Final weekly blog – A farewell, not goodbye.

On June 1^st 2011, I wrote this in my first blog journaling our move to Africa: “Once we move to Africa, 365 short days from today, we hope you will continue to follow our adventure as we begin to bring in abandoned babies, work with orphan headed-households in the community around Project Canaan, grow and export tons of food and so much more.  Of course, that will all be dependent on us having electricity, internet access and a few other basics like fresh water.  You see ... the journey REALLY does begin today. People have asked me when I am going to write my next book.  My answer is that this blog is the next book, and you get to read it as it happens.”

 

One year later – on my blog dated May 31^st, 2012 – I wrote: “The 365-day countdown has come to an end.  Today is the day we get on a plane and move to Swaziland, Africa.  This year has flown by, but this past week seemed like it took another year.  Transition is hard and I can't say that I have handled it well…there were many tears, too many times snapping at my family, and then more tears.  But today is the day I have longed for since 2003.  It is time to move and serve the Lord whom I love on a continent that I love.”

 

Just the words electricity, internet access and fresh water bring up memories of the challenges we have overcome, and how God has provided in each and every circumstance. As I write these words, it’s May 29^th, 2021; we have lived in Africa for 9 years, which honestly has flown by. Today I am writing my 489^th weekly blog (not missing one Saturday in nine years!), but today will be my last WEEKLY blog. This move has had a significant impact on the entire Maxwell family, and we have all LIVED through the highs and the lows, the joy and the sorrow, the reward and the sacrifice of serving the Lord. I thought you, my dear reader and friend, would like to hear the voices of Ian, Spencer and Chloe in this final weekly blog as you have heard my voice a lot over the past ten years.

 

Here are a few questions that we thought you might like to hear the answers to:

 

What has been the hardest part of the past 9 years for you personally?

 

Chloe: “There has been a lot of “hard,” from the stories of each child and the fires, to saying goodbye to my sister Nomsa and people betraying us. The hardest part though, I would say, is being so far away from each of my family members for so many years and figuring out how to manage a long-distance family.”

 

Spencer: “I would say the hardest part (that I have come “a long way” on) would be knowing what I should tell my folks, and what I shouldn’t. For example, if mom starts the call with “we received a new baby that was found in a pit latrine” it’s hard to say that I am struggling with school or a friendship because how does that compare to a baby being found under such circumstances? But at the same time, we are each going through life and have struggles. We can’t say one is worse than the other because not only is it relative, it’s personal. So being able to hear what my parents tell me is going on and still being able to process my own circumstances was challenging, but liberating.” 

 

Ian: “Thinking I screwed up my daughter’s high school years by enrolling her in an international private school in Eswatini. It didn’t work out and she lost a full semester. She ended up graduating from Morrison Academy in Taiwan, that turned out to one of the best decisions we made as parents.”

 

Janine: “The hardest part for me was not being able to “be there” for Spencer and Chloe when I felt they needed us most, but having to try to help from afar. The second hardest was hearing the harsh criticism of people who were telling us from afar how we were doing things wrong and how to do them better.”

 

What has been the best part of the past 9 years for you personally?

 

Chloe: “Seeing the plan unfold and all of the parts working together so well. It surprises me every time, but somehow Project Canaan is more amazing, more developed and more inspiring every time I go home. Also seeing the number of people that have been a part of this crazy journey, even if only for specific times, each person that has played a specific role in Project Canaan being what it is today.”

 

Spencer: “Knowing that even though it’s hard on all of us, we believe our family was called to this mission. We all believe God is in control, which alleviates so much stress in my life- a serious example would be when people ask if I’m afraid for my parents getting bit by a snake. I can honestly respond that I am not worried because if that’s a part of Gods plan, so be it. I know they are protected and are called to this mission, which makes it easier to explain to friends (even those that wouldn’t be on the faith spectrum).” 

 

Ian: “Being in the front seat witnessing God develop a vision. He uses people who are available, to bring wisdom, skills, finance and prayer together to bring the vision to life. From African bush, Project Canaan has emerged to bring HOPE to Eswatini and I have had the privilege to see it all.”

 

Janine: “Feeling the presence of God every day is a wonderful thing and knowing that He is directing our steps is so assuring. Seeing Grace walk, noticing that Miracle can now see, discovering that Holly and Ivy are no longer deaf, watching Phiwa skip into a hospital for reconstructive facial surgery are all proof that Jesus is alive and well and present here.

