Sunday, December 21, 2008

Merry Christmas from Swaziland

Daran is back in Swaziland after a fund raising trip for several weeks in the States. Many thanks to everyone in Maryland, Pennsylvania, Virginia, Louisiana, North Carolina, Missouri, Illinois, and Arizona who helped make the trip a success. We couldn’t have done it with out your prayers, organizing meetings and invitations. Thanks again for all your help!

As we approach our fourth Christmas here in Swaziland, we also want to express our deep gratitude for the thoughts, prayers and support from everyone back in the States. A peaceful and joyous Christmas to everyone.

We are also celebrating our 20th wedding anniversary on the 23rd. As an old friend of ours used to quip “We’ve enjoyed every second of it.” Honestly, as anyone knows, marriage is hard work. We’ve both had a lot of growing up to do over the years. We’ve been blessed with four wonderful children who despite our best efforts, have still turned out to be pretty neat, and committed to Jesus.

We are blessed!

With wishes for a wonderful New Year, God Bless!

Daran, Teresa, Gabrielle, Danielle, Nathanael, & Joelle

Saturday, December 20, 2008

Thobile - December 2008

I saw Thobile just a couple of weeks ago. She is looking good, even though she is still very thin. The daily injections that she receives for TB must be extremely uncomfortable, however, she doesn’t complain. When I asked her if they were painful, she said no, amazingly! She will be finished with injections in February. At that time, she can return to school. Her care giver is already asking about school fees and transport fees for her when she is able to start back to school. We continue to help her with transport fees on a monthly basis for going to the TB clinic for her injections. Her mother has stopped taking her ARV’s for herself. She was not keeping up with the doses, that is the reason we got someone else to help with Thobile to make sure she receives all of her meds correctly.

Thobile is growing taller, so all of her trousers are too short. Her care giver has been asking for clothes for her for a while. Nathan and Joelle both went thru their clothes and pulled out the ones that they could no longer wear and we gave 2 big bags of clothes, shoes, and some toys and stuffed animals to her for Christmas. It is a blessing to be able to bless someone else who is in need!

Please pray about helping us this next year with Thobile’s school and transport fees. A donation of $30 a month would help a great deal for us to be able to provide these things for this precious little girl!

Monday, December 08, 2008

Kaiser Daily HIV/AIDS Report

This article spells out some of the current HIV problems in Swaziland. Our response to these problems will help mitigate their impact on children, the most vulnerable segment of the population. CHIPS - a pediatric HIV care management system and Kudvumisa Glass both target vulnerable groups in Swaziland.