Mother Bear

We had the privilege of taking Connie Parker, the wife of the American Ambassador to Swaziland, and Vanessa from the American Embassy to the Vuvulane area in eastrern side of Swaziland. The two areas that we visited are both squatter camps fit between breaks in trhe sugar cane fields here. Both are full of extremely impoverished people. Connie and Vanessa both said that these were the poorest areas that they had seen since being here in Swaziland. These are the areas that we will take the CHIPS program into next.
Connie and Vanessa are working with the Mother Bear project which provides beautiful hand made bears for children either affected or effected by HIV. These bears are all made using the same pattern, but all have the unique touch of their own individual makers. The bears are sent from the United States with love to bring comfort to these children.
We got many smiles and giggles from the children blessed by these bears. They were all very happy to receive the bears and we are very grateful to the women (and men) who made these bears and sent them to be a blessing to the children of Swaziland!
Accompanying us on the visit were Pastor La'Salette Duarte from Christian Family Church in Swaziland who works in this area, Lori (who took these wonderful pictures), and Jabulani, the CHIPS driver.
Thank you Connie and Vanessa, and the US Embassy for making this possible, as well as all of the people in the U.S. who made the bears! May God richly bless you all!

January Update

CHIPS

The CHIPS (Children’s HIV Intervention Program in Swaziland) is envisioned to be a way to help the 15,000 children in Swaziland who are HIV+ (age 0-14, 2005 estimate). A number we can assume has only increased since then. The goal of the program is to make the available health care accessible to these children and their caregivers.

Jabulani was hired and sent to training for HIV counseling last year. He began working in the Maphiveni community mid-December to generate awareness and help the community to start identifying children who would be candidates for testing. Through the end of January, 141 children and caregivers were transported to the Good Shepherd VCT Clinic in Siteki (84 children, 57 caregivers). Of these, 9 children and 28 caregivers tested positive. Two things to note: as our pre-screening of children improves, the percentage of HIV+ children taken for testing should improve; the second thing is the high percentage of caregivers that are positive. The percentages for adult HIV infection in Swaziland range from the mid twenties to the low forties, depending on whose numbers you choose to use. These high percentages are reflected in the high number of caregivers we are seeing that are positive. It also shows that PMCT (Prevention of Mother to Child Transmission) programs are showing some effectiveness in stopping HIV from being passed to more children (GOOD NEWS). We have chosen to continue to keep these caregivers in the program even though the children they are responsible for are not HIV+. It is essential to keep these caregivers healthy so they can actually care for these children. Swaziland does not need any more orphans!

Kudvumisa Glass Youth Skills Program

Few jobs, poor education, no dreams and nothing to look forward to are a potent mix for promiscuity, sex-for-food, HIV infection and a whole host of other destructive attitudes and behaviors. This is what a large segment of the youth in Swaziland (and for that matter southern Africa) have to look forward to.

We are continuing to develop the skills training program. The goal of the program is to help the youth develop healthy attitudes, uncover their God given talents, abilities and dreams, and develop business and entrepreneurial skills based on Biblical principles of management and finances. We are working with one young woman from Manzini now. She has spent almost a year working with glass etching and has developed a reasonable level of skill and technique. We hope to be able to expand the program to include more youth, classroom space and a computer lab this year.

With that in mind, we will need a teacher who can who can work in the classroom to teach the business and computer skills. So if you would want to invest some time in a project that can truly change lives and you have teaching skills, please pray about this! Of utmost importance is to disciple, teach and nurture a Swazi who can perform these tasks as well.

Family

Teresa is working with the Swaziland Breast Cancer Network (SBCN) to develop a treatment program for breast cancer in Swaziland from scratch (i.e., there is nothing here now). They are also hoping to start a cervical cancer program, again nothing exists here now for treatment (and very little in diagnosis). There is believed to be a high correlation between cervical cancer and HIV. Daran continues to preach at the Christian Family Church in Tambankulu under Pastor La’Salette Duarte. He has also received an invitation from a local church in Nkoyoyo. All the children are back in school, starting the new year. Gabby has started year one of the International Baccalaureate program while Danielle and Nathanael begin Form 3 (grade 9) at Waterford. Joelle begins grade 5 at Sifundzani Primary. They are all involved in church, soccer and various other sports at school.

We would ask that you pray for two things for us here (if God puts more on your heart, please be obedient): protection: physical and spiritual; and wisdom and discernment for the effective implementation of the programs we’ve started here.

Daran’s trip back to the States last year was a great success and we are grateful for everyone who helped make it one. He met many new friends who made him feel like family. As we look forward to funding requirements through the remainder of this year and into the next and we look at support from all sources (one-time and annual gifts, monthly support, stipend from SBCN), we still have a monthly shortfall of approximately $1000USD. We would ask that you share our ministry work and vision within your circle of friends and associates.

Blessings & Peace!

Daran & Teresa

Gabby, Danielle, Nate, & Joelle

www.AfricanLeadershipPartners.org

African Leadership Partners, Inc.

