It's Tuesday night: Newborn dumped, a baby dies and mother tries to commit suicide - midweek post.

On Monday night I arrived home from possibly the worst day of my life.

I had to sit and write to help me breathe.  I sent it to a few dear friends and family members who are supporters of the babies at El Roi, and me personally.   I struggled a lot as to whether I should publish this.  I am paranoid about it sounding sensational (because it is a story from hell) and I don't want to post photos, but believe that people should see what is really happening here.  Maybe then you will help (if you don't already).  After today, I believe that I am supposed to publish this.  I hope I don’t get in trouble for telling this story.  Please share it if you think you should.  Please DO SOMETHING to help if you get to the end.  Here is what I wrote last night…

I just got home after a very long hard day, showered and am now seeking comfort from Donnie McClurkin worship music and my yellow chair.  When my brain and heart are on the edge of exploding I must write.  It is like oxygen to my soul so that I can breathe again and nothing is forgotten. When I am finished writing the tears will have soaked my tshirt and emptied my soul.  Here is what happened today.

At 10AM I got a call from the Child Protection unit of the Police saying a newborn baby had just been found in the bush in our area (Sidvokodvo).  The police were taking the baby to hospital as she was in bad condition. They thought she had been born just yesterday and was found today alive.  I got in the car, picked up Jamie Klee and headed to the hospital.  Halfway there my car broke down (again). We waited 45 minutes before Ian could come to the rescue, switch vehicles and continued on to meet the police.  I am going to start praying harder for the Lord to provide a good vehicle for me to use.

I know you will look at this photo and not want to continue, but seriously, this is really a little baby. Please keep reading. 

Jesus help us.

When we got to the hospital we quite accidently bumped in to the doctor whom I often write about (but never name for privacy reasons).  He was so surprised to see me because he was just about to call me about an abandoned child.  He had just examined the baby and was waiting for her to come to be washed and cared for.   He allowed us to go in to the tiny room where they washed her and take photos to show what condition she was in.  She has many bug/insect bites all over her body, there is a bone misplaced in her leg (will check for fracture when she is stable), her face and backside are in very bad condition (maybe burned?) and raw and she had maggots crawling out of her eyes and ears.  Lots of them.  She is premature and weighs 1.8 KG (4.1 pounds), but she is a fighter.

They had to wash/scrub her twice then finally went and got disinfectant to bathe her in to try to kill the bugs.  She screamed as the liquid hit her open skin. We stood and prayed.

She was then put on a sheet under a “warmer” and the nurse left to get dressing for her wounds. 

Maggots filled her mouth, eyes and ears.  These were digging a hole behind her little ear.

As Jamie and I stood in this small washing room, we suddenly realized we were in the NICU room. There were three other babies there on oxygen and monitors.  I looked at the little boy beside our baby and it didn’t look like he was breathing.  I said that to Jamie and went and put my hand on his tiny chest.  I didn’t feel anthing, but I am not in any way a medical professional.  The nurse walked in just then and I mentioned that the baby didn’t seem to be breathing. She left and got the doctor who was right outside the door.  He came in and immediately started CPR, as we stood and watched and prayed.  After 10-15 minutes of CPR, listening, oxygen, and other emergency things I can’t think of the name of right now (which seemed like a flash and an eternity all at once) he shook his head.  The child had turned color.  He was dead.  Just like that.  Gone.

We believe and are hopeful that our baby, now named Deborah because she is a fighter, will live.  I will be there every day this week to help with her care while the mother of the baby boy will mourn the loss of her beautiful child.

After a time Jamie and I left the hospital in tears, and headed home.  I couldn’t just go home with the vision of that baby boy in my mind so suggested that we stop at the police station to find out if they knew anything more about Deborah’s situation.

This is where the plastic bag with baby Deborah was found.

The police were very kind and agreed to take us to the place she had been dumped.  Deborah was a newborn (umbilical cord still attached) and was put in a black plastic grocery bag.  The police said that the top was tied in a knot and she was left in the bushes under a tree in the middle of nowhere.  This morning a local man was walking by and heard what sounded like crying.  After listening closer he moved closer to the sound.  When he saw the bag moved he was terrified and thought it was a snake so ran to a local store for help. He and the store-keeper came back to investigate the strange bag and found the baby.  She was somehow half in and half out of the bag, face down in the dirt and crying to save her life – literally. 

