Uniforms for Madonsa

The school uniforms for the kids at the Madonsa CarePoint school were handed out yesterday. These are uniforms sewn at the Makholweni sewing project. Alice is teaching the girls there to sew and using the uniforms to train them. The kids love the uniforms and it helps make them and their caregivers feel they are part of the school!

Maphiveni

The Mission of Mercy CarePoint at Maphiveni is moving along well. We have jumped from sixty kids coming to over 200 per day now. The building is coming up nicely. We expect to have it completed by the end of October. The Christian Family Church in Tambankulu will be responsible for the operation of the CarePoint. Pastor Duarte has a great heart for the community there and is already providing free informal schooling for 70 students in first thru seventh grades.

Trust & Recovery

Abuse & Counseling

We now have a trained counselor working with us in the medical clinics to work with the kids who have been sexually or physically abused. Her name is Lauren, she is from Zimbabwe. She is a precious girl who loves the Lord and just wants to be used by Him.

The numbers for abuse are very high here in Swaziland. We examined a little 8 year old girl from one of our new care points last week. She was complaining of having a discharge. Upon examination, it was evident that she had been raped. She told us that she was HIV positive. Her mother and father both died with AIDS. She is living with an aunt who doesn’t know much about her. She has a skin rash all over her body, ringworms on her head, swollen lymph nodes, and some kind of vaginal infection. She has not been started on ARV’s, because when she had her CD4 count done, it was “too high”. They hadn’t taken her back for another one because it costs money that they don’t have. We will try to get her to Baylor so she can get on ARV’s. Lauren (our counselor) met with this little girl this week. She had her draw pictures of who is in her heart, or what people are important in her life. She drew a picture of an older man, and Lauren asked her what emotion she had when she thought of him, and she said fear. She didn’t admit to being abused, but this was the first session and trust is very difficult to attain with these children. Lauren gave her a toy and a sweet, and when they were finished, she asked her if she was her friend. The little girl said no. It will take time and a lot of patience and the power of the Holy Spirit to break through the brokenness in these little lives. We are praying and believing God to make beauty from ashes and gladness from mourning, as God said in His word in Isaiah.

There is another little girl who is about 6 years old that Lauren is working with also. She was raped by an older man a few months ago. The teacher from the care point brought her to the clinic. She said that she doesn’t participate, respond or try in class. When she came in, she was very shy and subdued. Lauren took her and began to have her draw pictures of who was in her heart, and pictures of herself happy, then sad. This little girl responded very well. When she came out of her first session with Lauren, she was smiling and holding her hand, she had a new friend. The transformation was amazing! She had her second session this week. Lauren said that she had her draw a picture of herself and put it on the wall in the exam room. When they finished, she had her stand on the chair looking at the picture of herself and say a prayer for God to heal her broken heart.

There is also a 13 year old that came to me at the clinic a couple of weeks ago complaining of vaginal itching and discharge. When we began to question her, tears started to fall down her cheeks. We prayed with her and tried to get her to talk, but she wouldn’t. Lauren met with her this week also. She denies that anything happened, except that this man tried to get her to come with him. Lauren is afraid that something has happened to this girl also. As she builds a trusting relationship with these kids, they will open up and she will be able to help them by the leading of the Holy Spirit.

We would like to see Lauren train our teachers how to counsel some of these children as well. She would also like to train some of the older girls that have been abused to help the younger ones. We are not sure what we will do once we start finding more and more abused children. How will we get them out of the situation and keep them safe? These are questions that only the Lord knows the answers to right now. Please help us pray for wisdom in this area of our ministry.

We are so grateful to the Lord for sending us Lauren to help us with these difficult situations that we face almost on a daily basis.

Cooks Bible Study

Our Bible studies with the cooks are going very well. They want to learn about things like how are we supposed to treat our husbands and our children. They are drinking in the word as it is given out. We talked about Tamar today and how she was raped and no one helped to heal her broken heart and she lived in her brothers’ house, a desolate woman for the rest of her life. If she had had Jesus to come and turn her ashes into beauty and mourning into gladness, she would have lived a different life than she did. We talked about that we are the bride of Christ, the King of Kings and Lord of Lords, and how he picks up the broken pieces of our lives and makes us whole, new, and undefiled. I told them that when Satan lied to them about who or what they are, they are to tell him they are the bride of The King! Women are so suppressed and mistreated/abused here in Swaziland, they need to be reminded again and again, who they are in Christ.