PO Box 994044

Redding, CA 96099-4044

"New" Bike for Banele

We gave Joelle’s old bike to the orphanage where Pepe and Banele are living now. Sandra, a friend of mine from Children's Cup, took the bike and had the brakes fixed, air in the tires, etc, to get it into good working condition. Banele has been asking for a bike for a while. We took it to him this past Sunday. It was a delight to watch all of the kids attempt to ride the bike. Sandra and I did not think about them never having the opportunity to learn to ride a bike before. They enjoyed chasing after each other on the bike, fighting over whose turn it was to ride, and posing for pictures with the bike. They sang for us, gave of lots of hugs, and smiles, and taught us how to play hand-clapping games. It was a pleasure to see them enjoying themselves with their new gift!

Pepe is going into grade 4. She did well the last term of grade 3, when she returned to school after being out for several years while she was fighting multiple pneumonias and TB. She is now healthy and strong, and happy! It was so comforting to see her smiling, talking, and playing! A year ago, she was not able to do any of these things. Banele has also improved greatly in this past year! He is healthy, strong, and happy, as well!

Children's HIV Intervention Program in Swaziland

Sorry I have not put anything out for a while. The holidays are over and we are back in full swing! The CHIPS program has started and is going well. We are concentrating now in the community of Maphiveni. As we work out all the procedures and protocols. we'll begin expanding into neighboring communities. Since our start up in December, we have taken 141 people, (children and caregivers) to be tested for HIV. Eighty-four of the 141 are children; the remaining are caregivers. Twenty-eight of the caregivers tested positive and nine of the children tested positive. We have been pleasantly surprised at the low number of positive children so far. The highest percentage of HIV+ people here in Swaziland are between the ages of 25-45. We believe it is very important to make HIV treatment for these caregivers accessible so that they live healthy and productive lives to be able to take care of the children under their care.

There is one little boy that touched my heart last week with his big swollen belly (ascites). He is very sick and his CD4 count is very low, which means that his immune system is very weak and he needs to start on treatment as soon as possible. Unfortunately, the machine to check the chemistries (blood work that shows kidney and liver function) has been broken for a month now. They are very hesitant to start them on treatment without this blood work. We have been transporting blood samples back to the city of Mbabane, where the blood can be tested.

I brought some samples in on Friday afternoon, to find out that they did not accept samples after noon on Fridays. I thought, oh, no, we do not need any delays for this little one. We had already drawn his blood the week before and the results got lost in the system, so we had to re-draw them and we had to stick him twice this time. All I could think was, surely we will not have to do it again! I took the blood to the private clinic lab and spoke to the manager, who I know from my work with the Breast Cancer Network. It just so happened that her husband is the one that is working on the machine in the hospital where we take them for treatment. She said he should have it working by next week. She also said that she would run the tests for us without charge and the results would be ready in one hour! I wanted to shout, “Praise the Lord!” God is good and He is in control, even when we feel very out of control!

I sent the results back down over the weekend and the boy, along with several others, should be starting on treatment soon! Please keep this program in your prayers, as we move forward. We are praying for God’s divine wisdom and guidance!

A Cruel Net

Ecclesiastes 9:12 (NIV)

12 Moreover, no man knows when his hour will come:
As fish are caught in a cruel net,
or birds are taken in a snare,
so men are trapped by evil times
that fall unexpectedly upon them.

Yesterday evening, our daughter and a friend were assaulted by two men wielding knifes as they walked to our house on a well traveled road. They demanded money and whatever they were carrying. Which amounted to about 10 Emalangeni, 2 cell phones, a pair of soccer boots and shin guards, and a back pack. Cars were driving by, unaware what was happening. They let them go and disappeared into the bush.

Gabby came to me later in evening distressed that if they had killed her, would she have gone to heaven. Now that's a very personal question (with history behind it that is not appropriate here), but it gave us a good opportunity to talk about God's love, grace, forgiveness, and faithfulness. That in spite of our weakness's and failures, God is still patient with us. And you haven't reached the "point of no return" if you still care if God loves you or not; or you are standing in front of Him in judgment.

So I ask for prayers for our family and especially our kids, that the attacks (spiritual & physical) we come under here will serve to grow us in faith and maturity and reliance on the one who is eternally faithful.

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 20^th wedding anniversary on the 23^rd. 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

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!

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.

Updates

Thobile is still getting daily injections (7 days a week)at the TB clinic and also taking a myriad of other tablets as well, which they give her at the TB clinic, since her mother can't be trusted to give them to her consistently. It costs R20 per day for transport to get her and her mother to the TB clinic. This ends up being at least R600 per month. She is also struggling to have enough food. She is too weak and the care point is too far for her to go there every day for food. So her mother goes to get food for her at the care point. I'm not really sure what they do on week ends when the care point is not open. She is also in need of some clothes. She is no longer going to school, because she is not strong enough. This TB treatment will have to continue for 6 to 9 months at the very least. This is a very difficult life that this young one lives, but she is just happy to be alive! Please continue to keep her in your prayers!