We went and met the man who found her – the hero of the day.  He said her mouth and ears were full of maggots and it was terrible. He shook his head when he spoke of what he saw.  I gathered together all that I had left in me and shook his hand, thanking him for saving the life of a chosen child – a child who was seen by El Roi himself.

I am tired, confused and emotionally finished.  I don’t know why the Lord had us sit on the side of the road today for 45 minutes, only to be in the room to see a baby die.  I don’t know why he allowed baby Deborah to live for two days (they think) in a black plastic bag under a bush – not eaten by dogs or snakes, and then He allowed a baby boy to die in a hospital NICU care center. 

But my faith is in Him and always shall me.  He is El Roi, the God who Sees and I will cling to that today and in the days ahead. 

Janine

Sorry for the long blog, but this is a Tuesday update, which has prompted a mid-week blog.

Baby Deborah on Tuesday.  So much better.

Don't mind the guy replacing the entire light FIXTURE over the NICU babies.

Monday night around midnight I got a text from a young woman saying she was cutting her wrists to commit suicide.  A bad text.  I called her and tried to encourage her and change her plans. She hung up the phone and it was early morning before I could contact anyone to find her.  By 10 AM we drove and found the young woman. She was lying on the ground in a local homestead and had overdosed on a drug we couldn’t find.  We took her to the hospital (sadly there is no 911 to call, no ambulance and the social workers of the country don’t have transportation) and got her in to the emergency room.  From there I literally walked to the Neonatal unit of the hospital and spent an hour with baby Deborah who is doing MIRACULOUSLY well!  The nurses can’t believe the change in her!  She is off the oxygen.  She is breathing well on her own and the swelling has gone down so much.  The nurses say, “This one will live!”.  I spent an hour with her and fed her a bit, but she was tired and slept for most of the time while I told her about what a fighter the Prophetess Deborah was. 

From there I checked in the Emergency Room again, stomach pumping still in force, then on to the TB hospital to see the mother of our twins Leah and Rachel.

This is a mid-week blog to bring those of you who really care and want to read it.  I really pray that EVERYONE taking the time to read this mid-week post will take the time to give monthly so that we can feed and care for these babies. Even $10 a month can help.  If you can give $100, or $1,000 that would help too. As Nike says, JUST DO IT.    www.heartforafrica.org   www.heartforafrica.ca

Thanks.

Janine

It's Tuesday night and this might be next Saturday's blog post.

Baby Grace is 14-months old and has Fungal Menigitis AND Tuberculosis - we are fighting for her life.

Sandra with Grace and Andrew

This is a hard story to write because it is very raw and my heart is aching, but it is an incredible story that must be told so I will write it for you now.  It’s a bit complicated so I will attempt to untangle it as best I can.

On January 15^th I dropped in to the local hospital here in Swaziland with Dr. Ann Williams, who is an Opthamologist in the US and who also sits on our Board of Directors. Ann was here on an 11-day service trip and I wanted to introduce her to a doctor friend of mine who works hard with our babies who are malnourished.  When he heard that she was an Opthamologist he asked if she could do him a favor and see a small patient who was in bad condition. The doctor then told us the back story of baby Grace.

Grace is 14-months old and was found on the side of a road early in January 2013.  The baby was sick and the young mother couldn’t care for her (or chose not to) and left the baby with a note attached saying, “My baby is sick, please take care of her.  I am going to see my boyfriend”.  The baby was found, recognized and then taken to the paternal Grandfathers house for care.  The Grandfather of the child called his daughter and told her she must take the child to hospital (she is the sister to the baby’s father who is mentally ill and could not care for the baby himself). The baby’s Aunt had to quit her job and go stay at the hospital with the baby.  When they reached the hospital the baby was in a coma and remained that way for a week.   Grace was diagnosed with having Meningitis and was being treated very aggressively to save her life.  A couple of days after when she came out of her coma she went blind, right in front of the doctors eyes.  It was tragic and the doctor asked if Ann could examine the child and see if the damage was permanent, and so she did an examination of the child and gave us all the bad news.  The child would be blind permanently.  We walked away from the hospital sad and angry at the selfishness of the young mother who chose a boyfriend over the health of her baby.  After that I left for a two-week trip to Asia and didn’t think of the baby again until I got home.

