Wow! What a month! We have been so busy and we have so much to tell you.
We just finished a vision trip in Swaziland with a group from Children’s Hope Chest. We visited most of the care points where we are working at. We showed the group what we do and were and how they can help and get involved.
Tuesday morning we went to my favorite care point, Thulwane. There were hardly any children and no cooking going on. When we asked the one girl that cooks there why they were not cooking, she told us that they had nothing to cook. They had maize that was given to them by the government, but it wasn’t grounded. And they had no vehicle or money to take it to a place where it could get grounded. It was almost lunch time; too late to do anything about it. So Jumbo jumped in the van, drove to town (a 20 minute drive) and bought all of us, the kids included, some pizza! It was touching to see how they sat on their mats eating pizza for the first time in their lives. (When we asked the 21 year old if they will eat pizza, she asked us what pizza is. They have never had it before!)
Tuesday and Wednesday afternoon I started profiling again while Jumbo drove the team around. I made friends with one of the older gogo’s (grandmother), Ruby Nkambule. She speaks pretty good English, she is funny, she is always up for a laugh and a joke, she is caring and you will never hear her complain. She has never been married and she never had any children of her own, but there has always been children (mainly orphans) staying with her. She is our staff’s favorite gogo; we just love her. I feel privileged to know her.
Friday and Saturday we had a big ‘camp’ / overnight for the children. We had jumping castles (a big hit!), movies on the ‘big screen’ (against the wall), face painting, bubbles, crafts, games, a soccer tournament and food for the children. Anything from 300-400 children showed up. Well, they didn’t just ‘showed up’, we had to go and pick them up at the different care points with van’s and taxi’s. It was kind of chaotic, but it was good chaos.
Saturday at the camp I talked to my friend Thulie. She is HIV+ and she has 4 children. She had 3 children with her first husband before he died. According to the Swazi culture the widow should go and stay with the dead husband’s brother who then has to take care of her and her children. But Thulie chose against the culture, because the brother drinks and uses drugs. She met another man, became pregnant and then this man too died. So, with her 4 children, she had no where else than the brother’s homestead to go to. The brother’s family though is good to her and they are looking after her and her oldest 3 children; they are even paying for the children to go to school. BUT they want nothing to do with the baby (who is about 13 or 15 months old) and the brother is even threatening to kill the baby. Because the baby is another man’s baby, they do not want the baby at their homestead and they do not want to ‘waste’ their money on another man’s baby. Tulie is now fearing for her baby’s life. She has to watch him the whole time; fearing that if she leaves him alone for a moment, the brother would come and take him away or kill him. He is still small enough for her to carry on her back, but she won’t be able to keep up with that much longer. She can’t move away, because she only has a little income, no place to stay and no way of taking care of 4 children. Her only option: she is looking for a place where she can leave her baby, something like a orphanage or an abandoned baby center.
I know, this sounds so horrible and it is so hard for me to understand. I cannot imagine a mother giving her baby away. I cannot imagine a family not wanting a vulnerable, sweet little baby. But this is part of the Swazi culture and slowly we are learning more about this culture. A culture we don’t understand.
But please pray for Tulie and her baby. And please pray that God will give us an answer to save this little boy’s life.
Through all of this Jumbo and I were also looking for a house to rent. I prayed one night and told God that we NEED a house in Swaziland. I experienced God stopping me right there in my prayer and asking me, “Are you asking me for a house or are you demanding a house from Me? Do I sense a demanding spirit?”
Wow! That stopped me! I did not go to God with a humble spirit asking Him to provide a house, I demanded one from Him. I’ve come to realize that I have to listen to the words I pray. Yes, I can make my desires known to Him, I can ask of Him and I can also plead with Him, but I can never demand of Him. He is our Heavenly Father who looks after us and He knows our needs, He will provide! I just need to keep my eyes on Him and trust Him.
“Be still and know that I am God.”
Well, the very next day we saw an ad for a house in the local newspaper, we phoned, we went to look at it and we took it! We knew that it was the house God had in mind for us. It was amazing! It is in the neighborhood we would like to stay in and it is exactly what we were looking for. So this week we are in South Africa doing some shopping for our house. (We don’t even have beds yet!) We are so excited and I cannnot wait to get back and get moved in!
Let us know if you want to come and visit! We would love to have you here!