Lomansontfu went to south Africa last week. She had more scans done, and the doctor thinks that he may be able to remove the cyst soon. It seems that it is not as vascular as it was, and he was going to do a biopsy to confirm that it is ok to go ahead with surgery. He is waiting on a prosthesis for her jaw bone,which has been eaten away by the cyst. While they were waiting, she contracted a mild case of the measles, so he decided to wait to do the biopsy when she returns for surgery. She is now at home waiting. After the surgery is done, her jaw will be wired shut for a few weeks. Our daughter, Gabby is about to have some orthodonic surgery where her jaw will be shut with bands for 6 weeks. I would like to take her to see Lomansontfu so she will see and understand what it will be like with her jaw being wired shut, and that she isn't the only one!

Support Raising II

Daran is in the States now for four more weeks. He will be in Philadelphia, Baltimore, Washington, St. Louis, Phoenix, Baton Rouge, Raleigh, Birmingham, and in between. Please contact us if it would be possible for him to meet & share our ministry vision under African Leadership Partners! We know that given the current financial situation in the US that most would say this is the wrong time to be asking for support, but we know the God we serve and that He is able!

Swaziland Breast Cancer Network

I have been extremely busy this past month with the Swaziland Breast Cancer Network. We saw over 600 patients for breast exams in the month of October. We will do over 80 fine needle biopsies on Thursday this week 13th November. We will not know for a couple of weeks how many may be malignant. A pathologist from a South African private lab will come to do the biopsies. We are able to do lumpectomies and mastectomies here in Swaziland. One of the ladies that we got results back on this month is 29 years old and has a very large tumor. She was told that she would need a mastectomy. She is single with no children, I thought we would never see her again after telling her that news. I attempted to call her for about 2 weeks with no success. She is a student and has been busy with classes and also avoiding my phone calls. When I finally reached her I asked her to return to the next clinic so we could discuss her situation. She still didn't come for another week, so I was rather disappointed. Finally she called me back and said she would come to the clinic. That day I saw her sitting in the waiting area outside of the clinic, looking very worried and anxious. We called one of our counselors who is also a breast cancer survivor to come and speak with her. After talking with the counselor, who is also a Christian, and who also had breast cancer the first time at very young age, this young lady had a different outlook on her situation. She was now ready to go forward with the surgery. It was decided that she would be admitted as soon as her classes were finished in about a week. Once she was admitted and it was time to sign the consent for the surgery, we realized that she would not sign consent to have a blood transfusion, because she is Jehovah's Witness. I thought, what will we do with this? The doctors spoke with her about this and tried to convince her to sign for the possible transfusion. Finally, after another week, they decided to go ahead with the surgery, since her labs were OK and the risk was higher to leave her with this large tumor which was already spreading to her lymph nodes.
I received a missed call from her last Tuesday night, and I was unable to return her call until the next morning. When I heard her voice I knew everything was OK. She told me that she had her surgery the day before and she was doing well, and that God was with her because she didn't need the transfusion. I went to visit her the following day and she looked great! She was already doing her physical therapy exercises for her arm and she was still in good spirits. I told her that once she had healed some, we would give her a prosthesis. She said, "What" "What is that." I explained that it is a fake breast that she would wear in her bra. The only problem is that she never wore a bra before. I told her that she would have to get used to them. Praise God that He worked in this situation!
I hope to continue a relationship with her and encourage her along on her journey with breast cancer. Her next step will be to go to South Africa to receive chemotherapy, that is, if there is still money in the government fund to send her. Usually by this time of year, the government starts to run out of money for this fund. My hope is that we can start giving the chemo here in Swaziland soon enough that she can receive it here. We are now looking at our fund raising for this year to see if we have enough to purchase the biological safety cabinet needed to mix the chemotherapy drugs. Please pray for me that God will direct me and use me however He sees fit and that He will give me the wisdom necessary to see this project succeed!

Support Raising!!

We want to thank everyone who has supported us in the past for the work here in Swaziland. Our vision still remains the same: to help the hurting and to show them Jesus; Short Term Relief - Long Term Change. We especially want to thank everyone who has supported us in our transition from 'Cup to African Leadership Partners. The transition in ministry has been smooth; we have been able to begin ministering to children, women and youth through CHIPS pediatric HIV intervention, Swaziland Breast Cancer Network’s breast cancer clinics, and Kudvumisa Glass skills program.

Daran will be coming to the states from November 8th through December 10th to re-raise our support for personal needs as well as ministry projects. We need you to contact us and set up a time that he can meet with you while he is there. He would like to share our ministry goals, vision, and plan with as many small groups as possible, over coffee or tea - nothing fancy or pretentious: Please try to think of those that would be interested in coming and hearing about the ministry God has set before us here in Swaziland. If you are interested in helping us in this way, please email us and let us know. His tentative schedule is attached. It can be modified to accommodate your schedules, but we need to hear from you!

