CHIPS
Expansion
We have
expanded into several new communities recently and our medical outreach
staff of HIV counselors and nurse is working hard to test and help
everyone. We found them last week on the side of the road testing the
road workers in the area. The next day we went with them to a
cattle dip tank where the farmers bring their cattle to run them
through the water that is treated with tick, fly and parasite
medicine. It is mostly men that gather at the dip tank before the
sun even rises. So our staff go and set up the mobile clinic and
gazebos and the men line up to test. Where the ladies are present
in the communities, the men will not test. So we thought it was
pretty clever of them to go to the dip tank to get the men to test!
Section 19 Sewing Group & Bible Study
Teresa's Bible
study with the ladies at Section 19 is going well! She is enjoying
teaching them and getting to know them! They sit on the porch of
one of the cement block one-room flats and sing, worship and pray
together! They are a special blessing to her! Our staff is
also growing in the Lord. A few months back, we had a ministry
team come from Kentucky that really spoke into their lives and
encouraged them! We have seen some growth in them spiritually
since then.
The sewing
with the ladies in 19 is an on-going project. They are still
making the bags that our Australian volunteer taught them to do.
She had to leave because she became ill. Through this journey of
her illness, God brought her to Him. She has accepted the Lord
and is now making preparations to come back on her own to work with us
again in February! Now she will come back not only to work with
the women to sew, but to grow in the Lord with them! She was
diagnosed with an illness while she was here. It was God ordained
that she was diagnosed here and found Him through these terrible
circumstances! She has now gone home, gotten the medical,
emotional and spiritual help that she needed and is ready to come back
and be an advocate for women! She wants to share her story and
start support groups! We believe that she will make an awesome
impact on our projects here!
Thanksgiving in Swaziland
We will be
hosting the third annual American Thanksgiving in Swaziland again here
at our house in Mbabane. It is a great time of sharing and
fellowship for us as we get to share a wonderful American tradition of
showing thanks with a lot of wonderful people, who just like us, will
be far away from their families in the US. We are searching for turkeys
even now!
Prayer and
Specific Need Requests
- Ever thought of
serving on the mission field? We need help in a
multitude of areas: HIV outreach, economic development, medical,
admin, business as ministry, training.......
- Pray for the CHIPS staff: to
be a light and a true witness to Christ's compassion to the poor
and helpless:
Jabulani,
Mary, Hlobsile, Sabelo, Mduduzi, Lungile, Joyleen, and Norman.
- a 1000L
fuel trailer (the van that Rotary donated
requires low sulfur diesel which is only available an hour
away from our office) for $2000.
- the HIV
program funding covers operations through March
2015. We are seeking God's direction and provision for April
and beyond. With current staffing, the annual budget is $100,000
- we are at almost 20% of the funds needed for
purchasing the property we've earmarked for a clinic, business and
ministry center!
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