Q & A from Taiwan

  It is Saturday afternoon here in Taiwan, so I am a bit late for “morning” in Swaziland, but still have a few hours before the sun comes up in North America so I have a few extra hours to put my thoughts together for this week’s blog.

Last night I posted a question on Facebook and asked what I should blog about today? I had questions from Australia, Canada and the US so I will take this opportunity to answer all of them.  I hope this information is valuable and interesting.  Thank you to each of you who posted a question!

Question:  Ann from Indiana asked:  I would love to hear the story of your friends in Taiwan and their involvement with and support of Heart for Africa Swaziland.

Answer:  Taiwan and Swaziland have a very important political and diplomatic relationship. Swaziland is one of only 24 nations globally that recognizes Taiwan as being and independent nation from China.  This unique political position provides an important platform for the two nations to work together.  Taiwan has a wellknown philosophy that basically says (pardon my paraphrase), “Fifty years ago Taiwan was a recipient of foreign aid and many other nations came to assist us in our time of need.  Now we must be givers of foreign aid and help others who are in need as we once were.”  Swaziland is a recipient of kindness and support due to the unique partnership with Taiwan.

 

This philosophy was one of the reasons that Mr. Lewis Lu starting bringing students from Changhua Senior Highschool to Swaziland to serve the poor in 2007.  His ambition, dedication and commitment manifested and grew into the formation of the organization called Heart for Africa Taiwan with Mr. Michael Chen, and their enthusiasm encouraged many other groups to get involved including: other High Schools, the Catholic church, Christian schools and churches, Universities, Hospitals, Lions Club International and Rotary International).  Due to Mr. Lu’s efforts we will launch a group called Heart for Africa Japan on February 2^nd at the ONE WORLD conference in Osaka, Japan.  I am always encouraged by and thankful for the never-ending efforts of the people of Taiwan to help us in Swaziland.

Question:  Lori from California asked: What are the greatest ‘needs’ in Taiwan?  They are doing so much for Swaziland, how can we help/pray for them?

Answer:  That is a tough one for me to answer because I do not live here and am only a visitor.  We are thankful for the love and support that we get from our Taiwanese friends and that religion is not a barrier to helping the orphans and vulnerable children of Swaziland.  I am proud to say that my Buddhist friends have joined with my Catholic friends, my Christian friends and my non-Christian friends to help the orphans and vulnerable children of Swaziland and I pray that each and every person is blessed abundantly for his or her participation.

Question:  Penny from Georgia asked: Talk about snake wrangling in Swaziland?

Answer:  Now, Penny, you know we don’t wrangle snakes in Swaziland!    We just sprinkle mothballs all over the property and they go away! J  The truth is we have lots of really nasty snakes that appear regularly on the farm including:  Python, Spitting Cobra, Black Mamba, Green Mamba and Puff Adder to name a few.  We try to avoid them as much as they try to avoid us (and Brooke Sleeper is working on a protocol for snakes bites on the farm).  But we discourage ALL “wrangling”.

Question:  Janet from Australia asked:  What do you do to de-stress? From the day-to day issues?

Spencer sitting in our favorite spot with the best vi

Answer:  I find myself much less stressed on a daily basis than ever before. When I was in business I carried the burden of the company and the people I worked with every day.  That was very stressful.  When I worked at Heart for Africa in Canada and the US I felt the burden of the work being done in Africa while I sat millions of miles away.  That was very hard on me emotionally. Now that I live and work in Swaziland I feel that I am doing the best that I can with what I have and that in itself gives me great peace and joy. 

BUT, at the end of each and almost every day Ian and I (and sometimes Chloe) will sit out on our patio at 6PM and enjoy the quiet and beauty of the farm. It brings us back to ‘center’ quickly and to a place of thanksgiving that is pure and real.  We also love watching TV – that is our big escape.  We don’t really get live TV, but watch series on DVD from beginning to end.  Favorites include:  Breaking Bad, Friday Night Lights, 24, Alias and for comedy Modern Family.