November 7 – 16 Maryland/Pennsylvania

November 17 – 23 Travel & visits between Maryland and Louisiana

November 24 – December 1 Louisiana

December 2 – 5 Travel & visits between LA and MD

December 6 – 10 Maryland

To paraphrase James: "you have not because you do not ask ..." So we are asking: we need your financial support!

The kids are still in school until the end of November. Gabby finishes exams and graduates before having an oral surgery November 27^th.

Again, we thank you for your ongoing prayers and support . We ask that you prayerfully consider joining us as we move forward. ALP's contact information is as follows:

African Leadership Partners, Inc.

P.O Box 994044

Redding, Ca 96099-4044

We look forward to hearing from you.

Best regards & God Bless!

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

Breast Cancer Clinics

We are almost finished with the month of October. It seems like it flew by, while we were busy with breast cancer awareness campaigns, as well as breast cancer treatment campaigns. I am enjoying my work at the Swaziland Breast Cancer Network. I am coordinating our breast cancer clinics that are held two times weekly in two different locations on Tuesday and Thursday mornings. We have two doctors from Cuba who are working with us in these clinics. The challenge is that the Oncologist does not speak much English as all, and my Spanish is extremely poor. We spend a good deal of our time at the clinics trying to understand each other. The other day, he was trying to get me to tell the patient to eat more beef. He didn’t know the English word for cow and I didn’t know what vaca was until he put horns on his head and I said MOO! It was quite amusing!
We are seeing quite a few patients that have breast cancer, and amazingly, some of them are very young, late 20’s, early 30’s. One young 29 year old woman came in with a large lump on one of her breasts. She said that she came last October and was told that it was cancer, but she didn’t have money to go to South Africa for treatment and so she did nothing. She returned this year, 7 months pregnant, unable to walk, lots of swollen lymph nodes, and much pain. I just wanted to cry, she would not let us admit her to the hospital for the first couple of weeks. Now she is very sick and in the hospital with a pulmonary effusion and heart problems. They are trying to let her carry the baby to term and then see if there is anything we can do to help her.
Oncology care in a third world country is very complicated. We don’t have access to a mammogram machine, so we send them for ultrasound of the breast when we find lumps on breast exams. Today, we found out that the only guy that does the ultrasounds was in a horrible car accident over the week end and is now in the hospital. Now we have no way to do ultrasounds. So, we either wait to see if the government will try to find someone else to do them, or try to negotiate with a private radiology clinic to see if they can help us. The best thing to do is to pray for the speedy recovery of the ultrasound tech that is in the hospital!
We have been very successful with our breast cancer awareness campaign this month! We are even going to companies and doing health teaching and breast exams. Our clinics are over flowing with people! We are seeing 60-70 people in a day! We have been flooding the paper with articles on breast cancer, TV, radio, posters, etc. When we finally get all of the ultrasounds done, we then send for FNA (fine needle aspiration) those that the doctor thinks are suspicious on ultrasound. A pathologist comes in from South Africa when we have 20 or more FNA’s to be done. When we get results, if they think they are fibroadenoma’s, a lumpectomy is scheduled and done by the Cuban Oncologist here in Swaziland. If it is diagnosed to be cancer, either, a mastectomy is done here, or the patient is sent for chemo first in South Africa, then a mastectomy is done here.
Our goal is to administer chemotherapy here in Swaziland. We are fund raising to buy a biological safety cabinet to mix the chemo in. Breast Cancer Network will then buy the chemotherapy drugs from a local wholesale pharmaceutical company. We have already started training nurses on chemotherapy administration. This will save the government and the patients a lot of time, headache, and money if we are successful. We want to have a cancer treatment program with high standards and excellent outcomes. We hope to expand our diagnosis and treatment program to cervical cancer this next year. Cervical cancer is the number one cause of cancer deaths in women in Swaziland, with breast cancer at number two. We definitely have our work cut out for us! Please keep us in your prayers as we attempt to help the women in Swaziland!

HIV Training for CHIPS

After having meetings with the health officials in the region where we are doing CHIPS (Children’s HIV Intervention Program in Swaziland), we have started training key people in the rural communities. We selected the teachers at the Christian Family Church primary school in Tambankulu and the teachers and workers at the neighborhood care points in Maphiveni and Lonhlupheko. We had 12 in attendance, and they all seemed excited and interested in what we had to say. The questions and discussions that we had were very good! We talked a lot about the stigma that surrounds HIV, especially in more rural areas. We discussed ways to minimize the stigma, as well as issues with confidentiality.

One major purpose of this training is to teach the teachers and other key people in the community how to identify children that are at high risk of being HIV positive. We talked about how HIV is affecting the children of Swaziland, and how without treatment, only 15% of Swaziland’s HIV positive children will be alive by the age of 10 years old. The importance of getting these children to testing and treatment was emphasized. The signs and symptoms that go along with being HIV positive were discussed in detail. Pictures of several different skin problems were shown to each table of trainees. Malnutrition was also discussed, as well as the importance of good nutrition in children who are HIV positive and on ART’s (antiretroviral therapy).

