I do not like spiders, snakes OR crocodiles.

It seems like just yesterday that I was writing this blog, but another week has passed. We did not receive a new baby this week, but the week still flew by with other excitement. 

I hesitate to talk about the “other side” of living in Swaziland since so many people who read this blog are so interested in and committed to hearing about what is happening with the abandoned babies, orphans and vulnerable children of Swaziland. But there is another side to this country, one that is filled with danger, poison and scales. I will call these things the “creatures of Swaziland”.

There is high risk in writing this blog because many of you may have been contemplating coming to Swaziland and serve with Heart for Africa, but may read this and say “no way”.  If fact, I will confess that I used to NOT talk about these creatures for fear of scaring people off, but not anymore.  Not only is my family living with these critters, but more importantly, the babies, orphans and vulnerable children that so many of your are concerned about have to face these animals all the time, so here it is - the truth.

Ian, Chloe and I are covered in bug bites. Not sure from what kind of bugs, but we itch a lot.  They are likely just ants, mosquitoes or some other flying bug, but we are not sure.  Speaking of flying bugs.  We seem to go through one-week long phases of different kinds of insects.  One day, huge moths will appear on all our outside walls and windows and stay for a week or so, then disappear. They are beautiful and docile so you want to pick them up, but apparently that is not a good idea because if you hold one and it urinates on you, it will burn your skin like acid.  The next week we have an flock (infestation) of termites and in a few days there are piles of termite wings all over the ground and our cars.  The next week, a totally different kind of insect and the following week another different one.  It's actually quite interesting, once you get your head around it.

Last week we had a giant swarm of little black bugs whip through the farm and in to all the windows that were open.  The baby home had screens on all the windows except in the bathroom and the room was FILLED with a swarm of bugs that had to be killed with multiple sprays of  “DOOM”, and then the carnage removed with a broom.  Then there are the spiders. I HATE SPIDERS.  And yet there they are.  Always hanging around.  Each one seems bigger than the next and Ian graciously comes to the rescue each and every time Chloe or I call him (or scream). 

Wednesday morning I arrived at Project Canaan and received a call saying, “Janine, are you on the farm? We just caught the crocodile!”  Sure enough, the crocodile, who had taken up residence at Project Canaan a couple of years ago, was now in captivity.  It was approximately 7 feet long (2+ metres) and was VERY VERY angry to be caught in a huge cage.  When Mark Klee, Denis Musyoka and Ben Sleeper decided it would be fun to once you realize that the crocodile is lookied two feet in the air and screams like a girl  (haha) and Denis and Ben cracked up laughing (after checking to see if their hands were still attached to their arms).

Attached to the cage was the cutest/brightest/coolest looking frog I have ever seen. It was about one inch long (2.5 cm) and had vibrant yellow and black stripes. As I leaned it to take a closer look and photo Kaleli told me to step back!  Apparently those little critters are bright so that you lean in closer and then they spray poison on your face from the yellow stripes on their backs.  Sheesh. Who knew?

I am thankful for all that I have learned about the “creatures of Swaziland” from Kaleli and when I we were talking about the crazy noise that came from the crocodile, he said that is also the sound that a Python makes when it is sending you a warning. Good to know.

Mark and Cameron Klee with the python

Speaking of pythons, on Friday morning I received a familiar call saying, “Janine, are you on the farm?  We just caught a python!”  Really?  Jumped in the car with Albert Smith and Ben Sleeper (what guy doesn’t love a good reptile adventure?). We went to straight to the field right where Sarah and James are setting up a hydroponics test project and there it was – the biggest snake I have ever seen in my life.  Albert pulled out his handy-dandy tape measure and it measured 13 feet long (2+metres), and weighed 65+ pounds (30KG). 

Apparently the snake had been seen the day before by our goat herder and he notified the team to be on the look out. On Friday the goats refused to walk down that road (smart goats) and then the snake was seen again, help was called and snake was killed with a shovel.  The snake was lying in wait for a goat to walk by so that he could grab it, incapacitate it and swallow it whole.  Then, it would sit and digest it for the next three months.  I am told that this size of snake can consume a large adult goat WHOLE.