This past week we had some friends come to visit from the US.  Andy and Sandra Stanley (Andy is also our Pastor at Northpoint Community Church) were in South Africa for a speaking engagement and decided to come and visit us for a couple of days.  I knew that my doctor friend at the hospital in Swaziland was a big fan of Andy’s books and teachings so I brought the Stanley’s in to the hospital for a short visit and learn of the work this doctor is doing with malnourished babies.

Dr. Ann Williams examining blind child

Dr. Ann Williams at the hospital in January

As we sat and visited I asked the doctor how the baby with Meningitis was doing?  He lit up and said, “The baby regained her sight!  She was healed!”  Wow!  I couldn’t believe it. But then he went on to explain the baby’s health was very serious.  She had Fungal Meningitis (much worse the Bacterial Meningitis) and Tuberculosis (TB) and was very ill.  It was a sad moment and then we moved on to other things.

Only a few minutes later I got a phone call from the Social Worker in that same hospital. She said she had a case to discuss with us and we went to visit her next.  The situation with that baby was complicated and so she passed it along to the Social Welfare office for help.  We headed over to the Social Welfare office in another part of town and discussed that case there.  It was agreed that we would take the baby described and would pick her up the next day.  We had NO idea that the baby was baby Grace because there was no mention of health issues. 

When we arrived at the Social Welfare office on Thursday morning to pick up the new baby I met with the father of the child and a couple of women who had been caring for the child.  They explained a bit of the background, but it never occurred to me that it was the same baby as the one in the hospital. They had shaved her head and she was in boys clothing so I didn’t even recognize the child. But then something happened.  I asked the Aunt to hold the child so I could get a photo for our files.  As soon as I saw them together I knew it was the baby with meningitis from three weeks ago! 

I asked her if she remembered me visiting her in the hospital with an eye Doctor and she said yes, but she was very sheepish.  It was a strange moment, but I knew that it was a divine appointment.  I asked if the child had any medical issues we should know about and they did say that she has had some sight loss, but some of it had come back.  They also said that she had had Meningitis and was having trouble sitting now as a result, but she was otherwise healthy. 

When we finished that meeting and took custody of baby Grace the Social Welfare officer told us there was another baby waiting outside to go with us too.  We met little baby Andrew, who is 5-months old, and after getting the details of his situation we left Manzini with two babies.

On the ride home Ian reminded me that when we met with the doctor at the hospital he said that baby Grace had Tuberculosis.  Right.  I had totally forgotten that.  The family didn’t give us any medication and there was no mention of the child having Tuberculosis.  After we dropped the babies off at the El Roi baby home it was time to take Andy and Sandra to the airport and so we headed back to town.

Baby Grace with her Aunt (face hidden for privacy).

As we were approaching the airport I got a phone call from the doctor at the hospital saying he was at the airport to say farewell to the Stanleys.  I was so happy to hear that because I wanted to update him on baby Grace.  When I asked him if she had Tuberculosis he said yes and also mentioned the Streptococcal Meningitis that they will be treating for the next 12 months.  WHAT!?  The family didn’t mention this nor did they give us any medication!  I told him this and he was very upset. He explained that the child was deathly ill and that the Tuberculosis was not only in her lungs, but also in her brain because of the Meningitis.  Good grief. 

We got to the airport, said goodbye to our friends and then regrouped to discuss the situation with baby Grace.  I just “happened” to have the Aunt’s phone number in my purse so I dialed her number and handed the phone to the doctor so he could ask her where the medication was.  If my heart wasn’t hurting enough at that point, it almost broke when I heard her response.

When the baby was discharged three weeks ago the Aunt had no money to pay the hospital bill so she snuck out with the child.  By sneaking out she didn’t get the LIFE SAVING prescriptions that the baby needed and so Grace has been without medical care since that time.

The doctor was visibly shaken, but was kind on the phone, thanked her for telling the truth and hung up.  He dropped his head and shook it from side to side.  He explained the seriousness of Grace’s illness and said he must see her first thing in the morning. 