The higher the viral load of HIV in the body, the lower the CD4 (soldier cells) count is. When the soldier cells are attacked by the virus, the body becomes more susceptible to infections and opportunistic diseases, such as TB. When a person is started on ART’s, the viral load decreases, as the CD4 increases, and they are able to fight off infections.

Jabulani, who we hired to be the HIV counselor and driver for the CHIPS program is now in training for 5 weeks with one of the local HIV counseling and testing companies. We now have our mini-van, and will be ready to start the program when Jabulani finishes training at the end of November. Daran is working on getting the mini-van insured and ready to go. Please keep this program in your prayers, as we go forward to minister to the needs of the HIV positive children in Swaziland.

Times of Swaziland-October 21, 2008

Kudvumisa Trust receives funding

By WANDILE DLAMINI on October 21,2008

Test driving the vehicle: Brenda Jefferson handing over the mini bus keys to Teresa Rehmeyer, it will be used to transport sick children to clinics and hospitals.

MBABANE – Kudvumisa Trust has received the start up funding to begin the Children’s HIV Intervention Program in Swazi-land (CHIPS).

Primary funding for CHIPS is being provided by The Claypotts Trust, administered by Pastor Ken Jefferson of the Mbabane Chapel. Both Kudvumisa Trust and Claypotts Trust are christian charitable organisations.

CHIPS was boosted when Claypotts Trust donated a mini-bus to them, as means of transport for sick children they will be assisting.

The mini-bus will be used to transport children and their caregivers to clinics and hospitals. CHIPS will identify children who will be candidates for testing, then a person in the community will be trained to provide pre-test counselling to the child and caregiver. They will also provide transport and assistance with adherence, inter-community support advocacy, and education.

support

This organisation will also provide in-community, in-home pre-test counselling and ongoing support and education, provide reliable and on-going transport to clinics and hospitals for testing, counselling, treatment, and support, educate the whole community, the children and adults, to increase their health and well-being.

They will look to changing people’s attitudes and behaviours towards testing, treatment, and people who are infected, and promote "Prevention of Mother To Child Transmission (PM-TCT)".

On behalf of the organisation, Director for Kudvumisa Trust/CHIPS Teresa Rehmeyer said the donation would go a long way in assisting many under-privileged children.

Handing over the vehicle on behalf of Claypotts Trust, Pastor Ken Jefferson said they were always willing to assist wherever they could, especially since HIV was a serious problem in the country.

"I hope that many lives will be saved because of this vehicle," said Jefferson.

CHIPS will begin working in the north-eastern Lubombo Region in December. More information on CHIPS can be obtained from Teresa Rehmeyer, her e-mail addres is teresa@kudvumisaglass.com

CHIPS - Fist Steps

We have started the first steps in the CHIPS program. The mini bus was purchased last week. Jabulani, a young man from Tambankulu was hired and began HIV counseling training this week. Teresa and Lori have been meeting with local health officials in the Lubombo Region to develop relationships and working protocols with the administrators, doctors, nurses, hospitals and clinics in the area.
Today, Teresa is going to to conduct a training session for the teachers at Pastor Duarte's primary school in Tambankulu and the teachers from the neighborhood care point and community pre-school in Maphiveni. One of the first goals of the program is to have people in the communities who have interaction with the children to be the first line of referral for children who are candidates for HIV testing. The training today will teach them how to recognize symptoms, illness history, and family medical history that may indicate HIV.
These pictures were taken in Section 19, a squatter settlement in the sugar cane fields of Vuvulane. This will be one of the areas we will be initially working in.
We want to thank and recognize Claypotts Trust for making this outreach possible.

US Presidential Debate

This is an apolitical comment. We sat Monday at the embassy here and watched a re-broadcast of the first Presidential debate. It got a good chuckle when Senator McCain talked about foreign countries getting a "free lunch" from the US, as we all were sitting there eating pizza compliments of the Public Affairs section of the embassy. On a more serious note though, I wanted to comment on something Senator Obama said. He talked about his father coming from Kenya and that at that time, the US was a"beacon of hope" for the world. That everyone dreamed of coming to the US and that that did not exist now. Having worked with impoverished youth here in Swaziland for the past three years, I can say, and I think with out fear of contradiction, that the US is still a beacon of hope for the world. We have heard it over and over again: I want to go to America so I can work, go to school....... While there are plenty of people that hate the US here (and with the steady diet of negative news they get here, it's no wonder), the people which yearn for a better life or an opportunity of a better life still look to the US as a land of opportunity.