 

What would you do differently if you were to move to Africa again?

 

Spencer: “I would prioritize internal communication between our family. In the last year we established a weekly family phone call on Sundays that is something I look forward to. Sure, before I could call my parents anytime (before 9pm their time) but having a designated time schedule (even though it may sound “corporate”) is really important in creating a structure for our family to have consistent communication.” 

 

Ian: “I would have bought a bulldozer. No really… I would have bought a bulldozer.”

 

Janine: “I would get more advice on how to stay better connected with Spencer and Chloe and I would also be more intentional in planning family holidays that were not in Africa.”

 

What do you wish people knew about this journey that they may not know?

 

Chloe: “I am so grateful that my parents said yes, because if they hadn’t, I wouldn’t have 289 brothers and sisters that I love, I wouldn’t have the confidence to fearlessly travel the world and absorb new cultures, and I wouldn’t have the extremely personal example my parents have left to show my children one day of what it looks like to literally be the hands and feet of Jesus.” 

 

Spencer: "I think people would be surprised to hear all the junk people say to us about our mission. The critiques left and right, people sharing how they think we should run the organization, as well as the straight-up ugliness people show us is kind of surprising. Which makes it all the better when people truly support us with words of encouragement!

 

Ian: “The journey over the past decade+ has had its highs and lows but through it all the Lord has given me an inner peace which has filled me with joy in the “high” time and sustained me during the “low” times. This journey is an adventure, every day I get to see some of what the Lord is doing, (just a peek under the tent), and I’m filled to the brim.”

 

Janine: “I think sometimes we make living in Africa look easy, but it’s not. It’s all hard and it’s heartbreaking. We are human. We hurt, we bleed, we feel­­­­­­­ pain and lonliness. But God is with us always and even in our darkest hours He has never left us nor forsaken us. This is the good news of the gospel that we share daily with our Swazi brothers and sisters.

What are you most thankful for about the Maxwell’s moving to Africa story?

 

Chloe: “I am most thankful that I am a Maxwell and that this is part of my story. We only get one life – At 24 years old, I’ve had the opportunity to see the world, understand poverty, truly understand and experience the impact that one person can make and because of this, I believe both Spencer, my 288 brothers and sisters and I can change the world.”

 

Spencer: “Umm isn’t it obvious? That WE were called to this mission?! How many times have we heard “I could never do what your parents are doing” when really, anyone could pick up and move to anywhere to do anything. I am so fortunate that not only did God call my folks to Africa, but that they said YES. My life is forever changed by this project and it has exposed me to things I will carry for the rest of my life. I am also so thankful for all the people that have encouraged our family from the start, and have stayed with us through this process. You know who you are and I can’t thank you enough.” 

 

Ian: “That our whole family said “Yes” when asked about moving to Africa. Our lives would be dramatically different if we had said no.”

 

Janine: “That we did it. Fear did not hold us back. People did not hold us back. We put down our nets and followed him with abandon. The impossible became possible because God was with us at every step, and our children were able to experience it first hand and our children’s children will be blessed because of it.

 

Thank you for taking this journey with our entire family.  Thank you for supporting me each week by crying with me, wiping my tears from afar, joining with me in prayer and cheering us all on from a distance. Thank you to those of you who serve with us every day here in Eswatini, or elsewhere in the world.

 

Thank you to everyone who has sent me words of encouragement about how much you have enjoyed my blog, but also words of understanding of why it is time to take the next step in the way this blog is shared. Nine years ago, as I wrote in that blog before our departure for Swaziland, “It is time to move and serve the Lord . . .” – that declaration still resonates! Every step of this journey has been taken in faith, and it’s time to invite you to share your journey, your experiences and the manner in which God has invited you into this story. There are still stories to be told, chapters yet to be written and it’s time for them to be shared by those who’ve said “yebo” to this call.

 

I promise to write to you monthly in the Heart for Africa Share HOPE blog, so please be sure to sign up for it.

 

I have two final requests, and I hope that ALL of you will participate in both;

1.     Would you take a moment to write an email to me at janine@heartforafrica.org or leave a comment on the social media platform where you read this blog? Please share a favorite blog, story, or why you continued to read this blog for as long as you have.

