May Update

link to newsletter:  http://eepurl.com/yU7SX

LSU Tailgate Party (for everyone in or around Baton Rouge)

Rotary District 6200 will be hosting a tailgate party at the LSU Tiger Stadium West Parking Lot this Saturday.  Center-folding the "Tailgating Party" will be a reminder of New Orleans's Rue Royal flanked on either side by Jackson Square and Cafe du Monde serving their famous beignets.  Bring tents, folding chairs, food and drinks to spend a fun day with RI President Tanaka. Let’s show him how we have fun in South Louisiana. Join the crowds under the BIG tent for music, football pools, Rotary Spirit and cooking contests, photos with RI President Tanaka, and lots of fun.
The Baton Rouge - Capital City Club will be sponsoring the "ROYAL BOOKSTORE / ART GALLERY." Rotarian and author/artist Jacques Royal introduces "LOUISIANA HISTORY AND HERITAGE at it's BEST" through his 4 bilingual (English & French) books, pen and ink drawings and photography. Take home autographed books, beautiful photographs, and limited edition prints of Louisiana Plantation Homes and French Castles (Chateaux).
Next door at "THE ROTARIAN", shop and wear T-Shirts designed by J. Royal. Browse through handmade bags and seed jewelry from Swaziland, Africa. Several young LSU art students will have a variety to choose from. JIMMIE JULES' JAZZ BAND from Reserve, La. will encourage foot stomping and dancing in the streets. The more money you drop in his buckets "JAZZIER" he will play.  100% of profits from sales at the capital City booth will go toward two projects:  ROTARY FOUNDATION HEART OF AMERICA SAVE SWAZILAND CHILDREN DONOR ADVISED FUND, which will purchase 4 acres and 30,000 sq. ft. of buildings to provide a medical clinic, community and jobs-training center and store fronts to lease for sustainability and locally the BATON ROUGE CENTER FOR WORLD AFFAIRS.

LSU Tiger Stadium West Parking Lot this Saturday
$20 per vehicle (no limit to occupants)
Party and contests from 2 PM to 6 PM

 

Favorite Verses

He redeemed us in order that the blessing given to Abraham might come to the Gentiles through Christ Jesus, so that by faith we might receive the promise of the Spirit.  Galatians 3:14
We are honored and privileged to be able to be here in Swaziland and do what we do.  We are thankful for the support and prayers of everyone who makes it possible.

Crawfish

We are catching about 17kg of fresh crawfish each week so far from the Mbuluzi River and from several ponds/dams in Tambankulu.  This has been with only 2 traps and minimal effort so far.  We are selling to Mountain Inn, Calabash and several private parties.  We are expecting this income to cover the cost of a full time nurse!  Our major limitation is our inability to process the live crawfish in Maphiveni.  The land we are waiting for an opportunity to purchase in Maphiveni would provide us a place to begin a business incubator where this and other business ideas could have an opportunity to develop an economy here in the lowveld and to also help fund the outreaches we operate.  Please consider donating towards the land purchase!  Follow this link to donate through PayPal or check: http://www.kudvumisafoundation.org/RDAF/HowToContribute.asp

Public-Private Partnership with SNAP

Our discussions with Swaziland National AIDS Programme under the Ministry of Health continues.  We purchased a lockable metal cabinet and an air conditioner unit for the CHIPS office in Tambankulu.  Storage of antiretrovirals requires a temperature controlled environment.  In the summer, it gets so hot in the office that the computers shut down; way too hot for the drugs.  Teresa is discussing the training and medical requirements with the Director of SNAP.  Our goal is to begin providing ARV refills locally to the HIV+ patients we currently transport 50 km.  Please agree with us for favor so this can happen as quickly as possible. We have budgeting challenges to overcome to be able to do this properly:  full time nurse (see crawfish above), the replacement van (Rotary grant process is in process), and a mobile clinic vehicle.

501c3

Kudvumisa Foundation USA Inc. was registered last year in July. We are still waiting on approval from the IRS on the 501c3 status.  So a published 90 day evaluation time was a little on the hopeful side.  But the good news is that applications put in a month before ours have now come through, so we should be really close!  This will change how we receive personal and project funds and make it more cost effective for us (smaller percentage going towards administrate fees, more towards the projects!).  We will announce this as soon as it it happens!

Prayer Requests

We met another young lady at the national TB Hospital while we were visiting Thobile who desperately needs prayer and encouragement.  Nomcebo is probably in her late twenties, has been receiving daily injections for TB for four years and has been basically incarcerated at the hospital for that long.  She  is tired.  She helped us in translating when we visited with Thobile and we had plenty of opportunity to pray with her.  But the daily and seemingly endless grind wears even the strongest down.  She has seen countless come in only to die (including Thobile).  Please join us in trusting God for healing in her disease racked body: restoring her lungs and strength to her legs.  Please join us in prayer for encouragement and strength in a dark place. Our God is a good God.  He only desires the best for us: to walk in healing He has already provided.  We sometimes fall so short and are passive instead of fighting for the things that are by right ours.