CHIPS (Children’s HIV Intervention Program in Swaziland)

This is the new ministry program that we will be beginning. We submitted a proposal for grant money for CHIPS to the Clay Pots Foundation. Pastor Ken Jefferson of Mbabane Chapel administers this fund which is dedicated for HIV initiatives here in Swaziland. He is very supportive of the program we have designed. He has approved our proposal and agreed to fund this program for 3 years (R350000 for year one and R250000 for each of the two subsequent years). This funding covers program costs only: none of it is for our personal expenses here. While in the beginning we will be concentrating on one area in eastern Swaziland, our hope is to expand the program to help kids in the all rural areas of Swaziland to get HIV testing and to access treatment. We are planning to hire and train someone from this area to be an HIV counselor, as well as the driver to take the children and their care giver to the clinic for testing and monthly follow up. The nearest clinic is 17km, and the nearest hospital is 48km. The cost of transport to get to a clinic or hospital for testing or treatment has always been a hurdle (more so in an impoverished community). We know this outreach will provide a major component in ensuring children in the rural areas of Swaziland can take advantage of the life saving health care that is available.
We will be working with Pastor La’Salette Duarte of the Christian Family Church in Swaziland and Lori Schweighardt of Live in Love International. We value their heart, vision, and energy.
I am very excited to start working on this initiative, but at the same time, sad to be leaving the children and teachers I’ve built a relationship with over the past three years.

Thobile Update - September 2008

I saw Thobile this past week Tuesday. She had just returned from her visit to Baylor. When I went out to the van and she saw me, she squealed and ran to get a hug! Her smile was huge, but she looked so thin and is getting around very slowly. She has started getting daily injections for TB again. We had to start TB treatment all over again, since her mom didn’t keep up with her treatment last time and she is still positive for TB.
On Thursday I got a call from one of the doctors at Baylor. I was told that the TB culture that was taken the last time she was in the hospital just came back and was positive for multi-drug resistant (MDR) TB. This is unfortunately not good news. MDR TB is extremely difficult to treat. It requires a very intense treatment regimen with many different drugs, one of which is also a daily injection. I’m not so confident that her mom will be able to keep up with this regimen, since she has not been consistent with the other regimen.
I am not sure if they will want to hospitalize her or just have her come in daily for her injections. The cost for transport to go to the TB clinic daily for Thobile and her mom is R20 ($3.00) per day. We have been paying the transport costs for this and for school. It is getting more and more expensive as fuel costs continue to go up. We would appreciate if someone would come along side us and sponsor Thobile’s ongoing medical costs (which may include hospitalization
I don’t know how good her prognosis is, given the malnutrition and wasting that she is already suffering from. These drugs have many side effects and require good nutrition in order to work. This will be quite a challenge for Thobile and her mom. Please help us pray for a good outcome for this precious little girl!

Last Week at Children's Cup

The new nurse for Children’s Cup has been here for about 4 weeks. We have been working together in the clinics. Her name is Jessie, she is doing well. Sarah, another new missionary is working with her to help with the administrative aspects of the medical program. They are working very well together and will make a great team for the medical program.
This past week, we did a health care worker training for the new teachers. We had about 17 in the class. Jessie and I took turns teaching them basic anatomy/physiology, how to examine a patient, common illness, first aide, and CPR. They were a very bright class and did very well!
Thursday was my last clinic day, and Monday will be my last day with Children’s Cup. I will take Jessie and Sarah to Baylor and introduce them to the medical director and the administrator. I am confident they will do a great job with the medical program!

Rehmeyer Ministry Vision Statement for Swaziland - Short Term Relief / Long Term Change

Short Term Ministry Vision

We will be working in communities that have no access to HIV testing/treatment. The goal is to educate the caregivers as to the importance of testing and early treatment for HIV/AIDS for the children under their care. The community that we will be working in to start is Maphiveni, outside the Tambankulu sugar estate. There are about 1500 people in this community. It is a squatter community of ex-sugar cane company workers or families of the workers who have passed away. These people do not have the means to get to clinics or hospitals for testing or treatment. Two or three babies under the age of 5 die in this community each month from HIV related causes. Our goal is to be a facilitator for a project to provide them with education, and access to nearby clinics and the Good Sheppard Hospital to get the care and treatment they so desperately need.

During the past 3 years, working with Children’s Cup, we were able to roll out a program where we provided these services to the children at the care points. We will be trying to replicate this program in areas where it is needed. There are two additional areas of health education we will be focusing on: teaching pregnant women what they must do to prevent mother-to-child transmission of HIV and education regarding water purification and how important it is. Their water source, the Mbuluzi River, is contaminated by run off from nearby farms, industry, human and animal excrement.

The rate of chronic diarrheas in this community is extremely high. In a clinic done for the children in this community recently, 33% of the children were identified as needing to be tested for HIV and almost half were victims of chronic diarrheas. When you add chronic diarrhea on top of already being HIV+, especially in children, you increase the risk of health issues such as dehydration, weakness, and weight loss. These people need to be taught how to treat the water source to make it clean before they drink it.