The view of the farm from our patio.

Question:  Kim from Ontario, Canada asked: Please talk about the Moringa Tree and why it is important?

Answer:  The Moringa Tree is one of the many crops we are growing on Project Canaan. To date we have planted more than 2,000 Moringa seeds, which have become seedlings used in with our church partners and in our own Moringa fields.  We harvest the leaves, dry them, grind them and sell the powder to anyone who would like to purchase it. One day we hope to have enough for export, but in the meantime it is proving to have significant positive impact in the health of some of our HIV workers at Project Canaan.

Moringa leaves being harvested by November volunteer team.

“In developing tropical countries, Moringa trees have been used to combat malnutrition, especially among infants and nursing mothers. Leaves can be eaten fresh, cooked, or stored as dried powder for many months without refrigeration, and without loss of nutritional value. Moringa is especially promising as a food source in the tropics because the tree is in full leaf at the end of the dry season when other foods are typically scarce. Analyses of the leaf composition have revealed them to have significant quantities of vitamins A, B and C, calcium, iron and protein. According to Optima of Africa, Ltd., a group that has been working with the tree in Tanzania, "25 grams daily of Moringa Leaf Powder will give a child" the following recommended daily allowances:

Protein 42%, Calcium 125%, Magnesium 61%, Potassium 41%, Iron 71%, Vitamin A 272%, and Vitamin C 22%. These numbers are particularly astounding; considering this nutrition is available when other food sources may be scarce.

Scientific research confirms that these humble leaves are a powerhouse of nutritional value. Gram for gram, Moringa leaves contain: SEVEN times the vitamin C in oranges, FOUR times the Calcium in milk, FOUR times the vitamin A in carrots, TWO times the protein in milk and THREE times the Potassium in bananas.”    Source - www.naturalnews.com/022272.html

Question:  Linda from Georgia asked: How about blogging about your hopes and dreams for 2013?

Answer:  It’s funny that you would ask that while I am sitting in a guest room at a boarding school in Taiwan with my 16-year old daughter Chloe.  Today, my hopes and dreams for 2013 are that Chloe will find peace and joy in the school that she is going to attend for the next two years of her life.  She has gone through tremendous transition over the past six years as we moved to Alpharetta, Georgia and then to Swaziland, Africa.  She has supported our “calling” and the work that Ian and I are doing, but it has not been easy and not been without personal sacrifice.  Chloe is a beautiful young lady and the only thing that I want more than her happiness is for her to be right where she is “supposed” to be.  We believe that God has a very big plan for her life and the road ahead may not be easy and carefree, but I believe with my heart and soul that it will be well worth the hard work it in the end.  Linda, thank you for asking.

That's my girl - never afraid of a challenge.

Live from Taiwan … it’s Saturday evening.

Janine

A new baby is born to a 13-year old mother and new life on the Project Canaan farm

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It’s spring here in Swaziland and everything is blooming. Everywhere I look there is new life.   Anthony delivered the first fruits from the tomato garden this week and we were so blessed to enjoy them with beautiful balsamic vinegar that we purchased in Venice during our visit with the International Egg Commission.

The weaver birds have gone crazy outside our back door, building nests tirelessly and then tearing down nests that didn’t quite make the cut.  Sadly we have a few eggs and small birds that come down with the nests and it is a “danger zone” to walk under the tree to get to our back door.  None the less, we love watching hundreds of these beautiful yellow birds fly back and forth all day with pieces of grass that are 10 times longer than they are.  They are God’s perfect creation.

 

The rains continue to fall each week and our dams are full to overflowing. They are predicting that the heavy rains will not fall this year so we are so grateful that we will have the water from these dams to help irrigate through another drought.

We were so happy to receive another 40 ft container of life-saving Feed My Starving Children food from La Croix church in Cape Girardeau, MO.  We currently provide 10,000+ hot meals to orphans and vulnerable children in the 30 rural church communities in which we serve and we could not do that without this food. It is saving lives and building healthy bodies and minds.