New CarePoints

Ground breaking and construction has started on two more CarePoints. A team from (mostly) North Carolina was here last week and started digging the foundations at Logoba and Maphiveni. The community has finished digging and has started on the foundation and block work These sites are Mission of Mercy sites where we have been providing meals for the last 6 months. It will be great to have a finished CarePoint so we can start the education and other activities.

Jesus the Lightning Rod

Why is that a school that touts tolerance and "why can't we just all get along" is so intolerant of Christianity and Jesus? They will go out of their way to cancel a popular non-compulsory program that teaches abstinence till marriage, even after the "Christian" component has been removed, but will force all students to be part of a "gender awareness" program (GAP) that was contested by many parents and students. Today at Waterford, everyone who wanted to be part of GAP wore a sign that read "I am silent today in solidarity with all those who have to remain silent because thier sex, gender identity, or sexual orientation. Why is it we are more comfortable seeing two men holding guns than holding hands? Let's break the silence." Gabby chose to wear a sign that simply read "Jesus Loves You So Much!" She was attacked by students and teachers alike as being 'so' intolerant. How is it on one hand someone can push for tolerance of anything and everything, but mention the J word to them and immediately you become the target for everything intolerant? We are so proud of Gabby. But we also worry about her. It would be so much easier now to have stayed in the safe walls Hosanna offered, or the wonderful and safe confines of Healing Place. Please keep her, Nathanael, and Danielle in your prayers. Waterford needs a strong witness.

Ground Breaking at Zombodze

The newest Mission of Mercy CarePoint has been started at Zombodze. We have been suppling food since March and have close to 250 children coming daily. We staked out the building last week and started digging the foundation today!

It Was Cold Last Night!

It is winter here in Swaziland! We were able to give out blankets to the students at two of our schools today. The children at Ngwane Park and Mangwaneni were all smiles when we gave out the blankets. Much thanks to the youth at Messiah Lutheran Church in Downingtown, PA for their generosity and thoughtfulness in putting together these packages.
The homes here have no heat. Especially when you consider the poverty most of these kids come from, these blankets were a true blessing!

School Uniforms- Sewing Project

We passed out the uniforms for the 40 students at Makholweni a week ago. The uniforms were made by Alice and the girls in the sewing project at Makholweni. Alice is a volunteer form the community that has come to the CarePoint and is teaching some of the older gilrs there how to sew. Their first project was to complete the school uniforms. The kids in all our CarePoint schools will get uniforms from the sewing project at some point. This is a great win for the girls learning to sew and the kids at all our CarePoint schools.

4 CarePoints - 1100 Patients

Dr. Beyda (Mission of Mercy Medical Director) and his team did an awesome job last week! We were at Logoba (we are working towards a CarePoint there now), Madonsa, Kakhoza, and Maphiveni (also a CarePoint in progress!). The doctors, nurses, and helath care workers saw many illnesses: HIV related, cancer, hypertension, infections, infected wounds, diabetes, etc., etc. The children and adults at Maphiveni were noticeably sicker than the population around Manzini. The impact of the combination of poverty and distance to health care is obvious on the overall health of the people there. We are hoping to get final community approval this week so we can start construction there this month. Pastor La'Salette Duarte and her church in Tambankhulu were fantastic. They will be helping and overseeing the daily work at the Maphiveni CarePoint. It is refreshing to work with a church here that truly has the poorest and neediest at heart. These pictures are from the clinic on Thursday for the community of Maphiveni.

Cooks Feet

The feet of the cooks at Makholweni. Feel like being a blessing? These women work five days a week, all day, to provide a meal to the children from the community. While these feet are owned by the cooks at Makholweni, there wouldn't be much difference between these feet and the feet of the ladies that cook at all the CarePoints. They are all strictly volunteers. Some with their own families to care for after they are finished at the CarePoint. Part of Romans 10:15, "How beautiful are the feet of those who bring good news" or good food in this case!

