How do we keep our children, staff and property safe from harm?

 

If you look closely through the smoke you will see the big kids homes engulfed in smoke.

 

As many of you know, last July we celebrated our 10^th anniversary and the same day horrific fires started and burned most of Project Canaan over the next 40 hours. While we had miles of fire breaks burned (which usually keep the fires off our property), we didn’t have the property fire-fighting equipment to be able to attack the fire with water. Instead, we fought the fires the “Swazi” way, which is to beat the fire with tree branches, or switches, to “switch the fire off.”

 

The winds were too fierce that day to make this approach successful and water was the only way that we would have had a chance. We did have a water bowser (water tank that fits on a tractor trailer), but the trailer had a flat tire that day, etc., etc., etc., and it was only fixed and ready for use 24-hours into the fire. Trust me, we have had many meetings on “coulda-woulda-shoulda”, but more importantly the team of 20 people, including staff, neighbors and local experts, started working on a plan of action right away. 

 

Broken tractor that was to pull the water bowser

 

Some of the critical firefighting and safety equipment was purchased, a Security Manager was hired to not only protect Project Canaan from thieves, poachers and wild animals, but also from future fires. It quickly became clear that what was missing was a centralized location for fire equipment to be resourced, maintained and dispersed as needed.  For the safety of our children, our staff and our property, we really need a safety and security offices that houses all fire-fighting equipment and could be a place for planning and training.

 

The water bowser when it was finally fixed

 

That is what I want to tell you about today. We now have a solid plan to build a simple, yet effective centralized safety and security office, that when complete, will have a fire station.

 

The safety and security building and fire station will be located near the greenhouse, and will be made up of two 20 ft containers, connected by an enclosed steel structure.  A reinforced ceiling will hold large water bowsers, prefilled with water. As soon as a fire is spotted, we’ll be able to drive our trucks into the structure, quickly lower the bowsers down into the truck - along with other firefighting equipment that will be stored in the fire station container - and head to the staging area. The entire structure will be built adjacent to our pump house, allowing us to quickly refill bowsers and supply water as needed during those times we’re fighting wildfires.

 

These buildings will be where the security team is located on a 24/7 basis. This will give a central location for shift change, information collection and sharing, and communication. Now that the entire property has had Wi-Fi installed, we can set up cameras to monitor many different areas of the property from this centralized security office. This is a game changer for our own safety from intruders.

 

We also need to construct a 30 - 40 ft watchtower at the station that overlooks the farm to allow us to monitor for wildfires, more effectively directing our burn teams and firefighting crew on PC. 

 

Just this week I had a dear friend email me and ask if there was a specific need that we had that not yet been brought forward.  I had lots of “fun” ideas, but the safety everyone here must be a priority now that we have a plan of action. The TOTAL cost of the new Safety and Security offices, AND the fire station is $25,000 US.  My friend told me that if I could raise $12,500, she would find the funds to match the rest!  Who does that??

 

Today I am writing to ask if any of you could give a little, or give a lot, to help us build these critically important buildings on Project Canaan.  I haven’t asked for money in a blog for a long time, but I am asking now.  If we can raise $12,500 this weekend, we will continue with the plans on Monday morning.

 

Will you help us protect all of the children whom God has placed with us and all of infrastructure that God has provided? I hope you enjoy the short video of our babies in a small pool trying to cool down yesterday. These babies desperately need our protection.

 

 

If you can help us, please give today and your money will be matched dollar for dollar!

 

In the US:  https://heartforafrica.kindful.com/?campaign=1088070

 

In Canada: https://www.heartforafrica.ca/Emergency%20Funds.aspx

 

Thank you for helping keep our ever growing village safe.

 

Live from Eswatini …yesterday the government extended the country wide locked down for another two months. 😩

 

Janine

 

PS – Be sure to check out our new product at www.khutsala.com. 

I'm in a funk

Last year on July 18^th we were all gathered at the new Imphilo Amphitheater to celebrate the 10^th anniversary of Project Canaan. There were more than 1,000 people gathered together and 100+ family, friends and volunteers traveled to Eswatini to celebrate with us.

 

Early during the celebration that we saw smoke starting to rise over the mountain behind our house. Little did I know that only a few hours later the fires would be just a few yards from our home, and that 48 hours later we would still be fighting fires that would burn 90% of our property, putting our family and staff’s lives in danger.

 

The next day, on July 19^th, I was standing near the chapel with Sarah Windham and Dr. Mark McGee when a red-hot fire ember flew 50 feet in the air, over our heads and landed on the top of the beautiful grass thatched roof of our chapel. Within two minutes the whole roof had erupted in to flames, and the chapel burned to the ground.  I stood sobbing, I couldn’t believe my eyes.  The fires would get worse that day, and would not be fully extinguished for another 18 hours.

 

This chapel was built and dedicated in 2009, and it burned to the ground ten years later.  Today we are fighting a different kind of fire, and it’s called Covid-19. Its embers are flying high in the sky landing in all parts of the world, including Eswatini. Cases were continuing to grow, but now testing has slowed down because the government has run out of money for fuel for vehicles.  The government is broke, so drivers can’t take test kits to clinics or take samples back to the lab to be tested.  In fact, this week we had to drive to the police station to pick up a baby who had been left in the bush because the entire police department and social welfare department didn’t have diesel for their cars to take the baby to the hospital. Things are bad here.

 

I find myself in a funk as I sit and write this blog. Our borders are closed, and will be well in to 2021.  That means we don’t get to see Spencer and Chloe for Christmas, we don’t get to go to Durban to celebrate our 30^th wedding anniversary in October, we can’t even run to South Africa to pick up some fun food.  We are stuck, and today I feel a bit like a caged animal.