 

2.     Would you make a small (or large) one-time gift to the children of Project Canaan, which will go towards special needs that arise (like emergency surgery, special staff gifts etc.)? While the blog was free, raising nearly 300 children is expensive! Every gift you make is another step towards raising the next generation of leadership for this country we all love so much.

 

In the U.S. Please click here.

 

In Canada Please click here.

 

Lastly, please know that Jesus is securely on the throne, even in the country in which you live. I have readers from all over the world, and while every nation has suffered during the past 18 months, Jesus is still alive and He is with you always.

 

My new book HOPE LIVES HERE is now available for pre-order so please be sure to order yours today!

 

In the U.S. you can order it directly from us at Khutsala by clicking here.

 

In Canada you can receive it now as it is available as print on demand on amazon.ca.

Just click here!

 

Live from Eswatini … may the Lord bless you and keep you and give you peace.

 

Janine

 

 

P.S. A few facts about my blog that you might find interesting: 

 

My top 3 most read blog articles were:

 

1.     Just Tears https://janinemaxwell.blogspot.com/2018/04/just-tears.html

2.     7 Babies in 7 Days https://janinemaxwell.blogspot.com/2018/10/7-babies-in-7-days.html

3.     What is a “mushroom Daycare”? You might not want to know. https://janinemaxwell.blogspot.com/2017/06/what-is-mushroom-daycare-you-might-not.html

 

Most of my readership came from 18 countries as seen below:

United States	571,547
Canada	84,698
Russia	21,679
Eswatini	15,132
Taiwan	12,423
Sweden	9,654
United Kingdom	9,412
Germany	6,903
France	6,387
South Africa	6,298
Ukraine	5,257
Kenya	1,140
Netherlands	897
Japan	884
Australia	863
United Arab Emirates	802
Brazil	749
Belgium	735

 

 

I have had 818,493 all time blog reads.

 

Thanks for spending some or all of the last 10 years with me!

Much love,

Janine

What did my mom and Ian have in common?

Planting banana trees in honor of my mom.

Tomorrow is Ian’s 54^th birthday. It would have been my mom’s 88^th birthday if she were still alive. But that's not all they had in common.

As I sit and write this blog I am looking out over the Project Canaan farm and thinking of these two very special people in my life and how they have impacted my life, and so many others – my mom and Ian.

My mom was a fearless genius, a brilliant pharmacist, a renaissance woman, and a stubborn/tireless advocate. She would have LOVED everything about Project Canaan, especially the impossibility of the whole thing.  She would have wanted to be covered in grease trying to fix the bulldozer, but then she would have been researching how to get better yields of tilapia in the aquaponics system. She would have reorganized our pharmacy and tried to find medications around the world that aren’t available here and then she would have been finding new varieties of vegetables for our fields.  Her surname was “Willis” and there was a family play on the saying “where there’s a will, there’s a way” that said,  “Where there’s a Willis, there’s a way”.  That was my mom.

My mom was also a mighty woman of faith and trusted in the Lord for everything.  I remember seeing my first miracle on her couch in the livingroom above the drugstore where we lived.  One of her friends was born with one leg several inches shorter than the other, causing a significant limp and pain. My mom was a “new Christian” and read that Jesus healed the lame, so she laid hands on her friend and prayed for her friend’s leg to grow so that she would no longer limp and be in pain.  I saw that leg grow with my own eyes, and I saw my mom jump up and down and shriek, cry and rejoice!  Her friend never limped again (but did have “growing pains” for a few days after the healing).

Mom with Spencer on his 1st Christmas.

My mom’s faith was unwavering and she taught me to believe in a God who never failed.

In that way, Ian is very much like my mom.  His faith is unwavering, and I see that every single day. AND he is really excited about the unknown and the adventure of learning.

For those of you who don’t know Ian personally, he is a very humble man who models grace, wisdom and hard work for those around him.  He loves to learn and is the first to admit that he knows nothing about many things that he is working on, but he is also the first to buy a book about butchering to learn how to carve up a cow or read the latest book on bees to learn how to get our Aviary back up and running.  He loves to learn like my mom did and I love that about him.

Hundreds of thousands of beet root seedlings preparing for the field.

Making our own minced beef after slaughtering a cow.

