Yesterday and big storm went thru the community we work in and created havoc. Power lines were blown down and on a more personal note Ruby's Care Point (Ntabas), that is supported by Warren Baptist in Augusta Georgia, lost the roof of the kitchen that was build last year. Part of the roof was blown more than 100 yards from the Care point. Luckily nobody got hurt because it happened just after the ladies and the kids left to go home.



Here is an article that was published today in the Swazi Times News paper about the storm.

NTANDWENI – Ludzidzini Governor Jim Gama was one of the many people who were almost left homeless after heavy rains which were accompanied by strong winds wrecked havoc in this area yesterday.

Close to 100 families under Hlane constituency which encompasses areas such as Sikhuphe, Ntandweni and Malindza were affected by the storm which is believed to have lasted for about 30 minutes. Tree branches and corrugated iron (emathayela) were found littered around the affected areas.

When this reporter arrived at Gama's homestead which is situated a few meters from Ntandweni Primary School, he was met by fallen tree branches at the entrance.
The indisposed Indvuna of Ludzidzini took this reporter on a tour around his homestead which has about seven houses.

He explained that the storm had come from the east of his homestead.
"We did not actually witness the roof being blown off because we were in another house when the storm started.
After about 30 minutes, we came out, and found the roof tiles littered around the homestead," Gama said, pointing at debris from a two-bedroom house.

Inside the house, only the ceiling remained – water was dripping from it.
The furniture and other accessories had been moved to other houses in the homestead.
Gama, who was walking around with the aid of a walking-stick, said no one was injured when the roof was blown-off.

However, he pointed out that it would cost him an arm and a leg to reconstruct the house.
Asked if he had insured the structures, Gama responded to the negative.
He said he was still bluffed about the whole incident.
When asked where he would send the night, he responded: "sitawulala phansi kwesihlahla (we will sleep under a tree)."
During the interview, Hlane Member of Parliament Mduduzi Magagula came to sympathise with the Gama family.

We have seen great progress in Ministry here in Swaziland, but when you read articles like this in the Observer this morning you know we still have ways to go to protect the children of Swaziland from all the predators roaming around. We are moving into the Marula season and alcohol abuse will be much higher the next 2 months.

 Please join with us in a special prayer today for the protection and healing of the most precious in the eyes of our Father. Here is the article in the Swazi Observer of March 8, 2010

"ABOUT 80 children have been raped in Swaziland in the last two months, police have said.
Statistics released by late last week indicate that from January to the end of February, at least 121 rape incidents were reported in the country, and more than two-thirds of these involved children.
Such alarming figures have fuelled the call for urgent passing of the Domestic Violence and Sexual Offences Bill into law.
 Police Director of Domestic Violence, Child Protection and Sexual Offences Senior Superintendent Leckinah Magagula has raised an alarm, especially to women and children - who are major targets of abuse.
Senior Superintendent Magagula encouraged parents to keep a ‘hawk-eye' on their children, particularly during the current marula season. The seasonal marula brew and alcohol abuse had been cited as the leading cause for most rape cases in the country.
Magagula said a number of children were raped on the way home after school and some at their respective homes.
Police have warned that most children were raped by people well known to them. The statistics show that they are in danger from their siblings, parents, uncles, neighbors and helpers.
The unprecedented increase in rape cases has fuelled police to call upon parliament to urgently pass the Domestic Violence and Sexual Offences Bill to Law.
Senior Superintendent Magagula observed that the country was using outdated laws with light penalties against the perpetrators.
She prayed that parliament would apply the same urgency it show when passing the Human Trafficking Law.
The country is stuck with pre-colonial laws such as the Crimes Act of 1889 and the Girls and Women's Protection Act of 1920.
In essence, such laws cripple the efficiency of the judicial system and do not effectively address the evolving trends of abuse.
 "It is high time perpetrators are given harsher sentences," she said.
The Sexual Offences and Domestic Violence Bill have been tabled in both Houses of Parliament and this legislation seeks to address some major gaps which appear in the current laws dealing with sexual offences and domestic violence.
For instance, it has broadened the definition of rape to cover not only unlawful sexual intercourse with another but also unlawful sexual acts committed under certain circumstances, including any coercive manner, under false pretence or by fraudulent means, under duress, fear of violence or psychological oppression."

Hey friends!

Our time in the States will soon come to an end; we are flying home the end of this month. We've had a good trip; we were blessed and overwhelmed by the goodness of friends and other people and by the favor of God. We had time to relax and do some real fun things, but we also had a couple of meetings with different people and we are excited to see what God is going to do in Swaziland. We are seeing more and more people wanting to get involve in the ministry and we know it is from God.

Because we are still in the States, Scott and Marcia Borg are currently in Swaziland leading 2 trips. Here is an update from their first day from Scott's blog:

Marcia and I have been leading a group of men these past few days and it has been a great experience.  To see 12 men giving of themselves in this country is rare.  Among these men are three NFL players who are very large - bigger humans than the Swazi's have ever seen.  The response is amazing.  The players have hearts of gold and we are having a good time together.  Wish there was time for a picture or two!

Today was not an easy day.  We started at a care point that serves 261 children.  These kids come from very rough backgrounds and live across the street from the city dump.   The teacher told me that when a garbage truck comes to the dump the kids leave the care point to run across the street to pick through the new trash.  One little guy around 4 years old was chewing on a chicken wing and the teacher said he got if from the dump.