We will be working with the Home Based Care outreach team at Good Sheppard Hospital to provide HIV testing and treatment services to the Maphiveni community. They provide mobile services in the general area, approximately 30 km radius of the hospital. The area that we will be working in is 48km from the hospital; therefore, they do not have access to these services, unless transport is provided for them. This will be a program that we plan to replicate in other poor squatter communities in the Lobombo region.

The other opportunity that has been presented to Teresa is that of helping to provide guidelines for chemotherapy and breast cancer care in Swaziland. The Swaziland Breast Cancer Network wants Teresa to assist in developing this program for Swaziland. If diagnosed, cancer patients are presently being transported to South Africa for chemotherapy treatment, which is very difficult for them, as well as expensive for the government. Many times they are not able to complete their treatment due to cost constraints.

Long Term Ministry Vision

Ministry Mission

And the Lord said to him (Moses), what is that in your hand? (Exodus 4:2) God has given us everything we need to begin this earthly journey.

Ministry Vision

We see a long term investment into the lives of young people in Swaziland. Training these young men and women up and giving them Godly skills in life and in business. Affording them the opportunity to break the cycle of poverty, and excel.

Background

Beginning in 2005, we made the commitment to work with Children’s Cup to help develop the compassionate care and ministry outreaches to the children in the urban and peri-urban areas of Swaziland. Over the course of the three years, I oversaw the effective doubling of the number of NCP’s that ‘Cup managed and the doubling of the number of children attending. A concern from the beginning was the apparent loss or non-participation of the teenagers at the NCP’s. We have seen teenage boys and girls engaged in stealing, gangs, and prostitution in order to make money. For the NCP’s to have their intended impact on the community, they would need to provide a greater engagement of these older youth. Paradoxically, and of primary concern, is that these youth , as they fall back to their community, with no leadership and a crumbling (or nonexistent) social structure, are the ones to either make or break the fight against the HIV pandemic in southern Africa.

Key Ministry Objectives

The primary challenges in this sub-region are:

• A culture that stifles innovation and creative thinking
• Rampant under and unemployment
• An education system that does not have the infrastructure or capital to educate the children through primary or secondary schools
• A university system that struggles to find government bursaries for the majority of students that do attend

In answer to this, a program whose goal is to help break the cycle of poverty and HIV is essential.

At the age of 16, many young people in Swaziland are the head-of-household for their homes and providing for younger siblings. As the AIDS epidemic sweeps through this country, this age will become younger and younger. The ministry we have been involved in has been a great short term support to young, undernourished children affected by AIDS through loss of responsible relatives. Over the past two years we have seen these children grow. We have asked ourselves

• What will happen when they are no longer eligible to be fed or choose not to participate at the NCP’s?”
• What are we accomplishing – are we establishing lasting Godly principles in these children, that will change their lives or are we just a stop gap to the inevitable decline in health and values when they move on?

As God has spoken to us we have seen that it is Jesus that these children need. Our hearts yearn for a chance to feed these children more than food. They need the unending supply of God’s grace and the sustainable supply of meaning through self worth.

Grappling with these two ministerial objectives we feel we can be life changers here in Swaziland. By providing a ministry opportunity from where the NCP initiative ends, we can and will make a difference. This will be through two primary areas of focus:

1. Business Opportunity
The actual skills being taught are not what are important. Many skills based programs in Swaziland concentrate on specific skills with no concept of market saturation and effective wage earning capability. They do teach a specific skill, but they do nothing to prepare the student for effectively implementing the skill in a successful business.

The primary goal of the program will be to teach the participants to effect life changing attitudes about their potential and responsibilities. Secondary will be the specific skills. Even so, the skills that will be taught will be unique and provide opportunities in and of themselves as well as significant crossover into other areas of work.

• Personal financial responsibility
• Personal moral responsibility
• Mastering basic business fundamentals
• Entrepreneurial skills and training
• Learning technical skills in glass blowing, etching, beadwork, torch work, slumping, etc.
• Confidence to seek, and pursue, the dreams and ideas that God gives to each person

2. Camps
During the school year, schools are closed for several weeks between each term. We would use this time and the venue of the vacant schools to provide day camps. Impacting child-headed households will be the primary focus of these camps. Local and international groups will be engaged to assist in the running of life and business skill camps; teaching in areas they have specific expertise.

Skills for household management, health management and self reliance will be the primary focus:

• Nutrition
• Budgeting
• Sustainable household vegetable plots
• Disease management (HIV and TB being the primary focus)
• Child rights
• Homestead micro economic projects

Thobile Update - 17 Years Old

Thobile is a little girl who is 17 years old, but only looks ten. We first met her about 2 years ago as we were planning a CarePoint at Madonsa, and decided that we (the Rehmeyers) would sponsor her, since she was too old to be sponsored thru Mission of Mercy. In the past two years, she has been going to Baylor Clinic and taking ARV’s, and has been able to go back to school. She has not been able to walk the long distance to get to school, so we have provided her with money for transport to get back and forth to school each day. This year in March, she was diagnosed with TB, and had to have daily injections for a while. She is still on oral TB meds, she has been hospitalized several times this year for various respiratory problems. After one of her hospitalizations she asked if we could get her a book sack with wheels because the one on her back was too heavy for her to carry.