Ian is also a man of faith and believes in a God who answers prayer.  And why wouldn’t he?  He knows that it is impossible for us (Ian and Janine Maxwell) to start a farm in the middle of a tiny Kingdom in Africa and then rescue 247 orphaned or abandoned babies and commit to raising them to adulthood.  We didn’t know anything about farming, construction or growing fruit trees, but Ian had faith that God would send people who did and now we have field crops as well as hydroponics and aquaponics, we have built 63 buildings, and we have an orchard of avocadoes, papayas and have cleared land for a banana grove!

Ian is my rudder.  He is the calm in my storm.  He makes me laugh and consoles me when I cry.  But more importantly his faith is a constant reminder to me that God is in control, that He loves us and He is our provider. 

Will you join me in celebrating Ian’s life by buying him a banana tree for our new banana grove?  They are only $12.00!  That’s the best birthday gift ever because they will provide fresh fruit for years to come!

Tomorrow is also the birthday of our children Moses, Robert and Bernice so if you would like to buy them banana tree for their birthday or if you would like to buy one in memory of my mom, please click on the links below. Thank you!

In the US click here.

In Canada click here.

Live from Eswatini … banana pudding will soon be on the menu!

Janine

Ian’s emergency surgery and our cancelled trip

Tai and Georgia - the Swazi's call them our "lions".

On October 5^th we will celebrate our 25^th wedding anniversary, and what a wild and crazy 25 years it has been!  For the past six months we have been planning a fun-filled trip back to the US and Canada to celebrate with friends and family.

But alas, our dogs decided that they really wanted us to stay here instead and due to a fluke accident last week, our anniversary trip has been cancelled.  Here is what happened.

Ian was letting out the “big dogs” which are locked up in a large pen during the day and let out to roam within our electric fencing at night.  They keep snakes and wild animals away, and Swazi’s are TERRIFIED of them. One of our female Boerboel’s (named Tai) loves to horseplay with our male Doberman named Max.  Each of them weighs 130+ pounds. 

Ian opened their gate and out they rushed.  Unfortunately the two rambunctious dogs took an unusual path down to the house and ran in to Ian’s left knee and he dropped to the ground.  I got a phone call from Ian, and he said was, “I need help.”  I ran out in to the darkness to see him lying on the ground waving his flashlight in the air so I could see where he was. He was writhing in pain and the dogs were standing over him, licking him (and feeling VERY badly!!).

Tai, Max and Jack ... they're really really sorry.

Kenny came to the rescue and helped Ian get down to the house and in to bed, with ice, Advil and prayer following. On Ian’s 51^st birthday he went and saw an orthopedic surgeon in Swaziland who drained 4 oz of blood off the knee and told him to take it easy.  Three days later, while wearing a brace, Ian’s knee twisted while in the house and down he went, cracking a rib and further damaging his knee.

On Tuesday we were sent to South Africa to see a knee specialist to have an MRI and make sure that he would be okay to make the 17-hour flight on Friday and start our anniversary trip.  The specialist saw us first thing Wednesday morning and by 3PM that day Ian was in surgery (in a city we don’t know in an African country).

It appears that when the dogs hit the outside of his knee, the knee cap pushed over the other side of this tibia and a chunk of his knee cap was knocked off before the knee cap slid partially back in to position. The ruptured ligaments allowed blood to pool under his kneecap and keep it out of position.  The bone chunk (the size of a quarter) slid down the front of his kneecap and lodged in between his tibia and his femur.  OUCH! 

We drove half way back to Swaziland Thursday afternoon and made the call to cancel our trip. Last night (Friday) were to have driven 5-hours back to Johannesburg and then gotten on a plane to fly to the US for three weeks that would not have been filled with pain, frustration and unnecessary stress,.

So many people have sent us kind words of encouragement and support, and we really appreciate that. Both Spencer and Chloe have called several times to check on their dad and tell us that they fully support us cancelling our trip, and that warms my heart (and helps slow the tears).   In each call we remind each other that it could have been much worse.  We are not dealing with a poisonous snakebite, deadly PCP pneumonia, Multiple Drug resistant tuberculosis or many of the other things we deal with each and every day. This is an inconvenience (and obviously painful for Ian), not a crisis. 

It’s an inconvenience because I needed oral surgery to fix a tooth that has been broken for months.  I need to see my ophthalmologist to get an updated prescription because I am almost out of contact lenses.  Then there is our ““buy in the US/Canada” list of things that we can’t buy here that will go un-purchased, and Christmas gifts will need to be purchased in other ways.

It’s an inconvenience because we have to cancel our annual Heart for Africa board meeting and we won’t be able to attend the Heart for Africa annual golf tournament.

