A day in the life in Swaziland: HIV, DNA, birth control and of course a pit latrine baby

Yesterday was a fairly typical day.  I start by making a plan that requires me to drive to town and spend an hour or so to do what needs to be done.  At the END of the day I drive home, emotionally, spiritually and mentally exhausted and then have a laugh as I tell Ian about all that happened.

There are several parts of the day that I can’t share with you yet, but will another time.  But for now I will give you a blow by blow of the day.

·      Left Project Canaan at 7:30AM with three women from the Kibbutz, two babies from the Kibbutz and an El Roi Baby (and a volunteer from the US named Lynn)

·      Dropped two of the ladies off at a clinic in Manzini to get birth control shots.  Learned that they have to have shots for three months in a row before they can get the ten year “implant”.

·      Learned that the reason that “my girls” want birth control EVEN THOUGH they have sworn off men is because there is so much sexual abuse and rape here.  Better safe than sorry (and my Compassion Purse funds it).

·      Went to Social Welfare office to meet an 18-year old woman and hear her terrible sorry of being kidnapped and into a forced-marriage (not uncommon here). She married a police officer, who beats her regularily and last week used his hand cuffs to tie her and then beat her. She wants to get a restraining order and go back to school so we were being asked to help work this through complicated situation.  We agreed to help in some areas, but insisted that she be tested for HIV so that she at least knows her status while we working out other things.  We went to clinic with her and sadly, she learned that she is HIV positive.  I hugged her and told her that she can live a full live being HIV positive, but that she will need to make some lifestyle changes and go to clinic on a regular basis. It was a very sad moment in the day.   We are still helping her with her crisis.

·      Went to a private clinic where they do DNA testing.  One of our Kibbutz women is adamant that a certain man is the father of her two youngest children.  The man claims he is not the father and will not help with payment for the babies.  Social Welfare insisted that he raise the $250 US to do a DNA test on the eldest of the two (to start).  We all met at the DNA lab for testing and my Kibbutz lady was so adamant about the truth that she paid the extra $100 US to have the little baby tested too, even though that baby lives at the El Roi Baby Home now.  We will know the truth for sure in 4-5 weeks. This is not something that is important to me or to the baby being with us, but it is important to her and she wants me to know that I can trust her … and so it is important to me now. Oh, I didn’t mention that the man brought his new wife with him to the DNA testing lab? The same wife who was pregnant at the same time as my girl was? Awkward.

·      Went to RFM Hospital to meet up with Futhi from the Kibbutz who’s baby was rushed to emergency room the night before because she was having great difficulty breathing (and lots of vomiting).  This is the same baby who is severely disabled and HIV positive so we must take extra care with her.  She was diagnosed with pneumonia and almost admitted to the hospital, but we were able to get her home because Kenny could give her the antibiotic injections here on the farm. Oh, that is if we could find them somewhere. Turns out all the pharmacy’s in Swaziland are out of that prescription.  Would deal with that one on Saturday.

·      While at RFM Hospital we were approached by a woman, whose 13-year old son had been in the hospital for a long time, and had just been discharged, but she didn’t have enough money (around $13 USD) to pay his bill so he was made to stay in the hospital until she could pay.  We walked her to the Social Workers office where she could seek assistance. 

·      While at the Social Workers office we were asked again when we were going to take the baby who had been dropped in a pit latrine two weeks earlier and had been discharged a week ago, but who was still there.  I explained that we were waiting for the proper paper work from another government department, but that it was being delayed, again.  The Social Worker was very concerned about the baby getting a hospital infection, which is what happened last November while waiting for paper work and that baby died.  This is a frustrating situation and one that we are praying for a miracle about.

·      While going and checking on the pit latrine baby and making sure that the diapers and formula that we took the week before were still enough, I was approached by another lady who had a 3 lb premature baby in the NICU ward.  A nurse told her about the El Roi Baby Home and she begged us to take her child so that he won’t die when he goes home.  Again, I walked the lady to the Social Worker office and explained that she must speak with her, not with me. We can only help through the proper channels. Stay tuned for more on that one.

·      Went back and picked up the three women who were getting their birth control sorted and the three children they had with them, loaded up Futhi and sick baby.