Now, back to the babies, orphans and vulnerable children of Swaziland.  While you were reading this some of you were thinking, “oh, my husband/son would love to read this!” and others of you were thinking “Oh my gosh, I am NEVER going to Swaziland and neither are my husband/son”.  Frankly, as I was writing it I was thinking “I am never going there!” but alas, I live here.  But I have doors, window screens, bug spray, long boots, long pants, after-bite lotion and a husband to call every time I see a spider.  The babies, orphans and vulnerable children of this country don’t have any of those luxuries, not even a father to call to the rescue.

Who will protect these children from bugs, crocodiles and snakes?

How many children get acid burns each year because they didn’t know to not hold the moth?  How many itch themselves until their arms and legs bleed because they are covered in bites and have no screens to keep out more bugs? How many children are at risk from crocodiles or pythons waiting along the road for some small prey to attack?

I am not trying to be dramatic here friends, this is the simply truth.  When a child is left without a mother and/or father, there is no one to teach them about danger, about how to avoid bites or what a crocodile or python sound like in the long grass.  It is estimated that more than half of the population of Swaziland are orphan and vulnerable children.

Thursday was Thanksgiving in the USA and I am thankful for the knowledge of the protection that I have been given throughout my life.  I am thankful for window screens, bug spray and after-bite lotion.  I am thankful for Google to look up photos of bugs/spiders I have seen and thankful for a husband, father to my children, who lives with us and comes to our rescue when we are in distress.  Please pray with me for the children who are not as fortunate as many of us have been.

Live from Swailand … praying for protection for all.

Janine

Thoughts on spiders, snakes, abandoned babies and Jesus

It's a rainy morning in Georgia and I am jet lagged, tired and a bit foggy, but I want to put my thoughts in writing while they are fresh. It seemed that it was a week of extremes (as always?), and I will write things here that may not help in our "recruitment" efforts, but maybe they will help us all with a deeper understanding of Jesus and His plans.

I just arrived home from 10 days in Swaziland where my dear friends and sisters (Lori Marschall, Janice Johnson, Bree Friedl and Annie Duguid) worked tirelessly to get the El Roi home for abandoned babies ready to open - and it is officially open now! What an amazing group of women they are.

We were blessed to have nine teams of visitors come to Project Canaan for 3 hour tours over five days. We welcomed senior members of several big hospitals, Police Child Protections services, Planned Parenthood, World Vision, Pastor and members from Mbabane Alliance church, the "Queen" called Inkhosikati LaMbikiza (who is the Patron of the home) and on the last day the Deputy Prime Minister of the country and twenty of his Social Welfare Officers who are responsible for OVC's in the country. It was glorious to show them all the Lord has done in only 2+ years at Project Canaan. Now we wait for government approval for us to receive babies and are praying for "Joshua" to arrive any day.

While the Lord is blessing the team at Project Canaan in unimaginable ways, it is not easy work. And it is not always safe. Many of us are quick to judge "Africans" and wonder why they don't just get up and work or why don't they just solve their own problems. But we can't even begin to imagine the basic challenges in day to day life.

Last week we stayed in the newly built (and beautifully modern) Lodge at the farm. We were staying were we were comfortable and could focus on the work. Here are some my thoughts on what we saw and experienced.

Spiders - First day there I got a large spider bite on my finger. It blistered, bled a bit and is now healing. Didn't really hurt, just a bit ugly. Haven't really seen many/any spiders, but I know they are there.

