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Monday, January 12, 2015
Clinic & Outreach Centre
Thursday, December 25, 2014
Monday, December 01, 2014
World AIDS Day in Swaziland
Today Swaziland celebrated World AIDS Day. There were festivities in all four regions with the national commemoration here in Lubombo. There were speeches. I'm sure a lot of very important people had a lot of very important things to say. With the highest official HIV prevalence in the world, there was much to commemorate.
With the promise of food to follow, a large number came out in Siteki to patiently listen to the important speeches. Our staff was there as well: to offer HIV services to anyone who might be interested.
Back in the impoverished and isolated communities Kudvumisa Foundation usually works in, life went on as usual. For most people it was a day like any other; trying to scratch together enough for today's meal, sometimes in whatever way is necessary. Important speeches don't mean much here.
Kudvumisa means to praise in siSwati. For the several hundred men, women, and children who rely on Kudvumisa Foundation's services and transport, there is reason to praise. Hope takes the form of a mobile clinic and a 17-seater van. Without these community based services, most of these people would have few to no options for accessing the life saving antiretrovirals (ARV's) that keep the virus in their body at bay.
Nonhlanhla and her husband are both HIV positive. They live in one of the small informal/cane cutter settlements in Vuvulane. Both rely on Kudvumisa for their ARV's. Several years ago, she battled TB on top of HIV. She lost so much weight and was a shadow of her old self. Today she has won her battle against TB and is a vocal spokesman for people in her community to test and start treatment for HIV as soon as possible.
With the promise of food to follow, a large number came out in Siteki to patiently listen to the important speeches. Our staff was there as well: to offer HIV services to anyone who might be interested.
Back in the impoverished and isolated communities Kudvumisa Foundation usually works in, life went on as usual. For most people it was a day like any other; trying to scratch together enough for today's meal, sometimes in whatever way is necessary. Important speeches don't mean much here.
Kudvumisa means to praise in siSwati. For the several hundred men, women, and children who rely on Kudvumisa Foundation's services and transport, there is reason to praise. Hope takes the form of a mobile clinic and a 17-seater van. Without these community based services, most of these people would have few to no options for accessing the life saving antiretrovirals (ARV's) that keep the virus in their body at bay.
| Nonhlanhla today |
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| Nonhlanhla in the throes of TB |
Hers is a speech worth hearing!
Monday, November 17, 2014
Swaziland Update: Expansion of HIV Project
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Wednesday, October 22, 2014
July Lubisi
By Jabulani Maziya - Project Officer
July Lusibi, strong and healthy now!
Someone needed to care for July Lubisi. He needed to overcome a downward spiral journey with HIV/TB. There was no hope, he had chronic diarrhea and vomiting, mouth sores, and he could barely walk nor stand. Residing in Macethuka, two HTC counselors from Kudvumisa Foundation met him at Good Shepherd Hospital with his granny, who was accompanying him for his HIV/TB Care and Treatment.
It was in 2009 during one of the Kudvumisa Foundation Service Referral visits to the Hospital. Already frail and sickly, the Kudvumisa counselors encouraged him to hang in there; it was not yet the end of his life. Affectionately known as Siza, named after the former Mbabane Swallows lanky striker, July was a shadow of his old self. His world was crumbling. He relied most on his granny and the Member of Parliament of that time for transport to the hospital.
The counsellors continuously counselled and encouraged him to keep up with his doctor’s appointments, adhere to treatment and that he would soon regain his physique. They started taking him to the hospital for his ARV’s and TB meds. Eight months after starting treatment, he grew stronger and put on weight. Currently he is employed by Royal Swaziland Sugar Corporation (RSSC). An unimaginable success from where he was just a few years earlier. In April of this year he was down-referred from Good Shepherd Hospital to Kudvumisa Foundation to continue his ARV refills in his community of Macethuka. He no longer even needs to take trips to the ART Clinic at Good Shepherd
Monday, August 04, 2014
Distributing Sawyer Filters in Vuvulane
We'll be in Mambaweni on Saturday to
participate in a community meeting to discuss problems caused by the
lack of clean drinking water in this community. The Rotary Club of
Dumbarton in the UK has donated 30 Sawyer Filter kits for distribution.
The water for this and the surrounding communities comes from
irrigation ditches. The water has tested positive for some mix of
E.coli and coliform bacteria. There is no sanitation here. The current
diarrhea outbreak has taken the lives of nearly 40 children from across
Swaziland. We would need close to 700 filters to help every family in
this area. Filters cost approximately $65 apiece, but last a lifetime
with proper care. Please visit www.KudvumisaFoundation.org (or the donate button on the KudvumisaFoundation Facebook page) if you would like to help. Message us if you can help!
Swaziland: Poor Sanitation, Poverty Behind Swazi Diarrhoea Outbreak
Visiting Resident & USAID Grant Extension
Tsan spent her first week at Baylor International Pediatric AIDS Initiative in Mbabane and the next two weeks with the Kudvumisa/CHIPS outreach team doing community HIV care and treatment. She was a blessing to have with us and we wish her the best as she returns to Phoenix.