Early Friday morning we packed up baby Grace and I drove Thabile and Brooke to the hospital to find meet with the doctor.  After five hours, multiple meetings, x-ray, TB clinic and pharmacies we learned that Grace has two types of Meningitis. One is TB Meningitis (which means she has TB in her brain) and the other is Fungal Meningitis (fungal infection in the brain).  She also has TB in her lungs, which makes her infectious (not highly infectious) and needs to be isolated in the baby home for 2-3 months.  We have to work out how that will happen, but we will be sure that she is well loved.  Grace will take six pills each day for the TB and a different medication for the Meningitis.  The doctor thinks it will be a full year of treatment.   

On the way home we got a flat tire (actually shredded tire) – that just topped off the whole day. 

We do not know if her lung TB is a drug resistant variety so we will take her to have a sputum (phlegm) sample tested on Monday.  We pray that it is NOT a Drug-Resistant type of Tuberculosis as that would give us another level of complication as it relates to the other babies. We don’t want to expose them to that type of TB (or any type of course), but TB is a part of life here in Swaziland.  It is said that 70% of all people living her have active or inactive Tuberculosis and 30% of the population has a Drug-Resistant (or Multiple-Drug Resistant) types. 

This baby is a very sick baby, but we are overjoyed to have the blessing of being able to care for her.  We know that Grace has been brought to us for a very special reason and while we don’t know what that is right now, we are thankful for this opportunity. 

Live from Swaziland … I am taking the day off!

Janine

PS - As always, if you would like to support the El Roi Baby Home on a monthly basis please click here and sign up today.  Thank you from the bottom of my heart.

What is Chloe really thinking?

 

クロエと私は過去2週間のアジアであった。彼女は8月（グレード11と12）で学校へ行こうどこ我々は、台湾を訪問しているし、我々は我々の友人リック·ルーカスと彼の生徒たちを訪問する日本の沖縄に行きました。そこから私たちは、アフリカ日本のハートを起動するワン·ワールド·フェスティバルでの教師と生徒との結合に大阪に行ってきました。それは素晴らしい、教育と疲れる冒険されており、我々はクロエのための買い物服の日後の月曜日に家に帰る準備が整いました。

We have been learning Japanese all week and I wanted to practice my written Japanese for this blog.  That first paragraph really took a lot of work so I will switch back to English now. *

I asked Chloe to help me with this week’s blog since we have been together 24/7 for the past two weeks.  She said I could ask her questions and give her answers about the past few weeks so I hope you all enjoy her candidness and her heart. 

Janine:  Chloe, what was the best part of your first trip to Asia?

Chloe:  I loved meeting all the people at the Morrison Academy in Taichung, Taiwan.  I felt that God was there with me and that all my 16-year old doubts about the school and the situation got checked off as the days past.  I met people who were so different from anyone I have met before and I felt that I finally fit in somewhere, but could still be my unique self.    I love that I have met people who are like me and now I understand that I am a TCK and what that means.

Janine:  What is a TCK?

Chloe:  TCK is a “Third Culture Kid”.  It’s when a kid grows up in one culture and then moves to a whole new culture and goes to school with other kids from other cultures. This creates a third culture that brings everyone together and creates a new perspective or mindset.  That is the “third culture”. Every TCK understands that each person has gone through similar changes (moving, changing schools, loss of friends, starting over, world being flipped upside down etc).  My new school happens to be a place that brings TCK’s together creating a “home” when describing where “home” is, can be complicated. 

Janine:  Are you nervous about going to school a million miles away from your parents on a foreign continent?

Chloe:  As of right now, my answer is “no”.  I have already made one huge change in my life (moving to Africa) so change seems pretty normal nowadays.  Of course I will miss my parents, as any kid does when they first move away from home, but I am so unbelievably excited about this that it makes moving away much easier.

Janine: What did you think about the second part of your trip – your time in Japan?

Chloe:  Now THAT felt like a completely different planet than Taiwan, and Taiwan felt like a different planet than I had ever been on before.  The coolest part was being able to see my mom’s double life that she has been hiding all this time. The people she was talking about for the past five years were real.  I thought she was kidding when she told me she had to take off her designer boots and put on red rubber slippers when she entered a private High School in Japan… nope.  Dead serious.  But she does like her job, and I am glad she does.  I loved meeting people who are the same age as me, but who speak a different language and still having something in common. 

Janine:  What was the hardest part of your first trip to Asia?