·      Learned on the way home that my Kibbutz girls spent all their money at Christmas so they have no food from now until payday on Jan 31^st.  Had a little talk about budgeting for Christmas 2014 (!).  Stopped at another store to buy them bread then called Anthony to have some maize, vegetables and Manna Pack dropped off at the Kibbutz to tie them over.  SO thankful for Manna Pack and compassion purse funds!

·      Dropped baby off at El Roi, three women and two babies at Kibbutz and then got home after 5PM.

This photo isn't relevant to anything in this blog, but its really cute :)

Have I mentioned lately that I love my life?  And my babies?  And my Kibbutz girls?  I really, really do.

Live from Swaziland … tomorrow is another day, and I get to visit Nomsa.

Janine

What does pure joy look like?

As we kick off a new year together I thought I would keep this blog short and sweet. Based on the past 24 hours I think next week’s blog is going to be long and heavy, so today, a treat … a few photos that bring me joy and make my heart sing. 

I hope you enjoy them too.

The toddlers pretending to take a spin around the farm. 

It's hard to get a photo of Caleb smiling, but this one is a winner!

Baby Debs

Those crazy kids!  Emmanuel and Caleb racing down the hallway.

New puppies "Georgia" and "Tai" :)

My family.

Live from Swaziland … I am going out to walk the new puppies.

Janine

Not a good way to start the New Year, or maybe it was the best way?

 

Our family in enjoying a much needed, long overdue holiday, together on the beach in Durban, South Africa.  Each day starts with a view of the Indian Ocean and ends with a delicious meal, Cribbage games and watching Scandal Season 2 together.  The reason we can go away worry free is because we have such an incredible team of people living and serving at Project Canaan.  They only contact us when there is something that we need to know or that they know we would want to know.  That is how the day started.

Today, my first FaceBook message was from Kenny VanWinkle. He and Amber graciously offered to live in our house while we are away taking care of chickens, dogs and security.  Kenny’s message to me read something like this:

“Hey Janine. Hope your vacation is going great. We had a couple of visitors last night. Came out of the bedroom and there was a 3.5 foot long snake coming out of the pantry. Chased it and cornered it under the stove. At the same time saw another one come from under a chair in the living room and go down the hallway. Called Denis and we killed the one under the stove. Not sure what kind of snake it was. Kinda looks like a Puff Adder, but it hissed at me really loud, and it long and skinny. Haven't found the other one yet. And we have looked like crazy. Just curious if you guys have had this problem before. We haven't left any doors or windows open. Anyway just wanted to let you know what's going on. We are still searching for the second intruder. Other than that all is well. Pretty sure I lost a few years off my life last night! Haha”

I know lots of you (Beth, Penny etc) hate when I talk about snakes, but I have a point. I will get to it.

After that I was looking through friends FaceBook posts and saw this photo from Brooke Sleeper of little Esther’s foot with a hookworm working its way through her skin.  We try to get the Aunties to make the children wear shoes, but heck, its Africa.  Everyone is in bare feet, right?  I wonder how many other people have hookworms making tracts that no one sees? Probably many.  I was able to contact Brooke to find out what she was going to do and she said that Esther’s foot is very itchy and after 3 days of treatment the worm(s) will die.  YUCK!!  Again, I have a point to why I am telling you this, and will get to it.

After reading my morning news, we got up and headed to the lobby at 5:45AM where we were getting a car to take us Deep Sea Fishing. We were all so excited for another great Maxwell family adventure. One of our favorites from the past was White Water Rafting down the Great Zambizi River in Zimbabwe. Maybe today would be even better than that?  We arrived at the chartered boat, hopped in and off we went. Simple.  I had packed lunches, water, cold drinks, lots of sunscreen and cameras.  It would be a perfect day (other than how it had started).  But I knew I had forgotten something. What was it?

It wasn’t until we left the harbor and we headed in to the open water that I remembered what I forgot, but it was too late. You see, I get really, really, REALLY motion sick.  And it started.  We had traveled out in the Indian Ocean about 2.5 miles and then stopped. We were all handled fishing rods and told to drop the lines to the bottom. Immediately fish were on Chloe’s and my line and up we successfully caught 8” fish. I did that once, and then things started to spin.  I moved in to the shade and sat down in the breeze. I was in a full body sweat. My head was sweating and even my upper lip and I knew I wasn’t going to make it.  I moved to the front of the boat to get more breeze and see the shoreline and tried to regroup.  What was I thinking? This was my idea to go Deep Sea Fishing!  How could I have forgotten such an important thing!