She has been getting weaker and weaker. She was just discharged from the hospital in Manzini last week, on Thursday and readmitted to the hospital in Mbabane on Monday. They said that the hospital in Manzini said that she was too critical for them so they sent her to Mbabane. One of the nurses told me that when the Manzini hospital weren’t getting anywhere with a case and thought they might loose her, they sent her to Mbabane. I’m not sure if her TB is becoming resistant, or if she has another infection. Her mother seems to be very caring, but I don’t think that she is very responsible in keeping up with her medications.

When we arrived to see her on Monday, we found her lying on a mattress on the floor underneath another bed. There were empty beds in the front of the ward, so I asked why they couldn’t put her there. The answer was that the ward was divided into chronic and non-chronic cases, so she couldn’t go in that part of the ward. I think that they are trying to keep the TB cases separate, which is good, but there is nothing really protecting others from them. The next day she was in a bed, and asking for us to bring her something nice to eat!

I’m not sure what we are facing with this one. One of the Baylor doctors promised to go and see her. As of the second day, she had seen no doctor and nothing had been done except a chest x-ray. She is complaining that her legs are painful and weak and she is unable to walk. Please help us pray that the doctors have wisdom and that she gets the treatment that she needs!

update on Lomansontfu

The beautiful little girl from Maphiveni with the large cyst on her cheek returned from Pretoria. Unfortunately the cyst is still there. She called me on my cell phone from the hospital several times, until I was able to make it to the hospital to get her. When I walked into the room, she smiled, grabbed her little bag and ran to hug me. We were going to have her family come get her the next day, but when the nurses told me how anxious she had been to have me come to get her, I couldn’t bring myself to leave her. We had her family come up and meet us in Manzini at one of the care points. When we drove up to the care point, she slumped down in the seat so the other kids couldn’t see her. She was afraid that they would stare and make fun of her. I quickly took her into the clinic so the kids couldn’t see her.
The doctor from Pretoria found that it is a very vascular cyst, which means that it is full of blood vessels. It can’t be removed until it is clotted off and the hope is that it will shrink. He did try to clot it by going in at her femoral vein in her groin and going up to the veins that feed the cyst. He wants to see her again in the 1st of October. So far, the cyst hasn’t shrunk, but we are praying that this will work. Once it is clotted, she will need surgery to remove it. Depending on how extensive it is, she may need reconstructive surgery as well. Please continue to pray for this situation and for this precious little girl!

New Beginnings

Dear Friends

Thank you for all your support over the last three years. God has done wonderful things for us here in Swaziland and has opened so many doors we never knew existed!

We know that God has called us to Swaziland and the people here who are in need. Children’s Cup is doing a wonderful work in this country and we are proud to be associated with this organization. The focus of Children’s Cup is clear and well executed. As our time with Children’s Cup has shown us, there are many needs that are outside of the scope of work we are currently doing.

The vision of Children’s Cup is, and will always remain, our vision. After being in Swaziland for some time, our original calling has grown. A clearer picture of the overall need in Swaziland and our place in God, in fulfilling that need, has been solidifying in us for the past six months or more. We feel that the time has come to respond to this larger vision. Children’s Cups’ vision and the confines of the organization cannot facilitate this divergent direction. Prayerfully and with the consent and support of the Children’s Cup leadership here in Swaziland it has been decided that we shall continue working out our calling beyond their structures and leadership.

The number of children with HIV/AIDS and directly affected by HIV/AIDS continues to rise here in Swaziland. We seek ways to help those children who are still not being reached with diagnoses, treatment and coping strategies.

In parallel, there is a large and growing population of older teenagers and young adults who have had little or no training or encouragement/mentorship for growing up to be productive in their communities. There is no provision for being responsible for themselves, their families or even younger siblings that they may find themselves responsible for. We see a great need for developing progressive training in fields that would promise economic growth and self reliance as well as the moral and ethical foundations found in the Christian world view.

Coming alongside the leadership of Children’s Cup, training and assisting new leadership to take our place in Children’s Cup as well as helping with the transition of new leadership in Children’s Cup is our next goal. After three years of experience and commitment we shall be taking as long as needed to ensure a smooth hand over is done. During this hand over period our financial and other personal detailing will be sought out and communicated to you. We are preparing clear visionary goals and we will be sharing them with you as the Lord continues to direct and lead us.

As the Lord led us here as a family, He is continuing to lead and grow us as a family. Thank you again for all your prayer, support and generosity. We hope that you will be as excited as we are for the awesome work we expect to be doing here in Swaziland. Taking the last three years with Children’s Cup, and our lives, to the next level, we trust that God is refining our faith and growing us in Him.

Growing both in God and for God, in vision, action and impact for Swaziland.

God Bless

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