Thobile - Age 16

You may remember reading way back about a young girl we met at Madonsa. She looked to be about 10 or 11 and was very sick. When we found out she was the same age as our oldest daughter Gabby, we were shocked. She was slowly dieing from AIDS. Maybe she was born with it, maybe contracted it somewhere through childhood. She had been out of school for years: a combination of being too weak and sick to go and a mom who couldn't make enough money selling vegetables to afford the school fees, uniform or even transport to get her there. She was one of the first kids that Children's Cup was able to help get treated for AIDS by providing emotional support and transport to the Baylor's Clinic in Mbabane. The turn around has been dramatic. She smiles now and looks so much healthier. Teresa and I decided to sponsor her anonymously this year and paid her school and uniform fees through the 'Cup teacher at Madonsa. We received a letter from both her and her mom last week. Her letter reads "..... In the name of our father Jesus Christ I thank you for sending me to school. You gave me hope in life, without your intervention in my life I think I would have been dead. Thank you very much for taking care of me by sending me to the doctor now I can feel the difference in my life. May God bless you. Never get tired of helping other sick children." She is in third grade. Her grades are fair (20th in the class of 57). But you know what? I really don't care how she does. She has purpose and worth. Looking at her now vs. last year makes it all worth it. It's your help above and beyond that allows us to step out and do a little extra. So the last line in her letter is really for everyone that supports us in prayer and finances: "I love you and I love God who sent you to my life. From Thobile Lukhele"

Sisana Nxumalo

A product of a hard life. She still had a heart for her community and the children there who no one else cared for. She will be sorely missed. I pray for a hundred more who have a heart to care for those who have no hope. Sisana knew hope's name is Jesus.

1965.......19 May 2007

HIV/AIDS Awareness/Education at Makholweni II

HIV/AIDS Awareness/Education at Makholweni

The last two Saturday’s we had an organization called TASC to come out to the Makholweni CarePoint and Children’s Wellness Center to educate the community on HIV/AIDS and the importance of testing. We had about 45 people show up for the education. Twenty-five people stayed to be tested. Baylor also sent one of their nurses out to help us as well. Since we started too late in the day, we weren’t able to finish testing everyone, so we asked them to come back the next Saturday to be tested. Between the two Saturday’s, we had 32 come for testing, 14 were children, and 22 actually tested. If the parent’s tested negative, they wouldn’t test the children, unless there was some other reason that they thought they needed to be tested.

On the second Saturday, one whole family came, Dad, Mom and 6 kids. Dad and Mom both tested negative. We didn’t even have to ask, he came out of the room shouting, “negative,negative.” So the 6 children weren’t tested. They all seem to be relatively healthy, except for a little bit of malnourishment. The father is injured and can’t work, so they are having a very difficult time. Many times they don’t have food except what the kids get at the care point. We try to send home extra food with them each day so they will all have something to eat later. We gave them some Nutravit, which is a vitamin rich corn meal and some multivitamins to help out a bit. I was taking pictures of the kids while they were waiting on Mom and Dad. When I showed them the picture, they laughed and giggled! Then they said they wanted to sing a song for me. It was so cute! Each one sang a verse and danced, then they all sang together. It was in SiSwati, so I had no idea what they were saying. I asked the teacher, and she said that it was about HIV/AIDS, and how you need to be tested when you see yourself getting thin (losing weight).

Another mother who tested positive, wouldn’t allow her kids to be tested, much to our dismay. She said that she had to check with her partner. I pray that she will allow the children to be tested. We can take them all to Baylor to have them all tested and treated if necessary. We will have to try to talk to her and explain how important it is for them to be tested. She works for a factory, and she says that they will not let her have a day off. So it will be difficult to get her to come to Baylor , but her life, as well as her kids may depend on it. I pray that God will give us wisdom and grace in this situation.

We are hoping that Baylor will send a doctor to our Children’s Wellness Center once a month to dispense the medications for all of the kids that we are taking to Baylor on a weekly basis for AIDS treatment. We now have about 21 kids/care givers that we bring to Baylor. Abraham picks them up from their care points every Wednesday. Each of the 21 people have to go once a month to get a new supply of medication. This is a very important part of the work that God is allowing us to be a part of here. Again, it is a blessing to have this amazing opportunity to work with these precious Swazi people.

Sandra Lee

We have spent a lot of time this week helping a friend get ready to receive 5-7 new babies into her orphanage. We have been hanging curtains, cleaning windows, moving things, going through clothes, etc. It has been fun. Friday, we had the privilege of going to the government hospital to help bring the babies home. These are all babies from the abandoned children’s ward. It was quite an exciting day. We were able to bring 5 of the 7 home to the orphanage. The other two had parents listed that they had to contact to make sure they don’t want them before they can come to the orphanage.