But it is an inconvenience, it’s not the end of the world.

Of course the hardest part is that we won’t be able to spend time with Spencer and Chloe, who we only see together once a year (at Christmas). We will miss Ian’s dad’s 80^th birthday party and Canadian Thanksgiving.  We have cancelled our 25^th anniversary party where most of our wedding party was going to gather again and we would have had delicious food and a few good laughs with lifetime friends. But that is life.  Serving in Africa ain’t for sissies, and but we are thankful to have the opportunity to do it, even with the bumps and bruises along the way.

Today I have peace. I haven’t slept much in the last two weeks, but got a solid nine hours in our own bed last night.  Ian is in a brace on the couch watching Diners Drive-In’s and Dives and is comfortable. There is homemade chili cooking in the crockpot and the laundry is almost complete.  Life is good, and I am thankful.

Live from Swaziland … livin’ the dream.

Janine

What kind of people do we need here in Swaziland? Maybe it’s YOU?

Thank you all for your prayers for Ian’s health last week.  We spent most of the week in Johannesburg and got great news at every step.  The Doctor in Swaziland and the Cardiologist in South Africa both seemed to think that Ian would come out of the Angiogram with a Stent in one artery.  Ten minutes into the procedure the Cardiologist came out and said, “His heart is perfect! But now we much check his lungs because there must be something there.  Come back tomorrow and we will do an x-ray”.   A few of the things that were thrown around included Tuberculosis (well, duh, we have lots of exposure to that), lung cancer and a few others that I didn’t understand. 

The next morning the lung X-Ray was perfectly clear and the Cardiologist just shook his head.  He said that Ian’s stress test and symptoms were classic cardiac, but he seems to be in perfect health.  We then wondered if the Blood Pressure medication that Ian was on in Georgia (because of the high stress of our last year there) should/could have been reduced once we moved and his stress was lowered.  Of course he hasn’t been to see a Doctor in two years so he has been on the same medication.  Maybe his BP was normal and the medication was pushing it too low causing weakness, tiredness, shortness of breath etc.  He is now off all medication and feeling good so far. We claim this as a healing and give thanks for the Great Doctor, El Rofi, who made Ian and has His mighty hand on Ian’s life.

Now for this weeks blog.

In February we had a great meeting in Swaziland with several of our Board members and staff called the 2014 Heart for Africa Business Summit.  There were many things on the agenda, but one of them was what does Heart for Africa Swaziland need in the area of Human Resources that could be filled by volunteers from abroad.

We came up with this list:

1. Farm Director – someone who has extensive Farming experience to come and work directly with Ian and the Farm team to instill Best Practices in farming while increasing yield and profitability of the farm 
2. Animal Husbandry Expert – specifically goats, chickens, dairy cows.
   
3. House Grandmother/Grandparents for Labakhetsiwe Toddler Home – a mature woman or couple who would come and live at the Toddler home (with dozens of loud and beautiful children) who can help serve as a Grandmother or Grandparents to the children for one year or more.
4. Preschool Teacher for 2015
5. Pastor with a focus on Children’s Ministry.

 

One of our key focuses at Project Canaan is to hire local Swazi’s so we are very sensitive to bringing in people from abroad.  That being said, we do know that volunteers, with specific areas of expertise and gifting can be a huge asset to everyone at Project Canaan. 

If you are interested in getting more information about these positions please send a letter of interest to info@heartforafrica.org and tell us all about yourself, your background, why you would like to come and serve as a volunteer and include a Resume if possible.  We have an extensive Long Term Volunteer application process, but it can go faster if you have traveled with us in the past.   We are looking for people who have a heart to serve the Lord through serving others. We are looking for Followers of Jesus, who are flexible, flexible and adapt easily to change J. 

Next week we are working on finalizing the development plan for Project Canaan Phase Two:  The Road to Sustainability.  This will be presented to our Board of Directors at our Annual Board Meeting in mid-April and then at two events in Georgia at the end of April.  If you are interested in coming to visit Ian and I and seeing how you can be a part of this exciting plan (even without moving to Africa!) we will be speaking during the evenings of April 28^th or April 29^th.    

Please email tricia@heartforafrica.org for details. 

Live from Swaziland … I am thankful for an amazing week.

Janine

What does Ian's Google Search History say about him?

