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