited Swaziland, recommended that some money be allocated for a proper building.

This was done, and Hlubi, making his own bricks, proceeded to erect the school. Soon after it was opened the school became so overcrowded that Hlubi and his wife requested a third teacher.

They learned that the parents of the children appreciated the Bible lessons the children related at home.
The Hlubis named the school Mahamba. It continued to grow, until by 1964 it had become a standard 6-level school with seven teachers and had received government recognition. It is now called Mbukwane.

Through the years Hlubi held Bible studies and conducted evangelistic meetings in surrounding villages. The first convert was a woman whose husband bitterly opposed and persecuted her, but who himself later became an SDA.

The first SDA church was organized on the school site, which continues to be one of the largest SDA centers in Swaziland.
E. G. Dube, a Bible worker, worked tirelessly for the royal family. Her work resulted in an organized church at Lozitha Royal Residence that in 1993 had a membership of 105. Most of these members belong to the royal family, including the queen mother, who is a Seventh-day Adventist.

The school at Mbukwane developed into a high school. Phongolwana school also grew from standard 2 to standard 5. Two additional primary schools have been started at Hlushwana and Vulamelho (Timbutini).

The Makhosini, Nhlangano, and Lozitha companies were organized when J. M. Dube was field president in 1987.
A dental clinic was opened in Mbabne in 1977 by Dr. and Mrs. Young. After they left, Dr. and Mrs. R. Delding served the clinic. Dr. and Mrs. Reinhold not only spent several years serving the clinic but also operated a mobile clinic. The dental clinic was closed when they left in 1991.

In 1984 Dr. Eric Bergman, an ophthalmologist from Loma Linda University, developed the first eye clinic in the country. For five years Dr. and Mrs. Val Franklin worked in the eye clinic. When they left in 1992, a village chapel had been erected as a result of the clinic’s evangelistic outreach. In April 1992 Dr. Urban Negre, Jr., a Filipino, was called to continue the work. He pioneered Revelation seminars in Eswatini.