Chloe:  Nothing is written in English.  Nothing. Every sign is in Mandarin or Japanese and we had to rely on others to help us around.

Janine:  Do you have any other thoughts that you would like share with the readers of this blog?

Chloe:  Yes.  Two is better than one.  It is always better to travel with someone than alone.  Traveling with my mom has been an enlightening experience, to say the least. Here are three travel tips that I learned in the past two weeks. 

1.     Sarcasm is a virtue – leverage it.

2.     When you feel like you have screwed up and created an international incident, remember to laugh, it’s better than crying.

3.     Enjoy the adventure - don’t be afraid of trying something new and miss out on something that might change your life.

Thanks for following us on this journey.  We are finishing up the ONE WORLD Festival tomorrow and head back to Swaziland on Monday night.  This has been an amazing trip, but it will be wonderful to be home again. 

Live from Japan… it’s very late on Saturday night.

Chloe and Janine

* If you know how to use google translator you will be able to see how I cheated  :)

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

Good news and bad news.

Baby Nathan arrives at El Roi.

First the good news. Yesterday Baby #24 arrived quite unexpectedly while I was in town with Chloe running errands and preparing for our trip last week. The Grandmother of the baby brought him for help because the mother is not doing well physically and couldn't travel. We will go and check on her today. Thankfully I had an emergency diaper bag in the back of my car, packed with love by Lori Marschall for "such a time as this".  Baby Nathan was born on January 5, 2013 and he is now home at El Roi.  That's the good news.

Now for the bad news.

This past month I have learned four very bad words:  Multi-drug Resistant Tuberculosis (MDR TB).  Maybe it’s only three words, but they are words that I had never heard in my whole life until I met the young woman whom I will call “Nomsa” – the mother of our twin girls Leah and Rachel.

If you read my blog dated December 15^th you will remember how I met this young woman.  It was a desperate and heartbreaking meeting as she handed her precious 3-week old babies to me from the back of an ambulance and then tried to be brave through her TB mask while tears of sorrow and regret poured out of her eyes.  I didn’t think I would see her again because she was going to the National TB hospital to die.  She borrowed a cell phone at the hospital and called me that same night to see how her babies were doing. I immediately liked her and thought that I should plan to visit her in the New Year. My visits have now become a weekly event and usually the high point and the low point of my week.

Nomsa has Multi-drug Resistant Tuberculosis and is “co-infected” with HIV.   She is very very sick and has a long and difficult road ahead if she is to live.

When I first went to see Nomsa I had to find my way to the TB hospital. I had never been to (or heard of) this place, but it was easy to find.  It is a huge, multi-building facility that was built in 2009 to provide a safe place to treat this highly infectious disease away from the general population.  The buildings are well maintained, very open (lots of ventilation) and sterile, as one might expect. 

There is a guard at the front gate (not sure if he is to keep people in or out) and once you pass him you move on past the mortuary sitting prominently near the entrance (also with a guard outside - ??).  Just down from the Mortuary is the Women’s Ward.  After you enter, you put on a paper mask and then find your way to the patient you are seeing.

The first time I visited Nomsa there were ten women in the ward with her.  She is 24-years old and most of them were around the same age, except for the 12-year old who was the youngest one there.  Each of these women are in for very aggressive treatment which includes 18 pills at 10 AM every day followed by a very painful injection in the hip.  They get 4 more pills at 10 PM and those are there MDR-TB medication.  All of the patients are “co-infected” so they are all HIV positive and are automatically put on Anti-retroviral medication as soon as they arrive IF they are stable enough to endure it.

This treatment is done for a MINIMUM of six months and can last up to two years.  The treatment has terrible side effects including daily violent vomiting, total hearing loss and psychosis.  While we all read the possible side effects of various medications that we take, we rarely see those side effects manifest themselves.  In this case, many (maybe even most) have the side effects of these drugs.  It seems that they all spend time vomiting after their meds.  Of the ten women in the ward on my first day, half of them were totally deaf and my friend Nomsa has ringing in her ears after only a month of treatment.  Of the ten women in the ward, four of them had extreme psychosis and would yell out for help, talk to invisible people, crawl around naked on the floor or urinate on the floor in front of you

I have been to the hospital to visit Nomsa six times in the past month and I have not yet seen one other person visiting in the ward.  I have seen the odd person standing outside, distant from the patients so as not to catch anything. (It reminded me of the scene in the Valley of the Lepers in the movie “Ben Hur” when people would hide behind rocks and peek at their loved ones from afar too afraid to go near.  I can’t say I blame them).  Inside the ward there is no radio, no tv, no books, no sound, no calendar to mark the day, no color and a lot of death.  But it is clean, appears to be professionally run and is clearly the only hope these patients have of survival.