It’s Saturday again and the sun is shining. The river has receded and it can be crossed safely again after seven days of being “stuck” on the mountaintop.  Oh, to be stuck with this beautiful view.

The last few blogs have been pretty heavy with heart problems and the death of a baby so I thought I would try to provide some levity this week by sharing with you a little of the “behind the scene” in the life of Janine and Ian Maxwell.

Last week I was called by Social Welfare to rush over to their offices and pick up a one-month old baby whose mother wanted to kill him.  She threatened on three occasions, including in front of the police that she was going to kill the baby so I was asked to take the baby to safety.  Those are not easy days, nor are they quickly forgotten.

After Ian and I got home that day I was about to do a Google search for the Psychiatric Hospital in Swaziland and up popped my Google Search History.  I read back the last 10 Google searches I had done and actually laughed out loud. Then I asked Ian to read his to me.  So here we go – a peek in to the real lives of Janine and Ian Maxwell. 

Ian’s 10 most recent Google Searches:

1.     How to use a milk pasteurizer

2.     How to make cheese

3.     How to make buttermilk

4.     Guy Fiery’s Buffalo Chicken Wing Recipe

5.     How to grow Dragon fruit

6.     Dairy Cow tracking software

7.     How to butcher a cow

8.     How to trap monkeys and wild pigs

9.     How to preserve meat using smoke

10. Tips for potty training toddlers

Janine’s 10 most recent Google Searches:

1.     Who is the Producer of American Idol

2.     Was Benedict Cumberbatch in Amazing Grace

3.     What is Angina

4.     Zucchini muffin recipe

5.     2010 Gold Medal Women’s Hockey winner

6.     Disseminated Tuberculosis

7.     How old is Cher

8.     Right Ventricle infraction

9.     Is whole milk the same as full cream

10. Swazifairtrade.org

I think this is a funny and interesting way to look back at what each of us are searching for on the internet.  What does your Google Search History say about you?

A few of the toddlers want to say "hi"!

Well, that’s life in Swaziland.  We are thankful for Google and thankful for you.

Live from Swaziland … we are enjoying the patio view.

Janine

Ian's trip to a Swazi hospital with signs of a heart attack - Africa is not for sissies.

Ian in his favorite t-shirt

On Wednesday morning Ian woke up and followed his usual early morning routine. That includes letting Jack (our Jack Russell who likes to sleep inside!) outside, letting the new puppies out of their gated area, taking Jack and Max up to their daytime living quarters (where they won’t eat a Swazi who might walk by), feeding/water the dogs, feeding/watering the chickens and letting them out of their coop AFTER he turns OFF the electric fencing and opens our gates for people to come in.  The electric fencing keeps the dogs in and people out at night, but is off during the day so that we don’t have fried chicken all the time.  This all needs to be complete before 7AM when people are here to see us.

When he came back in the house he was dripping with sweat. Not unusual since it is so hot here right now.  But he was very flush and said his chest felt like someone was sitting on it.  Before he lay down on the bed to slow his heart down he took his blood pressure and it was a bit low (117/78), which is unusual for him.  I brought him a glass of juice in case it was a random blood sugar drop, but that didn’t seem to help. After a while he got up and showered and prepared for his morning meetings.

I left to go to my weekly meeting at the Children’s Campus and came back just before lunch.  He said he still wasn’t feeling great, still feeling pressure and was really tired.  The power had been out the night before we were sound asleep by 9PM, so I really didn’t think the “tired” was likely.  I called Brooke Sleeper (our amazing and wonderful Nurse Practitioner) and handed the phone to Ian to answer her questions.  He hung up and went back to his meeting.

A few minutes later I received a text message from Brooke basically saying, “Give Ian an Aspirin and take him to the hospital for an EKG now, not this afternoon. I don’t want to scare you, but his symptoms are inline with a minor heart attack.”  I got up, got an Aspirin and water, took it out to the patio where Ian was meeting with Kristal about payroll, gave it to him, asked him to please come with me, we are going to the hospital.  That was that.

Going to a hospital in Swaziland can be a terrifying experience.  I am in hospitals 3-4 times a week, every week, and they are not a place you want to go as a patient.  The hospital that we thought was “the best” in the country is the one who misdiagnosed Jimmy and John’s injuries only two weeks ago. They said John didn’t have a broken wrist, but he did. They said Jimmy had one broken rib and a cracked pelvis.  When he arrived back in Missouri they found NINE broken ribs, one displaced rib that was sticking in to his liver, two cracks in his pelvis, two sprained ankles and more bruising.  So, I really really didn’t want to go back to that hospital. 