 

I know many of you have felt the same way too, locked in your houses for months.  We are all likely feeling the same way about Covid-19 and are “OVER IT!”.  We don’t have the mask conflict here that seems to be plaguing the USA.  Since we have the highest HIV rate in the world, and it is estimated that 70% of our total population has active or inactive Tuberculosis, we all really embrace social distancing and wearing masks.  It’s the only way to stay alive here.

 

Today I will sit in front of small space heater (it’s winter here), with my cat, mourning the loss of our Doberman, Max, last week, and generally just feeling sorry for myself.  I’m allowed to do that, for a day. Tomorrow is a new day and we will dedicate the newly built chapel with performances by all our children. I hope you will all join us on the Heart for Africa Facebook page on Sunday, July 19^th at  9AM EST. I promise you will be blessed.

 

I will also be shopping on our amazon wish list and sending a few things on the UPS container that is shipping next month,  and I REALLY hope you will too. This container is the one chance during the year to ship items to us, and now that we won’t have visitors coming for the foreseeable future, we really need help.

 

I would like to specifically ask for people to buy bikes and helmets for our staff and kids.  We have 269 children who are LOCKED DOWN on Project Canaan – no field trips, no visits to town, nothing. So, riding bikes around the farm is a really great way to have fun and keep everyone active.  Will you buy a bike and/or helmet today and help us out? I think I will get Ian a bike as an anniversary gift. 👀

 

Live from Eswatini … in a funk.

 

Janine

The suffering of Swazi women and children

   Jesus said, “Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of heaven belongs to such as these.”

Life for a typical Swazi is very hard, and life for a Swazi woman or child can be almost unbearable.  The first Child Protection Act was enacted in 2012, making it illegal for children to be abused, raped, used as slaves or given in marriage at a young age (amongst many other things).  In 2018 (not a typo) the Swazi government enacted a Sexual Offenses and Domestic Violence Act, which established a broad new legal framework for curbing gender-based violence.  While both Acts are incredibly important for the future of the Kingdom, we are encouraged to be patient while law enforcement, Social Welfare and the public to know, understand and support the details of both.  Patience is not a virtue that I have much of.

This week I saw suffering up close and personal of three Swazi women whom I work closely with at Project Canaan.

In order to protect each one’s privacy I will not mention names or places, but I have received permission from each of them to share their photos and stories to give you a glimpse of what they are dealing with on a daily basis all while trying to do a good job at work, maintain a good attitude and participate in our community.

On Tuesday, while I was sitting getting my hair cut in South Africa and Ian was having a procedure (tune-up of sorts) on both knees, I got a WhatsApp message with three photos from a young lady whom I work with and have known for many years.  The short message told me that this young lady’s sister had just been shot and killed in South Africa. There were four people in total who were murdered in cold blood.  Then she sent me two photos of the deceased, and then a photo the body bags holding the dead bodies. The moment was shocking, raw and I knew her heart was being ripped out hundreds of miles away.

Body bags with four murder victims

Once the initial wave of her grief subsided, the enormity of the “problem” started to emerge.  How do you bring a dead body across two African borders? This young lady is the eldest in her family, and she and the rest of her siblings were kicked out of their homestead after both their parents died 12-years ago, so they have been “homeless” since that time, with no place to even bury the sister if they can bring her home.  She has made Project Canaan her own home now, but her younger siblings all rely on her for wisdom, guidance and often funds.  While we are still sorting through all the legalities of the situation, the costs are crippling and mountain ahead is daunting.  We are in the middle of this story, but we will continue to walk beside her as she navigates funeral homes, police stations and International laws.

Meanwhile I have been walking alongside another young woman who has been saving money to build a house for herself and her daughter to keep them both safe from intruders and thieves. As she was preparing to work on her house last week she discovered that all the money she had hidden in her current room had been stolen – by her own sisters and mother!  We have discussed opening a savings account at the bank, but in the meantime the betrayal seems unforgivable and the relationships unrepairable, but where else will she go? Women are not allowed to own property here, so her only option is to build her house right beside her mother and sisters house, when she saves enough money again.  While the place where she will build might look like bush today, one day it will be a place of safety and a home.

At the end of the week I was approached about a staff member whose house was burned that morning and it was reported that they lost everything.  House fire is not an uncommon occurrence here, but what made this one different was that the house burned two months ago, with her father in the house, and he suffered terrible burns on the bottom half of his body leaving him in the hospital for two months. On Monday he returned home and on Thursday the house was burned again.  Suspicious? Yes.  Arson? Probably.  Will they catch and prosecute the person? Highly unlikely.  In the meantime, we will do our part and help with clothes, blankets and Manna Pack for the family.

And then there’s our newest little boy who arrived on Thursday. He just turned 2-years-old and spent five months in prison with his 18-year-old mother who has been sentenced to six years in prison for beating another girl with a glass bottle.  The boy’s father is also in prison for an unrelated crime.

 

Life is hard here. I don’t know what this young girl’s story is or what provoked her rage, but somehow she is in prison as a young teenager and her child has been placed in a Children’s home to be loved and cared for because no one else wants him.

Thank you all for your prayers and love for all of our girls, women and people in eSwatini who are suffering today.

May I leave you with words that I am holding on to as encouragement today:

“Those who sow in tears shall reap with shouts of joy!”  Psalms 126:5

“Not only so, but we also glory in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance;” Romans 5:3

“Consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance. Let perseverance finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything.” James 1:2-4

Live from Swaziland … thankful for His words of comfort.

Janine

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