Simangele Mmema, principal of Kholwane primary school in rural Swaziland, had to close her school early for the year after it ran out of food and water, a result of the country’s financial crisis.
- [Erin Conway-Smith/GlobalPost]

Kholwane primary school in rural Swaziland has a shortage of desks, and broken chairs, but no budget for new ones. The school was forced to close early for the year because it had run out of food and water, a result of the country’s financial crisis.
- [Erin Conway-Smith/GlobalPost]

Students at Kholwane primary school in rural Swaziland. This school closed early for the year because it had run out of food and water, a result of the country’s financial crisis, and some of the students were collapsing from hunger at morning assemblies.
- [Erin Conway-Smith/GlobalPost]

Swaziland’s King Mswati III is building a new conference center for visiting dignitaries, located next to one of his palaces. Construction continues despite his country being in a financial crisis.
- [Erin Conway-Smith/GlobalPost]

A Grade 6 social studies textbook teaches students about Swaziland royalty: “King Mswati III is the head of state of Swaziland. He has political power,” the book says. “Queen Elizabeth II is the United Kingdom's head of state. She has no political power.”
- [Erin Conway-Smith/GlobalPost]

Swaziland's King Mswati III delivers a speech during the launch of a campaign calling for his male subjects to get circumcised to curb the spread of HIV infection, on July 15, 2011, in Mankayane. Swaziland has the world's highest HIV rate of infection; one in four adults are affected in the kingdom of nearly 1.2 million. The US-funded circumcision campaign aims to snip 80 percent of Swazi males aged 14 to 49 within a year, with the hope of averting 90,000 new infections and save the health system millions of dollars over the next decade.
- [Jinty Jackson/AFP/Getty Images]

Sibongile Mazibuko is president of the Swaziland National Association of Teachers. At a union meeting, she told cheering teachers and principals that revolution will come to Swaziland like it did in North Africa.
- [Erin Conway-Smith/GlobalPost]