Snakes - Several days later Annie went to use

the bathroom (without her glasses on) and saw a frog on the bath mat. Well, the frog slithered away and she realized it wasn't a frog. After an emergency phone call to and visit from Kaleli we discovered it was a baby Puff Adder snake. Not good. Speaking of frogs - there are frogs everywhere ... think of the story of Moses and Pharoah. For those of you are now saying "oh, I won't ever go and serve there" or "I don't like spiders and snakes" I would like to say "NEITHER DO WE!" And I can assure you that the orphans and vulnerable children who we are called to serve don't like them either and don't have doors and windows that shut tight to keep them out. So, we suck it up, pray, and go.

Electricity - There was no electricity for the first few days of our stay. We were thankful for Peter getting up and putting on the generator so that we could have lights for a while at night and could eat with lights on. When the electricity did come back I was SO thankful because it was SO HOT at night and we were then able to use the ceiling fans (windows closed tight due to snake incounter).

Water - We don't have a water filtration system at The Lodge yet so we (Lori) had to boil all our water to drink, cook and even to wash our dishes. Simple? Yes. Time consuming? Definitely - but at least we had a gas stove to use for heat - we didn't have to go collect wood. Our water for showering and cooking comes from the bore hole in the farm and is pumped up to a 500,000L holding tank. We must always use it sparingly because when it runs out, it runs out. Speaking of running out - the dam that we must use to irrigate the crops is almost empty. Without rain the crops will die and our plans for a second and third crop (using drip irrigation) will not be possible. Water is life. Period.

Orphans - I was speaking with Pastor Mike, who is the newest member of the Project Canaan team. He delivers maize and Feed My Starving Children (FMSC) meals to our rural church partners. His heart broke as he told me about six very young children (5 different families) who live near him, right near our farm, and have lost their parents (that means 10 adults have died). He has little to give, but with the FMSC MannaPacks he can now feed them twice a week. His challenge? All the other little eyes who peek through the cracks in the wall longing to eat too. We will work on growing his feeding program soon.

Abandoned babies - oh yes, abandoned babies. Meeting after meeting we saw our Swazi brothers and sister lower their heads and shake them slowly as they shared story after story of young girls giving birth to premature or malnourished babies and then dumping them in the pit latrine, on the side of the road or in the garbage dump. It is a tragic situation of hopelessness. We heard of rape, incest and hunger driven prostitution. It is dirty, ugly and shameful, and no one really wants to talk about it. Can you blame them? But they exist and El Roi sees them (see Genesis 16:3) and He is asking us to care for them. Maybe he is asking YOU to care for them? EVEN if there are spiders and snakes and no filtered water and random electricity? Hmmm.

Jesus - He sees you and He loves you. He sees the abandoned babies and loves them just as much. That is why He calls us to "GO". He sees Kaleli and his team cry out for the rains to pour and He is the ONLY one who can make it rain. He sees Pastor Mike feeding the six young children who live near him and then He asks La Croix church to send 270,000 FMSC food packs to help. Jesus healed my spider bite quickly and protected Annie from the poisonous snake in her bathroom! Jesus invited each and every Swazi who came to visit to see His work and His glory. He gave us a beautiful place to stay, a roof over our heads, soft beds, fresh food, wonderful fellowship and best of all, His very presence. And He gets all the glory. Jesus is alive and well in Swaziland. Amen.

What are you worried about today? Are you worried about not having clean water to drink today or that taking a long shower might use up all the water? Or are you worried that you might see a poisonous snake in your room? Or are you afraid to go down the road in case you find an abandoned baby?

Matthew 6:25-34 Do Not Worry

²⁵ “Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothes? ²⁶ Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? ²⁷ Can any one of you by worrying add a single hour to your life^[a]?

²⁸ “And why do you worry about clothes? See how the flowers of the field grow. They do not labor or spin. ²⁹ Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these. ³⁰ If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, will he not much more clothe you—you of little faith? ³¹ So do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ ³² For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them. ³³ But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. ³⁴ Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.

PS - yes I do realize that I had this scripture in my last blog. I thought it was worth repeating.

Want to help an abandoned baby right now? Please go to http://www.heartforafrica.org/ElRoiBabyHome.aspx

Thank you for reading, praying and acting.

Janine