Each Sunday Ian and I go for a 2-3 hour walk around Project Canaan and are absolutely overwhelmed with all that the Lord has provided.  It is mind blowing to say the least.  Last Sunday we went to the Moringa fields where we have planted 1,500+ trees that were started from seed in our greenhouse.  Guess what we found?  Seed pods on many of the trees!  Ian was so excited because now we can start growing our own seeds and don’t have to import them from the US.  I know you may not find that exciting, but we sure did!

There was new life at the hospital this week. I will quickly share two of the many stories that we experienced in a 4-hour time period.

First was the early morning call that a 13-year old (rape victim) was in labor at the hospital and could we possibly go and take the baby?  All this had been reported to the police and when the young man who was accused of raping her was approached, he denied it.  HIS parents were angry at the young girl for such an accusation so they beat her very badly.  Needless to say the girl’s 32-year old mother didn’t want another mouth to feed and the young girl needed to go back to school, so the next day baby Hannah came home to El Roi.

While I was visiting the young girl I noticed another young mother struggling to walk down the hallway. For some reason her bed was at the end of the hall by the cleaning supplies closet and the kitchen, she was not in the main ward.  She could only walk a few steps at a time and needed to cling to the wall to do so.  I helped her get to the toilet and back where I saw her newborn baby lying on the bed waiting for her.  This girl was from Mozambique and had no family in Swaziland.  She had given birth ten days prior by Caesarian Section and was clearly struggling with the after effects of the surgery. Based on her overall health and appearance I would bet that she was HIV positive, which has a very negative effect on the healing process.

I was concerned about her health (and location) so went and got the Social Welfare officer and the Social Worker at the hospital to come and speak with her.  As the story goes, she had been discharged a week prior to our meeting and given a prescription for pain pills and infection, but here’s the catch.  She had no money to pay her extensive hospital bill (this is a semi-private hospital) and so she was not allowed to leave with her baby.  You don’t pay, you don’t go.  Unfortunately, if you can’t pay the bill, you also can’t pick up your prescription because the medication is included in your bill and the pharmacy is on the outside of the hospital after you are discharged and pay. 

I was speechless. This woman was in terrible pain, but couldn’t leave the hospital.  Her boyfriend had his phone turned off so we couldn’t reach him to see if and when he was coming to get her.  I asked how much money it would take to pay her bill (C-section couldn’t be cheap?).  They had to go to the accounting department and have her file pulled. After an hour or so they came back with the bad news … it was R104.  A big number for this young mother with no work. It was $12.50 USD. 

I am thankful for people who come to visit us and leave a bit of cash with me when they leave.  I get bits and pieces of local currency that allows me some freedom when I am in situations like this.  I believe it is all God’s money and so when my little zip lock bag of “emergency cash” is empty, someone always seems to come along and put a little more in it just for when I need it.  Well, that day I needed it and without hesitation I was able to pay the $12.50 hospital bill. Then we dressed the baby with extra clothes I had brought for our newborn (who wasn’t being discharged until the next day), found some clothes for the naked woman (sorry, I didn’t mention that she was sitting naked with only a cloth wrap over her body  - that is how I knew she had a C-section, because I could see the scar) and we drove her home. 

Lori Marschall helping bring Baby Hannah home to El Roi.

I struggled this week with the pain that I saw in women’s faces, with frantic call by a police officer to help care for a 3-week old baby found on the road, with funding needed for the Heart for Africa organization so that we can continue this work, and with my own inability to “do it all”.  But through the pain and frustration I saw all the new life that the Lord has provided – tomatoes, water, birds, eggs, baby Hannah and His gentle assurance that He has never asked me to “do it all”.  He is all I need and He can do it all, and more. 

Live from Swaziland … He is bringing new life to me every day.

Janine