When feeling badly just isn’t enough

This week I was told about a family who lost everything they have in a house fire.  One of our staff lives in a rented single room with her five children (ages 4-15).  There is no electricity in the house so when the children were sitting on their foam mattresses doing their homework by candlelight, they accidently tipped the candle over and lit their homework on fire.  The fire quickly spread to the clothing, their school uniforms and shoes, schoolbooks, mattresses and anything else that could burn.

The children got out without injury, but the widows broke and even the door burned to the point that it cannot close or lock.   It was devastating for the family to stand outside and watch their earthly belongings go up in smoke. 

The next day, when everything was cleared out and the ashes swept, the family moved back in to nothing.  They slept on the concrete floor and stared up at the blackened walls, the holes in the tin roof and hoped that no one would try to come in and hurt them through the unsecured burned door.

Our Pastor and friend, Andy Stanley, often says, “Do for one person what you wish you could do for everyone.”  There is so much pain, suffering and tragedy here in Swaziland that Andy’s words are very helpful to take action when the weight of sorrow tries to shut you down and do nothing. 

Some of you know about my “Compassion purse” which is filled by friends from around the world and I use those the funds when I feel prompted by the Lord to do so.  Each time my purse is almost empty, someone comes and fills it up, without fail.  Last week our friend Pete Wilkerson was here and he handed me a wad of bills that he said a friend had given him before he left the US. The cash was to refill my compassion purse. 

I felt terrible for the mother when I heard about the fire, and I was heartbroken for the children who were carrying the guilt of the fire. But feeling badly isn’t enough.  Immediately we were able to send a box of MannaPack from Feed My Starving Children so that the family had food. We had a box spring/mattress at our Manna Distribution center that was available to give her and we were able to pull clothes for each of the children from the clothing that visitors have so generously donated.

I am so thankful for the funds that Pete’s friend sent because we were able to buy the school clothes and school shoes that they needed along with new foam mattresses for the children.  We were also able to replace the broken windows, and door and buy the wiring to get electricity in to the house to avoid future fires.  I am happy to say that we asked for volunteers from our own construction/maintenance teams to go on the weekend and fix the windows/door and install the electricity as their way of helping this lady. We provided the materials and they are doing the work for free. 

When you are faced with many people who need help, just do something for one person or family that you wish you could do for everyone.  Feed someone who is hungry, give a drink to someone who is thirsty, look around and see who needs clothes or even visit someone who is lonely.  That is what Jesus would do. 

If you would like to help refill my compassion purse for the next person in need, you can do so by clicking here in the US.

Live from Swaziland  … Happy Saturday!

Janine

How many Grandchildren am I feeding?

Back in October when our friends from the US Bank were visiting I blogged about visiting a family where there were five children living alone in our neighboring community.  The eldest child is 11-years old and the youngest is 3-years old.  The parents of these children were murdered in South Africa and now they are left to fend for themselves and raise each other.  We had visited the home and given them all new pairs of TOMS Shoes and some food, and then wondered what could really be done for this family.

The blog was read by a woman in the US, who then contacted me and asked how she could help this family.   She said that she and her husband were elderly and living off his disability pension, but that if she sent us money each month, could we provide food for the children?  We have seen this time and time again. The people who  seem to have the least, seem to give the most.  It never ceases to surprise and encourage me, and when it happens I try to think carefully about how I am supposed to respond.

How can we help?  That is often a difficult question to answer for many reasons.  Helping can cause many problems if not done with care and caution.  There are so many Orphan Headed Households in Swaziland that we must be careful to not put the children in further danger by providing them with food and supplies.  We need to be sure that the food won’t be stolen by other people and or misused.  There is also the issue of physically buying food to supply them, the time required to go to town, the cost of the vehicle to drive and the petrol to get to town and then to the community.  It is so often hard and costly to help.  But how could I say no this woman who was willing to give sacrificially to help these children who have nothing?

So we met as a team and discussed how we could best assist these orphaned children.  I love our team at Project Canaan.  They have such tender hearts for people who are hurting and Antony, Denis and Pastor Mike worked on a plan and a budget.  Then the conversations started with the community and the children’s Grandmother, who lives in a different homestead, but was willing to help. The children would often go to their Grandmothers house after school, but she rarely had any food so they would go home hungry. If only we could meet their basic food needs that could help a lot.

While it seemed that it took an inordinate amount of time and conversation to help this one family, our pastor back in Georgia, Andy Stanley, encourages the people in our church to “do for ONE, what you wish you could do for EVERYONE”.  It is easy to look at all the poverty and all the hungry children and say, “well, that’s only one family who would be helped, and it’s a lot of ongoing work and effort to help them”.  I met three families in five days who had five children in each home, under the age of 13-years and had no adult living with or near them.  But we decided to do for this ONE family what we wished we could do for them all.

After a month of discussions, planning and negotiations we arrived yesterday to deliver food to the Grandmother of the five children so that she could cook for them and provide a stable and healthy diet to these children in need.  We sat under the tree in her front yard and listened to this very old woman tell about her family, her dead children and the grandchildren who were left behind for her to care for.  I asked how many grandchildren she was feeding?  She looked at me with some surprise at the question, then her face looked puzzled and then she shrugged her shoulders.  I clarified my question and asked how many grandchildren were actually living with her at the homestead, and whom she cared for?  She smiled, then asked if she could call them all so that I could count them (since I seemed to be the only one interested in the answer). 

The children were called and they all filed out of the one room house they were standing in. There were fifteen children in all. The eldest was 11-years old and the youngest was 18-months old.  We suddenly realized how big this Grandmother’s problem was.  She had 15 little mouths to feed and had no food to give them.  When we pulled out this week’s food allotment (including cooking oil, salt, sugar, beans, cabbage, bread etc) she looked at us and said, “God has heard my prayers and sent help.  Thank you so very, very, very , very much for hearing the voice of God and bringing help to me through this food.”   I quickly told her the story of the woman in the US who was the one who was praying for the family and who had sent the money for the food. But this Grandmother assured us that it was her heavenly Father who had provided. There was no doubt in her mind that the God Who Sees (El Roi), saw her in her need, and answered her prayers through an elderly woman in the US who has little to give, but is giving so much.

Yesterday was a good day and I am proud to serve with amazing people who love the Lord and serve Him selflessly without ceasing each and every day.

Live from Swaziland … doing for ONE, what I wish I could do for EVERYONE.

Janine

PS – for those of you who care about my farm animal update – we got our first baby chick at the nest at our house this week!  It is wonderful seeing new life around us.