Then we went to visit the homestead where a mother of 5 died last week.  She left behind 2 children in grade school and two teenage/20 year old daughters who each have their own babies - one only 3 weeks old.  They live in two mud houses and have nothing.  7 more orphans in Swaziland now.  The guys prayed and shared and we stood in a circle to surround the women to pray over them - a group of men protecting Swazi women and standing in the gap for them.  We saw the crops around their house were failing from drought and prayed for rain.  It started raining just a few minutes ago - now 7 hours later.

Then we went to the homestead of an 8 year old girl who drowned yesterday in a pond.  We sat and prayed and cried with the grandmother and father and some other family members.  Very sad and tragic.

In each place we took some food.  In the first home one daughter who is 19 has 2 years of high school left.  She has no money to pay the school fees.  The guys dug into their pockets and paid the year's school fees - $250.  Amazing.

We have seen highs and lows in our first week here - and more often than not the internet has not worked to even try to update you all!  Please pray for us as we travel tomorrow to Nsoko - the hardest hit area of Swaziland.  We have another group coming in, so the logistics and overall work will double for Marcia and I.  We are already a little tired - although as I type this, Marcia is visiting at the hospital.  I don't know how she has the emotional or physical energy to do it.

Well gotta run.  Pray for us please - 

Scott

Merry Christmas to all our friends and family! Hope you had a wonderful and blessed day. We surely enjoyed our Christmas and we are thankful to be in the States. We ate a lot, laughed a lot and sang a lot of Christmas carols.

We are enjoying our time here with dear friends and we will soon start traveling a bit and we are looking forward seeing more friends.

Sorry for this update to be so late. Sooo much has happened in the last 2 weeks.

• On December 5^th we had our last Christmas party. Somehow the last one ended up being way more chaotic than the previous two together. (?????) But it still went pretty well and the kids had a blast. I think we had a blast too! It was nice to see the kids so excited and having fun.
• Jumbo led an all ladies vision trip with a few of the ladies being wives of NFL players. We enjoyed listening to all their fun stories and it was great watching the Lord working in and through them during the trip.
• We moved house! Well, we have everything packed into boxes and out of our old house; waiting for us to return to Swaziland next year. (We are moving to another house in Manzini.)
• We are on our way to spend Christmas in the States!!! We will be there for a while. We will hopefully be able to rest some, and then we will also visit a few of the CHC sponsoring churches, visit the AIM and CHC head offices and attend a mission conference in Alabama.

 

 

Thankgiving

This afternoon I am just thinking of one of the best holidays there is – Thanksgiving!!. I love the whole idea of thanksgiving and what this day stands for. So even if we do not celebrate this holiday formally down here in Africa, I am still asking myself the question: What am I thankful for. So here is a little list.

·         I am thankful to be alive and living in this exciting time of tomorrows history

·         I am thankful to Father God for just being Him and that He is part of every aspect of my life.

·         I am thankful to be married to the most precious wife in the world

·         I am thankful for all the people that is helping out

·         I am thankful to have a great D-Team and staff

·         I am thankful for a happy thankful faces

·         I am thankful for the ladies cooking everyday to feed the children

·         I am thankful to see change and be part of it in the lives of the Swazi kids

·         I am thankful to every person that is supporting us personally and the work down here

·         I am thankful for great friends – Here and over the water

·         I am thankful to be able to live my dream here in Swaziland

·         I am thankful that we can help so many people in need

·         I am  thankful for the Lords provision

·         I am thankful for health

·         I am thankful that I can pay the rent every month

·         I am thankful for humor and people that makes you laugh

·         I am  thankful that the Lord has not given up on the World

·         I am thankful for organizations like Adventures in Missions and Children's Hope chest for wanting to make a difference .

·         I am thankful that the Lord is still in control

·         I am thankful for the rain and the sunshine

·         I am thankful for every person that has build into our lives

Well I am sure there is still more things I am thankful for, but this is a few. Please share some of the things you are thankful for so that we can bring joy to each other and remind each other that live without being thankful is a wasted live.

Happy Thanksgiving.

It had been pouring the whole week and Friday morning we had to decide about canceling the party or continuing with it; most probably in the rain. The D-team decided: Let's do it!

Well, the sun didn't start shining just because we decided in faith to continue with the party! The rain continued to pour down and it ended up quite an eventful day! I decided to play it safe and not drive out to the carepoint on Friday, but then Ncobile (driving the D-team van) had a little collision with one of the AIM vans right in front of the office. Thirty minutes later another driver knocked an electricity pole over across the road from the office! By then I was freaked out and I didn't want to drive any where!

By Saturday it was still raining and we loaded in the rain. At the carepoint we put the jumping castle up inside the building and this created some excitement for the kids. They showed up in all kinds of winter wear, (I promise you; it has been colder this past week than what we are use to during our real winter!) but the rain didn't really stop them. We did have fewer kids than originally expected, but we still had a bunch. The D-team did a great job of keeping them busy inside with games, dancing and competitions. And then when it was time for a really yummy lunch ... the rain stopped! We were so thankful! The kids could go outside and enjoy their nice Christmas meal.

 

 

The church structure got some damage on the roof, Gift's Car port blew over, Pastor Gift's House got some minor damage and the Centre was without electricity. As I was driving to the centre I noticed that a significant number of the electric poles were either broken or leaning to the ground. It must have been quite a wind.

Pastor Gift and I then did a few quick home visits to see what has happened in the Community. In short one of the Gogo's , that cook at Nsoko, house is in tatters. The roof was blown totally off and the whole family was wet to the bone after the storm. They had to hang out everything they owned to try to get it dry. The family tries to look brave, but I could sense that this was really a huge disaster for them.

Then also the house that 2 orphans were living in was also flattened to the ground. Pastor Gift says that this touched him the most, because not only do they have no extended family, they also do not have a place to stay anymore.