On Friday I stopped in for a quick visit and to let her know that I would be away for the next two weeks traveling.  I took her some much needed protein and prayed that she would be alive when I returned.  MDR-TB patients who are also HIV positive can take a bad turn and die in a matter of weeks.  In fact of the ten patients who were there at the beginning of the month, five of them have died.

On Wednesday my friend Wendy was here from the US volunteering to distribute TOMS Shoes and help out at the El Roi baby home.  We had to take Leah and Rachel in to be tested to see if they contracted MDR-TB so Wendy agreed to go in and spend some time visiting/ministering to/encouraging Nomsa while we took the babies to be x-rayed.  The twins test was negative so we believe they do not have TB and now can come out of the isolation room at the El Roi Baby home and join the rest of the family.

Nomsa looking at her twins from a distance.  A very moving and difficult moment.

When we went back to pick Wendy up I took my usual walk around the ward to visit and encourage some of the women there.  There was one woman who had been very sick the past few weeks. She was just skin and bones and lay naked with her boney arm stretching out to us for help. Her eyes were stretched open wide and white as snow.  She cried out to us and said, “Help me!  I am dying!”  It was a horrific plea from a woman who had no hope left in life. We held her hand, rubbed her arm and tried to comfort her with words that seemed empty, but Nomsa reminded us that the woman was totally deaf from the treatment and couldn’t hear us. We had large protective masks on so she couldn’t see us smile or read our lips as we prayed wit her.  We all tried to smile with our eyes and prayed to God to help her.  When I returned yesterday, she too had died.  Nomsa said when the time came for the woman to pass away she started wailing and screaming.  Nomsa said it was terrifying, and then she was silent.  It was over.

While my heart ached for Nomsa and the other women in the ward who have now seen six women die horrific deaths in the past month, I can’t even begin to imagine how the 12-year old girl is processing and surviving this all.  Please pray for her and the others who are fighting for their lives.

We had the great privilege of meeting one of the founding Doctors at this hospital. He was more than helpful, informative, educative and very willing to help us in any way that he possibly could.  I look forward to continue learning from this man as we continue on this journey together.

As I was waking up a few mornings ago I had a random thought float through my head.  I recalled the book “Tuesday’s with Morrie” and wondered if Nomsa might be willing to allow me write a blog called “Wednesday’s with Nomsa”.  To me, Nomsa represents the women of Swaziland.  She has lived in poverty, but had hopes and dreams. She found love and then lost it. She had babies, and then had to give them away. She was a vibrant, smart, educated young woman and then became infected with HIV due to choices that she made or were made for her.  There are so many layers to the social situations happening here in Swaziland that maybe we could peel back many of them and take a peak inside through this one bright young woman. 

I have asked her if she would allow me to sit with her every second Wednesday and write her story.  She is thinking about it while I travel. I hope that you, the reader, might be interested in doing a little more reading every other week and go with Nomsa and I on this journey.  It won’t be pretty, but hopefully will be insightful.

On Tuesday Chloe and I will get on a plane and head to Asia for two weeks. We will spend several days in Taiwan visiting the Morrison Academy where Chloe will attend school in August. Then we will head to Japan to officially launch HEART FOR AFRICA –JAPAN. I look forward to sharing all that God has done and is doing in Swaziland with our friends in Asia, but I will be happy to get back home to visit my friend Nomsa again.  Please join me in praying for health and safety as we go our different direction this week.

Live from Swaziland … pondering life.

Janine

Baby #23 arrives while 15 children still starve at home alone

Baby Asher

On Thursday I got a call from a Social Worker at a local hospital saying that there was another case of rape and the 17-year old girl couldn’t possibly care for the baby that had been born that morning.  Fortunately some of our friends and family signed up to give monthly to support the El Roi Baby Home over the Christmas holidays so I was able to say “YES” when asked if I could pick up the baby on Monday.  That baby would be #23 and what a gift to have a team of volunteers here with us to celebrate his arrival!.

Then late Friday afternoon I got a call about another newborn baby boy, this time from a different hospital in a different part of the country.  His mother is 26-years old and is in and out of the psychiatric hospital with many voices talking in her head.  Her own mother kicked her out of the house when she came home pregnant, but would welcome her back without a baby.  Could we take him?  The answer was “yes” and he would be baby #24.

So baby #23 actually will be baby #24 when we go to pick him up on Monday.

When does it end?  What is our maximum?  I am often asked those questions by well-intentioned people from North America, but I am never asked that question by my Swazi or Kenyan co-workers or family.  Not ever.  Why is that?  I think it is because they have been there when a baby is found or when a baby shows up starving to death or having been burned or left on the side of the road.  It’s great to build spreadsheets and set goals, but at the end of the day we must prayerfully say yes to any and all babies that El Roi (the God who Sees) sends to us.  I am not sure how I will say “no”, if and when that day comes.

I am thankful to each and every person who supports Heart for Africa and the El Roi home for abandoned babies.  I have no doubt that El Shaddai  (Our Provider) will continue to provide for these little ones.  I could not do my job without you and I can’t imagine not doing what I do.  I love my job, my calling and am eternally thankful to have been given this gift.

Taking the baby to the car to bring him home.

Early this morning we drove to Siteki to pick up the 4-day old baby boy, named Asher (means “Happy”) we stopped to drop food off to the homestead with 15 children living with no caregiver, whom I write about often.  A dear friend from Missouri dropped money off at the US office yesterday and asked me to buy them some food.  Last week I took Manna Packs and 10 KG of rice, which should have been sufficient for a month. Today I brought bananas, bread, oil, onions, potatoes, squash and other fresh food. We even brought plastic plates and cups because the children all eat out of the hot cooking pot with bare hands.  Today, I discovered that the food I left last week had been stolen by a 19-year old “Auntie”.  Nice eh?    I am so angry. But that fight is for another day.

 

15 children living with no adult to provide for them.

Our last stop before getting Asher home was at the National Tuberculosis Hospital.  My young friend (Leah & Rachel’s mother) asked if I could bring her some mayonnaise.  Mayonnaise?  Yes, because she said the food was inedible and she thought mayonnaise might help.  When I walked in her room I found a young woman lying naked, face down on the concrete floor.  She couldn’t have weighed more than 70 pounds and was skin and bone.  I was shocked and asked my friend if she was alive. She said yes, and shook her head. She said, “She is very sick and has gone mad. She refuses to lie on her mattress so lies here until they come and put her back.”  Minutes later two people came in with masks on (to protect from the TB), then put on rubber gloves and lifted/dragged the lifeless body back to her mattress on the floor. That is a vision that will never leave my head, and I am thankful that our volunteers stayed in the car with the new baby.

That’s all for today, I am a bit weary and weepy and it is time to sit on the patio, look at the beauty that God has created and give thanks.

Live from Swaziland … it is Saturday afternoon.

Janine

My heart hurts for the women of Swaziland

My beautiful family

Happy New Year from the Maxwell family at Project Canaan, Swaziland!   I am incredibly thankful for my beautiful family being together over the Christmas holidays.  May the year 2013 bring you joy, peace and love.

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Some of you have asked me privately what I struggle with and/or how you can pray for me?  My first answer is usually asking for prayer for El Roi funding so that we never have to turn away a baby in need.  But today I have a different request based on several women I spent time with this week. 

Being a girl or a woman in Africa is very hard.  Females are not valued as males are valued, but they are the backbone of most African cultures and societies.  I remember reading a statistic that 75% of all food that is planted, grown, harvested, prepared and put on the table to eat on the whole continent of Africa is done by women.  Women are beasts of burden and are also responsible for fetching water (many miles away), giving birth, raising children and providing love and care for the entire extended family. In Swaziland and the woman is also responsible for building the home that the family lives in (typically made from sticks, rock, mud and grass).  Their bodies are not their own (often used by male family members) and their real value is in the number of cattle or goats they are “worth” when it comes time for “lobola” to be paid for their hand in marriage.

I have met several young women in the past few months who have really impressed me, even through the tragic situations that brought us together.  They seem to want to break the cycle of poverty, but it is virtually impossible to do in a country that doesn’t value women, has an unemployment rate of 70% and where sex is the easiest and quickest way to provide food for your children (or yourself).  

I am really struggling with this because I want to help these young women, but don’t know how to do it and don’t have the funding to do it at this time.  Let me tell you a short version of three stories from this week. Some of these you may be familiar with if you are a regular blog reader.

Woman #1 – She is 30-years old, has 8 children, is HIV positive and has been in the woman’s prison multiple times over the years because she steals food to feed her children.  She is now in prison for three more years.  Her youngest ones (age eight months and the other is two years) are living in prison with her.  The next five (ages eleven years to three years) are living alone with no food, no clothing, no adult care.  We have been working with police, Social Welfare and the Correctional facility for seven months to try to get assistance for the little baby in the prison and the young ones living alone.  This continues to seem like a hopeless situation, but we haven’t given up hope yet.  While we are trying to provide a medium-term solution for her children’s care while she is incarcerated, the question remains how she will be able to care for them when she is released in 2015?  She would like to live and work at Project Canaan, but we have no housing or facilities for her at this time.

Baby Hope

Woman #2 – She is 26-years old and is the mother of two-year old twin boys.  She was violently raped in 2012 and after several failed attempts at aborting the child she recently gave birth to a beautiful girl, who now lives at the El Roi baby home.  She is a hard worker (she cleans at a local factory) and tries to provide the best care she can for her twins on her $100 US per month salary.  She recently discovered that her boys are being neglected (to say the least) by the woman caring for them while the mother works 12-hour shifts.  She would love to come and live at Project Canaan and work on the farm or in the baby home, but we have nowhere for her to live and no one to care for her twin boys. Her own parents kicked her out of the homestead when they heard she had been raped because they didn’t believe her story and believed she was just being promiscuous.  The father of the twins is unemployed and refuses to help with the boys.  She is stuck.  And I am stuck because I want to hire her, but I have nowhere for her to live with her little ones.

Leah and Rachel

Woman #3 – She is 24-years old, is HIV positive and has active Tuberculosis. She has given birth to five children - one single birth, a set of girl twins and another set of twin girls on November 19^th (which just happens to be my birthday).  The first three children are being raised by their fathers parents.  The new twins live at El Roi and were brought to us by the Social Welfare department when the young mother was being taken to the National TB (Tuberculosis) hospital.  She is deathly ill and could not begin to care for her newborn babies in her mud room home.  She has what is called DR-TB – Drug Resistant Tuberculosis and is a sanitarium that is designed for acute cases of this highly infectious killer.  Each day she gets 18 pills at 10AM as well as an injection in her boney hip.  At 10PM she gets four more pills.  When I asked how she got in to this situation her simple reply is “bad behavior – and it will not happen again.”   IF she responds well to this treatment and IF she lives she will reside at this TB Hospital for the next six months to two years. Each and every day she will receive the 22 pills and injection in order to save her life.  She was quick to tell me that she is trusting in the healing power of Jesus more than she is trusting in the medicine, which makes her vomit violently and often results in long term effects like loss of speech or psychosis.  If and when she gets well, she wants to come and live at Project Canaan and learn to make jewelry and sew.  But right now we have nowhere for her to live when she is health again.

All three of these women have become my friends.  I visit them as often as I can and think of them and pray for them daily. But each day my heart gets heavier and heavier for them.  They remain hopeful about their futures, while I stand in awe of their hopefulness.  My hearts desire is to be able to help these girls/women just as we can help their babies.  I know we can’t “save them all”, but maybe we can help the one who is right in front of our eyes; the one who look through the prison bars and ask for help to save her children’s lives, the one who stands against a mud wall and shares her fear about her babies being abused by a caregiver while she works, the one who looks over her Tuberculosis mask and thanks you for caring for her twins.  

Next week I will blog about my visit to the National Tuberculosis hospital.  It was a shocking and life-changing experience for me and I want to do some research before I write next week so that I can best articulate what I saw and what is happening here in Swaziland with AIDS and TB.

Please join me in praying for these three women and all the others of millions of women who are suffering every day.  May the God Who Sees us all provide His hand of protection and provision as only He can do. 

Live from Swaziland … my heart is hurting.

Janine