Brooke called the other “good hospital” to see if they had an EKG machine and they assured her that they did.  The only problem was that they didn’t have the right size paper to print on, so it was out of order.  Kristal was in our back seat as we were dropping her home on our way and she mentioned a hospital that some of her new neighbors go to.  We dropped her at her gate and within minutes she had texted us the number.  We called and sure enough they had an EKG machine and so we headed there.

We were totally surprised to find this private hospital inside the corporate offices for a construction company.  We quickly learned that this hospital has an EKG machine, handles Trauma, has a lab, Life Support, Operating room and beds.  Within a short time we met the Doctor who actually owns the hospital and he had Ian hooked up to the EKG machine and blood drawn in record time.  In equally quick time, Ian found himself admitted to the hospital in the ICU ward with an IV in his arm and oxygen on while they took more blood to watch for his Cardiac Enzymes (to see whether he had or was having a heart attack). 

Of course Ian started to feel much better and even quoted Monte Python saying, “I feel like going for a walk!”  He picked up his laptop and started back on payroll, which was to be paid the following day.  As an aside, we have 217 employees at Project Canaan who get paid once a month. Each person’s hours/days are tracked manually, put in to a spreadsheet, deductions made and then each one gets paid in cash, down to the penny (or Lilangeni).  It is a grueling process that Kristal is (thankfully!) helping take off Ian’s plate, but it was not off his plate for February payroll so there he sat, in ICU, doing payroll (which likely was part of the heart problem to start with).  Yes, I had to take a photo.  I digress. 

As Ian’s favorite t-shirt says, “Africa isn’t for sissies”.  It’s hard.  Everything about it is hard.  Our children live in the US and Taiwan – how/when do I call them and tell them that their father may have had a heart attack?  How do I comfort them or assure them from a million miles away in a hospital in a Third World Country?

Following Jesus is not always easy, in fact, it is rarely easy and scripture warns us that people who followed Jesus didn’t always have easy lives (or die painless deaths).  It is times like these that our faith is really put to the test.  What do I really believe as I drive down a highway to an unknown hospital for unknown tests on my best friend and love of my life?   That is the real question.  I assure you that we are not Super-Christians (whatever that means), but we do believe with all our hearts (even ones in trauma) that the Lord has called us to be here.  He will see us through, and that might not look the same to us as it does to Him. 

Luke14:25-27 (The Message Bible) says, “One day when large groups of people were walking along with him, Jesus turned and told them, “Anyone who comes to me but refuses to let go of father, mother, spouse, children, brothers, sisters—yes, even one’s own self!—can’t be my disciple. Anyone who won’t shoulder his own cross and follow behind me can’t be my disciple.”  That is not an easy scripture to embrace is it?  It doesn’t seem reasonable. The cost is too high.

The next day, after Ian’s EKG and blood work was reviewed by a Cardiologist in South Africa (there are none in Swaziland), Ian was discharged with Aspirin, Beta Blocker, Nitroglycerin and an appointment to go back for a Stress Test.  Maybe he dodged a bullet.  Maybe the Stress Test will show the need to see a Specialist. Maybe this was all an early warning sign to us to make some changes in the stress levels of our lives.

1 Thessalonians 5:18 says, “give thanks in all circumstances; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus”. I know that this may be easier said than done, but it is what we are commanded to do.

Speaking of giving thanks - it was two years ago today that the first baby arrived at the El Roi Baby home.  His name is Joshua and while he arrived with Syphilis, Jaundice and a few other conditions, he was quickly attended to, fed and loved.  Today he is happy, healthy and celebrated his second birthday yesterday with his 51 brothers and sisters.

What if Ian had said “no”.  I don’t want to move and leave my children, my family, my life.  Where would Joshua and the other 51 babies be today?  Only He knows.

Live from Swaziland … we have much to give thanks for this week.

Janine

PS – if you can be a monthly supporter of the children living at Project Canaan, please do so today.  Every dollar helps us save a life.   Thank you.

In US:  https://heartforafrica.secure.force.com/pmtx/cmpgn__donations?id=701C0000000VFWR  

In Canada:  http://www.heartforafrica.ca/Project%20Canaan%20Children.aspx