We just got word this week that USAID is willing to extend our grant to operate CHIPS through March of 2015. There is a catch: we'll have to capture 3 quarters worth of results in 2. But even this extension is a great opportunity to expand services, impact, and outreach.
Prayer and Specific Need Requests
- Ever thought of serving on the mission field? We need help in a multitude of areas: HIV outreach, crawfish, marula, sewing, moringa..... 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
- 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.
- ongoing CHIPS operating expenses (for expenses beyond the scope of the USAID grant and to meet our obligation for 10% of the total grant funding) $6000
- start up expenses for the economic development projects (marula oil, nuts and fire logs and crawfish production) $5000
Lexington Leadership Foundation
We saw God doing many great things a week ago when we had the ministry team from Lexington Leadership Foundation,
led by Miles Phelps. This was a group of people who love the Lord and
operate in the gifts of the Spirit. They are a mixture of pastors,
teachers, and nurses, all operating in the role of Evangelists,
ministering the Love of Christ to hurting people. Many came to know the
Lord, many were healed, delivered from bondage of evil and oppression.
We actually saw the picture of Christ through Miles and the woman at
the well. He spoke to a lady about giving or selling herself to many
men and he told her go and sin no more. She accepted Christ and he told
her how valuable she is in God’s eyes. Many others were prayed for
emotional hurts. I watched as Rodney spoke to so many women of the
hurts of their past and saw the tears roll down their faces as the Lord
set them free from those hurts. Michelle and Peggy prayed for one lady
that had pneumonia. As we prayed the fever broke, she was very sick and
was sleeping when we left. The next week Chips took her to GSH and she
was admitted and treated and is now recovering. One man that was
prayed for by Alvin couldn’t lift his arms and by the time he was
finished praying he was raising his arms in the air praising God! There
was one man that had been bound to a wheel chair for years. God spoke
to Miles to help him up out of the wheelchair and he took a few steps!
We prayed for a lady with severe Asthma and as we prayed we could hear
her breathing improving.
The team spoke to our CHIPS staff several mornings on integrity, forgiveness, offense, courage and pride. We all learned a lot and were so encouraged! They also spoke words of knowledge and prophesy over us, our ministry, as well as our staff. God is so good to bless us with these ministers, pastors, teachers to encourage and strengthen us in Him!

The team spoke to our CHIPS staff several mornings on integrity, forgiveness, offense, courage and pride. We all learned a lot and were so encouraged! They also spoke words of knowledge and prophesy over us, our ministry, as well as our staff. God is so good to bless us with these ministers, pastors, teachers to encourage and strengthen us in Him!

Wednesday, July 16, 2014
Prayer and Specific Need Requests
- Pray for the CHIPS staff: to be a light and a true witness to Christ's compassion to the poor and helpless
- a 1000L fuel trailer (the van that Rotary donated requires low sulfur diesel which is only available an hour away from our office)
- ongoing CHIPS operating expenses (for expenses beyond the scope of the USAID grant and to meet our obligation for 10% of the total grant funding)
- start up expenses for the economic development projects (marula oil, nuts and fire logs and crawfish production)
Swazi Crawfish
Even though the temperature has dropped, we are still getting 20kg a week from Vuvulane (the crocodile proof traps are working!). While we are enjoying eating them and introducing them to Swazi's, South Africans, and Portuguese alike, the real goal is to develop an export market. Please help us pray about the next steps for this. The proceeds are dedicated to the CHIPS program: to ensure sustainability for the long term.
Partner Rewards Bonus Day - July 16th ONLY
- Starting at 9 am EDT to 11:59 pm EDT on Wednesday, July 16th, GlobalGiving.org will be matching donations 30% for Partners!
- GlobalGiving will be matching donations up to $1,000 per donor per project.
- GlobalGiving is offering a $1,000 bonus award for the project that raises the most funds and a $500 bonus award for the project that comes in second. They are also offering another $1,000 bonus award for most individual donors and a $500 award for the project that comes in second.
Visiting Resident
We have a visiting Resident from Phoenix Children’s Hospital for the next few weeks working with our staff. Tsan is doing a Global Health rotation and is attached to our CHIPS program here in Swaziland for the month of July. She spent her first week at Baylor International Pediatric AIDS Initiative in Mbabane. She was able to shadow doctors there and gain pediatric HIV experience. The next two weeks will be spent in Vuvulane with the Kudvumisa/CHIPS outreach team doing community HIV care and treatment with emphasis on children and adolescents. She will be sharing her expertise with our nurse and HTC counselors as well as learning from them. We are excited to have her working with us for these next few weeks!
Tsan was born in Taiwan and went to medical school in North Carolina. Her family lives in Washington. She is very interested in pediatric HIV and wishes to further her experience and knowledge so she can use it in her practice back in the States.
Tuesday, June 10, 2014
GlobalGiving Open Challenge Week 2
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We've
recently reached out to involve the Peace Corps volunteers that live in
the area our CHIPS program serves. This comment from Jane:




