Practicing real love

 

This morning I read a scripture that spoke to me and gave me the theme for today’s blog. It was 1 John 3:18 which says,

 

“My dear children, let’s not just talk about love; let’s practice real love.

This is the only way we’ll know we’re living truly, living in God’s reality.

 It’s also the way to shut down debilitating self-criticism,

even when there is something to it.

For God is greater than our worried hearts

and knows more about us than we do ourselves.”

 

This week was a week of practicing real love at the Project Canaan children’s campus. I will share four stories and will start with the hardest one.

 

We received a call about a home filled with 16 children (ages 3-11) who were covered with scabies.  A quick Google search finds a description that reads, “A contagious, intensely itchy skin condition caused by a tiny, burrowing mite. Scabies is contagious and spreads quickly through close physical contact. The most common symptom of scabies is intense itching in the area where the mites burrow. Scabies can be treated by killing the mites and their eggs with medication that's applied from the neck down and left on for eight hours.”  

 

 

This Swazi home did not have any access to medication and the wounds were starting to fester. The children were suffering and we were asked to assist. I asked our nurse Anthony to pay them a visit and assess the situation. He returned with photos and a report that was not only shocking, but heartbreaking, sending a text that reported a “the kids have a hygiene-related parasite infestation. They are desperate.” This particular home should have access to government care and treatment, but after not being able to get help for three weeks, they called us because they knew we would help. We want to practice real love for those children next week with antibiotics, ointments, lessons in bathing, cleaning clothes and house to try to rid them of these vicious mites. You’ll learn how you can help at the end of the blog.

 

We received two new babies this week through Social Welfare, the first two of 2021. The first little boy came from the young mother I wrote about in last week’s blog. We have named him Prosper with Jeremiah 29:11 in mind. It reads, “For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.” This little boy and his mother needed this scripture spoken over them.  He was born by cesarean at 34 weeks and weighed 5.5 pounds and the mother wants nothing to do with the baby. The mother was taken to ICU, but has recovered and has been discharged to an uncertain future. We were able to practice real love by giving Prosper a loving home and hope to be able to practice real love by assisting his mother next week.

 

 

The second child had been in the hospital suffering from malnutrition for a couple of months. His mother lost two other babies and was not mentally stable enough to even feed this little guy. The doctor and social worker worked hard together to try to find him a safe place to live with family, but their attempts were unsuccessful, so he was placed with us where we are blessed to be able to practice real love to a child who has never known love. He is now a happy and healthy 4-month-old and we will call him Mandla. 

 

 

Lastly, Ian and I had the privilege of taking Nokuphiwa and Nokwanda to South Africa to get a surgical assessment from a plastic surgeon with the hopes of avoiding future travel to the U.S. as Covid-19, border closures and cancelled flights seem to have closed the doors to U.S. medical assistance for the future. Not wanting to put her care on hold any further we are pursuing options in South Africa, where the private healthcare is some of the best in the world. Getting this young lady across the border required no less than 3 full days in Mbabane trying to get a medical visa from the South African High Commission as well as Covid-19 tests for $56 USD each. NOTHING is easy here, but we persevered and got everything needed to cross the border. Practicing real patience is sometimes the key to practicing real love.

 

Only one adult was allowed into the Doctor’s office due to Covid restrictions so I took the lead on this appointment. The surgeon was SO kind and SO informative that I left knowing more about Nokuphiwa’s medical condition and needs than I had after two years of reports from the medical team in the U.S. That is not meant as a slight to them, I was just really happy to be able to ask a million questions that I hadn’t been able to get answers for. The bottom line is that this surgeon is not our guy, but he is referring us to a hospital in Durban where there is a multi-disciplinary team that would be best to assist us for the next many years of surgery. The surgeon was personally calling the head of the department who was also his professor. Nokuphiwa’s case will need to be assessed by the multi-disciplinary team and they will need to “approve” her as a patient. If and when that happens they will make a long-term plan that will include; finishing her lips so that they close and hopefully become more functional, constructing a nose from her forehead and rib cartilage, constructing a left ear also from rib cartilage, closing the tear duct above her burned eye and hopefully giving her a prosthetic eye that is so real looking we will hardly know it’s not real. I felt that this surgeon was practicing real love as he wanted to go above and beyond the call so that she could get the very best possible care and outcome.  That is what our goal is too.

 

 

Would you like to practice real love today and help a child in need? Here are a couple of ways you can do it right now. You can become a monthly sponsor either Prosper or Mandla and pray for them by name as they continue to heal and grow.

 

Child Sponsorship in the U.S.:  https://www.heartforafrica.org/HOPESTARTS/

Child sponsorship in 🇨🇦 Canada:  http://bit.ly/hfahopestartsca

 

OR you can make a donation to our Emergency Medical fund to help us provide the urgent care that those 16 children need to rid them of scabies.

 

Medical care gift in the U.S.: https://www.heartforafrica.org/Emergency-Fund/

Medical care gift in Canada: https://heartforafrica.ca/emergency-fund/

 

You can also practice real love today by calling a friend who might be lonely or sending an overdue email or dropping a food pack off at a neighbor’s house who might just need to feel some real love today. Who can you show real love to today… right now? Don’t delay. You will be blessed by doing it.

 

Live from Eswatini … practicing real love to our dogs by bathing them in ringworm shampoo!

 

Janine

We have to move on with life

Kids helping Ian bathe the puppies with ringworm shampoo.

 

Even though our borders have been closed and the country-wide lock down has been extended ANOTHER two weeks, we still have to keep going.  The rains have stopped for a few days so we are able to get to town to buy groceries and run errands. Babies still need to be rescued, food still needs to be grown and buildings still need to get built, so we must move on with life.

 

This week I spent a lot of time trying to help a 21-year-old girl who is pregnant, has a heart condition that will require her to have a C-section rather than give birth vaginally, and has a blood clotting problem which his preventing the C-section from happening. She is alone in the hospital and completely abandoned by her mother who is angry that she got pregnant in the first place. As the story continued to unfold I learned that she had been raped by her biological father for FIVE years while she was in primary school, and while she did report it to the authorities, and the father was arrested, he was released on bail. Her brothers threatened to kill the girl if she continued to press charges, so she dropped it and she moved on with life. We are doing what we can to help her and anticipated receiving a newborn baby in the days ahead. Please pray for both mother and child.

 

We are expecting a wave of newborn babies coming in the weeks ahead based on the number of teen pregnancies that we hear about around the country. As one social worker said to me, “Janine, it’s everywhere. Fathers are raping their daughters, brothers are raping their sisters, grandfathers are raping their granddaughters and uncles are raping their nieces. They are hopeless and unemployed and hungry and locked down at home with nothing to do. It’s terrible”.  So, we too must move on with life and prepare for the babies that are coming. As a part of that preparation I am thrilled to announce that we recently promoted Khosie Mamba to the position of Manager of the Project Canaan Children’s Lower (baby/toddler) Campus and Gcebile Shongwe to Manager of the Middle (Emseni) Campus. They will both report directly to me and the Senior Supervisors in each house will report to them. I LOVE my children’s campus team and am so very thankful for their love, support and commitment to the Lord and to the mission.

Khosie Mamba

 

Gcebile Shongwe

 

In the kitchen departments we welcome Collin Pheiffer and Siphelele Sibandze to the team. Both are helping us to streamline our purchasing, control inventory, better manage our farm-to-table practices and spice up our menu! My goal is to get burgers on the menu at least once a month!

 

On the farm we hired a young man from Zimbabwe this week to be our animal technician. His name is Simbai “Allen” Maruve and he has his Bachelor of Veterinary Science degree from the University of Zimbabwe. He has just completing his Master degree in Medical Science at the University of Kwazulu Natal in South Africa and recently submitted his thesis on “Assessing knowledge, attitudes and practices of animal health professionals in South Africa pertaining to antibiotic resistance in animals”.  Allen brings a unique knowledge base to the farm team and oversee all the animals from chickens, goats and cows to fish and bees.

 

 

I know that things are tough all over the world with a global pandemic, crazy weather conditions, lockdowns and the normal day-to-day challenges of life trying to wear us down and tear us down, but I want to encourage you today to just keep moving on.

 

Romans 5:4 says, “The strength to go on produces character. Character produces hope.”

 

The world needs hope right now, so “keep on keepin’ on” (as my friend Rose Smith always says to me) and let your strength produce character which brings hope to the world. How cool is that idea?

 

Live from Eswatini… moving on.

 

Janine

Jack was a good sport today.

Just one of those weeks

 

This was one of those weeks. My computer is broken making work difficult. The letter “T” has completely come off, the letter “N” doesn’t work and the space bar gives me two spaces each time. Ian came to my rescue, as always, and loaned me a keyboard to use, which was great, until the space bar stopped working completely. Is it possible that I am THAT hard on a keyboard?

 

Ian had his own challenges this week, including the guard at the baby home closing the electric gate by accident as he drove through, smashing the door beyond repair. `That gate is only closed after the kids are all in bed and this was the middle of the day. He was not happy.

 

 

After 16 days of the bridge to town being impassable due to heavy rains, Arlyn and Sibusiso were able to get the JCB to the river (3 miles) and then spent FOUR hours clearing large trees, bush and debris that had been stuck on the bridge then making it passable. We are so thankful to our friends who came many years ago and said, “You guys need a back hoe!” and then they shipped us a brand new JCB back hoe from the U.S. 

 

 

That piece of equipment has been a life-saver!! We expect heavy rains and flooding again this weekend, but at least we all got to town and were able to grocery shop again.

 

Our farm team had their own challenges. The ground is SO saturated with water from the rains that it made bailing a huge challenge with the tractors, trailers and even the backhoe getting stuck in the fields. YES we are grateful for the rains and are always thankful for water, but sheesh, we have a LOT of water!

 

While it’s been a challenging week, we also have had a great week!  We are harvesting tilapia again and the kids will have fish and chips for lunch on Sunday! We harvested 19 crates of dragon fruit. Ian and I got to see the new library at the primary school, which is ready for school to commence!! 

 

We have a container shipping from the U.S. this month and ALL 200 pairs of rain boots and ponchos have been purchased from our amazon shopping list as well as some ping pong tables, swimming pools and foosball tables!  Ian has ordered me a new laptop, with a fully functioning keyboard and we our volunteers have been able to purchase goodies to also come in the container to help with a few comforts from home since our borders are still closed to travel.

 

All in all, it has been one of those weeks, with highs that are high and lows that are lows. But we give thanks for the encouragement that James gives us during our times of trouble when he says, “My brothers and sisters, you will face all kinds of trouble. When you do, think of it as pure joy. Your faith will be tested. You know that when this happens it will produce in you the strength to continue. And you must allow this strength to finish its work. Then you will be all you should be. You will have everything you need.”  James 1:2-4

 

Lastly, I want to leave you with something that was a “fun find” for us during our trip to town. While it is impossible to buy fresh fish or seafood here, there is a frozen seafood store that we stopped by to pick up some salmon. While there we saw something that we had never seen before. Mozambican lobster! WHAT??  They had never had it there before, but they had 3 of them in stock so we bought one to enjoy tomorrow on Valentine’s day.  

 

Lock down/lock in can be hard, but we are trying our best to find fun and joy in our daily lives. I hope that you can do that too.

 

Happy Valentine’s Day! 

 

Live from Eswatini ... staying inside the ark today.

 

Janine

Are you ready to be poured out as an offering?

 

Each morning Ian and I start our day with a cup of Peet’s Major Dickason’s coffee (thank you Julie and Pete Wilkerson for that reco) and have our quiet time looking over the farm. We typically read Oswald Chambers My Utmost for His Highest and then move on to scripture.  Today was no different, except that the farm had disappeared as a cloud settled into the valley.

I chuckled as I read the title of today’s message as it said, “Are You Ready To Be Poured Out As an Offering?”  Pouring is something that we have been dealing with for two full weeks now – pouring rain. Cyclone Eloise made her way to us on Sunday, January 23rd and the rivers across the country flooded. Our dams filled to overflowing and then kept flowing. The bridge that we cross to drive to town has only been passable twice since the rains hit, and not in the past week. That means no one can come to us, including half of our workers who live on the other side of that bridge. There is a back way to town, but it’s a long drive on a really bad road, over a mountain that is always washed out. You have to have a high vehicle, 4-wheel drive is recommended and courage to make that trip, especially if it’s raining (which it is forecasted to do for another 13 days).

 

The bridge on a normal day.

The bridge this morning (or should I say the river?)

 

We had a day of sunshine and extreme heat yesterday (sauna-like), which helped the muddy roads start to dry out. We had a nice visit with our long-term volunteers by the fire last night and just as they left the rains began to pour again.

Back to Oswald’s message today. Here is what he wrote:

Are you ready to be poured out as an offering? It is an act of your will, not your emotions. Tell God you are ready to be offered as a sacrifice for Him. Then accept the consequences as they come, without any complaints, in spite of what God may send your way. God sends you through a crisis in private, where no other person can help you. From the outside your life may appear to be the same, but the difference is taking place in your will. Once you have experienced the crisis in your will, you will take no thought of the cost when it begins to affect you externally. If you don’t deal with God on the level of your will first, the result will be only to arouse sympathy for yourself.

“Bind the sacrifice with cords to the horns of the altar” (Psalm 118:27). You must be willing to be placed on the altar and go through the fire; willing to experience what the altar represents— burning, purification, and separation for only one purpose— the elimination of every desire and affection not grounded in or directed toward God. But you don’t eliminate it, God does. You “bind the sacrifice…to the horns of the altar” and see to it that you don’t wallow in self-pity once the fire begins. After you have gone through the fire, there will be nothing that will be able to trouble or depress you. When another crisis arises, you will realize that things cannot touch you as they used to do. What fire lies ahead in your life?

Tell God you are ready to be poured out as an offering, and God will prove Himself to be all you ever dreamed He would be.

Friends, please go back and read that again. I have read it and re-read it because I love the promise that it makes. And we are living proof of that promise being true. Yes, He might move you to Africa and yes you might have to go through fire and rain and drought and flood and death and disease, but you will also experience joy and laughter and love and peace and contentment and hope that is never-ending. Who doesn’t want that?

Speaking of hope, February is child sponsorship month at Heart for Africa.  Will you sponsor one of our 275 children who now have a life filled with hope because they have been brought to Project Canaan – a place of HOPE?

To sponsor a child in Canada please click here.

To sponsor a child in the U.S. please click here.

Thank you for helping us bring hope to the nation of Eswatini. We all really need it right now.

Live from Eswatini … thankful for the good days and the hard days.

Janine

PS - we still need a few rain boots and rain ponchos for the February container. Please check out our amazon wish list at http://bit.ly/raingearforpckids. Thanks!