12 babies in 16 days (and two funerals)

Zacharia, Moses and Isaiah sharing Joel's birthday cake - I just had to give you a CUTE photo to start this blog

August was tough.  We received 12 babies in only 16 days (we typically receive one child every two weeks.  We buried 23-month-old baby Megan after she succumbed to an AIDS related illness (PCP pneumonia – read last weeks blog) and tomorrow we bury the mother to our babies Princess and Anthony. This 22-year-old mother was dying from HIV/TB related complications, but in the end died in a fire that engulfed her small mud hut with dry grass roof.  We praise God that Anthony and Princess were safely with us so that they escaped a horrific death.  AND if that wasn’t enough, we had a huge TB scare at the baby home (a blog for another Saturday!).

I just reviewed each of the babies’ stories who came to us in August to look for any patterns to share with you.  Here is what I found:

·      6 of the babies are newborns, either dumped in pit latrines (outdoor toilets), left at the hospital by the mother or removed from a violent mentally disturbed mother.

·      One 2-year-old was dumped on the side of a railroad and the mother ran away.

·      Two 2-5-month-olds were dumped with neighbors and the mother ran away.

·      One young mother had a psychotic breakdown when after her mother died of an HIV related illness and the girl discovered that she had become HIV positive from not using proper precautions when bathing and caring for her mother. The family found her feeding her baby antiretroviral pills (the baby is not HIV positive) and rescued the child.

·      The other two toddlers were left at an “alleged” family members house and then left the country.  Those family members denied that the child was a part of their family and took them to the social welfare department for help.

Many of you have stepped up to become monthly financial donors to help us care for these children and we cannot say THANK YOU enough!  I was losing hope for a time, but you have restored my hope in humanity.  Support also came from right here in Swaziland (which doesn’t happen very often/ever).

Last Sunday we had surprise visitors as some of our friends from Taiwan brought their friends from Hong Kong (who live and work in Swaziland) to visit us.  They are devout Buddhists and believe that it is important to help the poor and specifically orphans and vulnerable children.  The people from Hong Kong invited us to come and visit them at their textile factory in Matsapha and said that they produce many of the children’s clothes for PEP, EDGARS, MR. PRICE (all store brands here in Swaziland). 

Ian and I dropped in yesterday to visit and they gave us a tour of the factory, with promises of giving us children’s clothing as it was available.  Last night Ian got a call at 8PM saying that they were very moved by what they saw and heard and that they quickly pulled together a few things for us immediately, but would have MUCH more next week.

This morning at 7:30AM we met them on the side of the road and they handed us 5 BIG boxes that contained 500 (FIVE HUNDRED) pieces of clothing for our babies!  Brand new!  All sizes!  And they were all from the more expensive stores, not the cheap ones (where I shop).  They apologized that they didn’t have more today, but it was literally all that would fit in their car. Next week they will have more.

You see, I believe that it’s ALL God’s money, and He is the one who invites people in to His story. Everything we have is from Him - everything in the bank, everything in our closet(s), everything in our garage(s) and wherever else we store our “treasures”.   

Even though I am glad to have August behind me, and I look forward to September, I want you all to know that we have seen the hand of God over and over and over again IN the darkness, and we have never felt alone.  He has never left us and never will and He WILL (and does) provide.

Live from Swaziland … spring is in the air (and we hope rain is coming).

Janine

PS - we now have 137 children whom we are legal guardians for, living at Project Canaan.

We lost Baby Megan this week.

  On Thursday afternoon we lost our beautiful baby Megan to PCP pneumonia (Stage 4 AIDS related pneumonia).  It is a deadly and unforgiving form of pneumonia that takes the lives of almost everyone that it attacks, both young and old.  When Megan first came to us she was very tiny and very sick.  At 2-months-old she was fighting HIV, tuberculosis and severe malnutrition.  In isolation for many months, our medical team and Aunties worked tirelessly to keep her stable while dealing with feeding tubes, fevers, mal-absorption, thrush and a myriad of other issues.

On Monday morning she, along with her ten brothers and sisters (who are HIV positive), were on their way to see the specialist at the Baylor Pediatric AIDS clinic for their monthly checkup and medication.  They noticed Megan’s breathing was becoming a bit labored and the doctor was very concerned, sending Megan directly to the local private hospital to be assessed. She was admitted immediately and the testing began.

By the next morning we were told that she was in kidney and heart failure.  WHAT?!?  How could this be?  It was the dreaded PCP pneumonia.   PCP - three little letters that are a secret code for “almost certain death”. I did not know that at the time, but I do now.   But we prayed and we hoped and we prayed some more.  Only a few hours later she was put on a ventilator to help with her breathing and take some extra strain off her little body.

Wednesday came and went with reports of septicemia, acidosis and still no urine.  But Thursday morning had a better report. They were starting to wean her off the ventilator and thought it would come out completely by Friday!  We were assured that she was not out of the woods, but that she was heading in the right direction. I quickly sent out an update to our Boards of Directors and 30 minutes later I got a call from Helen, who had stopped by the hospital.

Megan was dead. 

I was not prepared for those words.  None of us were. 

Megan is no longer suffering. There will be no more anti-retroviral medication and no more feeding tubes.  There will be no more physical therapy to help with her mobility (or lack of) and no more exercises to help build muscle in her legs so that one day she could stand on her own.  And there will be no more tickling, no more clapping hands and no more birthday cake. 

Celebrating Megan's 1st birthday on September 15, 2015.

The Aunties have taken this news very hard and we are all reeling.  We deal with SO MANY VERY sick children that it is nothing short of a miracle(s) that we have not lost more.  But EVERY baby is special to us. They are our children. And I know that they are very special to you as well.

Megan was born on September 15, 2014 and shared her 1^st birthday with Ian (also September 15^th).  Next month there will be one less cake and our little Megan will be deeply missed.

Live from Swaziland … this isn’t getting any easier.

Janine

Thank you for the many prayers, condolences and expressions of love on Facebook, by email and elsewhere. If you would like to help us cover the costs of Megan’s hospitalization or the emergency medical costs for any of our children, you can do so by clicking here for the US link and here for the Canadian site.  Thank you.