When we drove up to the homes, all of the other 14 children that live there were waiting outside. It was very interesting to see all of the dynamics, as they all got to know each other. My girls, Danielle and Joelle each have a baby that they have fallen in love with as we have visited them in the hospital. It was very exciting for them to hold them on the trip home and get them settled into their new home. Little John (the one Joelle is crazy about) was so excited to see all of the other children. He laughed and smiled and waved his arms as Joelle walked around holding him. Sibongile, (the one Danielle is crazy about) is too small to know what is going on, and is just interested in being fed and sleeping. I had to drag Danielle and Joelle away last night and the night before. They were really enjoying mothering these little ones. Thank God for our friends that have a heart for these abandoned babies and are taking the responsibility to raise them and give them a good home!

Forgotten & Neglected

We visited the hospital again today. There is a little boy that has been in the hospital since February when he was hit by a car. He suffered a severe head injury, surgery was done to relieve the pressure from the brain. He was left with sever brain damage. He is so thin and emaciated at this point that he looks like a skeleton with skin drawn tight around it. He has had no physical therapy , has not been turned regularly and has not had proper nutrition. So you can imagine how malnourished and how much skin break down that he has. He is an orphan, who has one distant relative that has been faithfully by his side the whole time. She has no financial support herself either.

God put this little boy and his care taker on Kristen’s heart and she started raising money to help him. I have to be honest, when Kristen called me and told me that she was raising money for him, I thought, there is not much we can do for this one. But I called one of the doctors from Baylor, she said that she had just decided that it was time to do something to help this little one. She said that they had walked by this one numerous times and thought, it’s no use, and passed by. One day she was drawn to stop and held his hand, as she was asking about him, he squeezed her hand. She knew at this point that there was something still there and that she had to try to help him. There is a strength in this child to hold on, even when everyone had given up on him. She was saddened by the state that he was in just from neglecting to give him proper nutrition and physical therapy. She was so excited when she heard that we were raising money to help him. She said the money could be used for his tube feedings, physical therapy and wound therapy.

At this point he has bed sores on each hip, and starting all the way up his back. Everywhere that there is a bone protruding, there is a sore, the two on each hip, showing muscles, ligaments and bone in varying degrees. So, we got the formula for the tube feedings and started on our quest. I contacted a wound therapy nurse that I knew, and she came today and dressed all of the wounds so they could begin to heal. Our next step is to find a physical therapist that can work with him on a daily basis to help loosen up his arms and legs. He is drawn up in a fetal position. We instructed his care taker to exercise his joints daily and to turn him every two hours. We also got an egg crate mattress for his bed to try and prevent further skin breakdown.

It is so exciting to have the opportunity to make a difference in the lives of those that are otherwise forgotten. There are many others that are in great need as well, we can’t help them all, but by God’s grace and leading, we will do our best to do what we can. The doctor that made rounds today was so excited at what we were doing for this little boy that he had us come and see another similar case in the next room. Our financial resources are limited, please pray for us to be guided by Gods wisdom and not our own as we move forward.

Parental Responsibilities

A recently heard quote from a Swazi to Teresa regarding the Children's Cup CarePoints: "When you give them food, you become their parents." Talk about a growing family. Talk about responsibility. We have to rely on God for the resources and the wisdom to be "parents" to all the children we work with. We have to rely on you being obedient to God's call as well. Pray...Give...Go!

Big Audacious Dream

I think we do what we do very well (and all this by the grace of God alone). But it's time to bump it up a notch or two. We are feeding 2 to 3 thousand kids a day, the clinic and teachers are taking care of the kids basic medical needs, and the teachers are doing a great job in the informal schools and afternoon Bible clubs. This is all great and a tremendous blessing for the kids and the community they live in.
But I have to be honest, it's not enough. These kids are still left to themselves over the weekends, some may go to a church, most do not. We don't have the means to bus (or khombi) 3000 kids to a church. Besides, most of the churches here in Swaziland aren't geared for children.
So our dream is for there to be CHILDREN'S church each weekend at each CarePoint. That is 10 services right now with up to three more by the end of the year each weekend. We can't do it. Our time and energy is sapped by the end of the week working with the existing programs. So our really big, audacious, huge dream is for God to put it on the hearts of children's pastors and workers to come and dedicate their lives to these children in a way we can't.