I didn’t want to tell Ian how sick I was getting for fear of ruining this great adventure.  It turns out we were only fishing for bait at that stop and soon we were heading back out to the open sea.  The swells were high as we crashed into and over each wave.  After 15 minutes of debating if I could call a helicopter to be evacuated or if I could just jump in the water and sink or swim (didn’t care which at that point), I went to the skipper and asked how much farther were were going.  He said, “Only another 9 miles out to sea”. I panicked.

He, and my family saw my panic and he gave me a anti-nausea pill.  Chloe was looking “green around the gills” too and so she took one too.  Fast-forwarding to the end of this terrible morning, by 7:30AM I was begging God to take me home.  Spencer and Ian were reeling in big Dorado fish (Mahi Mahi), I was power puking off the side of the boat and Chloe was curled up in the fetal position trying to “find her happy place.”   

The adventure was to last until 2PM, but we were back on shore by 10:08AM, much to my joy (and thanks to the understanding men in our family).  Oh my, my, my we were SO SICK.  But we have some great fish to show for it and will be eating it at dinner tonight (if I ever get this blog posted).

Near the end of the day I got a message on my phone from a Child Protection Police officer. He message read, “Good afternoon Janine.  We have yet another discovery of a dumped baby who has been rushed to the hospital.  Do you sill have space at the El Roi Baby Home?”

My reply was, “Yes, we hope to always have room for babies that you find dumped”. 

We are awaiting the details of this newborn baby, our first of 2014.

So, how do the snakes in our house, the hookworm in Esther’s foot, the adventure at sea and a newborn baby possibly all fit together?  It’s easy.  If we were too afraid of snakes to have said “yes” to this calling (and I HATE SNAKES!), I wouldn’t have had the privilege of receiving the phone message about a dumped baby. While I am totally grossed out by Esther’s hookworm (and may have wanted to cut my own foot off), we have an awesome Nurse Practitioner who said “yes” to the calling on her life and she can treat Esther and do another “teaching” on the importance of wearing shoes outside (oh, and we have shoes for all of them – we are blessed).  If we had said “no” to God’s calling on our life we wouldn’t have had the amazing opportunity to drive to Durban, stay on the beach and go Deep Sea Fishing in the Indian Ocean.  Sick or not sick, I got to be a part of a really cool adventure that our family will not soon forget.  And, at the end of the day, I got a message about a baby whose day was much worse than mine, and yet I could be a part of making his/her day better.

It’s January 2014 and we all are starting a new year.  I pray that you will not let your fears, your phobias or your excuses rob you of the huge blessings that the Lord has in store for you because you are thinking about saying “no” to what HE is asking you to do.  Today was a great day in my life – not an easy one, but another great one. I am so very thankful that we said “yes”.  You will be too.

Live from South Africa … it’s Saturday evening and time to eat Mahi Mahi.

Janine

10 Things we would NEVER have said living in Georgia or Canada

 

As I was preparing to write my last blog of the year my friend Beth Blaisdell suggested that I write the “10 things we would NEVER have said living in Georgia or Canada”.  Why?  Because I am always saying things to her that she will stop me and say, “Did you hear what you just said?”.  So as our family hung out together this past week we all started taking note of things we were saying to each other, that we would NEVER had said while living in Georgia or Canada.

I hope you think they are as funny as we do.

10.   “Mom, I saw fire works going off as I flew into Hong Kong from Taiwan - tons of them. Pretty legit, they must have heard I was coming.” –  (Chloe flying to Swaziland from school in Taiwan).

9.     “Welcome home Spencer and Chloe!  Let’s stop and get a photo with your 47 brothers and sisters.”

8.     “Nothando, when Swazi women shake their bums like that do you call it “twerking” here? No, we call it ‘the Get Down’.”

 

7.     “Note to self – always be sure to wear your snake boots if you are riding an ATV to the top of the mountain.” 

 

6.     Spencer: Antony this giant spider was on my arm last night. Is it poisonous?                              
Antony:  Oh yes, that little one is poisonous, and if it bites you it will hurt, but not as much as the big ones.”  

 

5.     Ian: Janine, what are you up to today?                                                                                                   
Me: Well, the kids and I are going to stop by the National TB Hospital to drop off Christmas gift packs and KFC Chicken to all the patients.  Then we are going to visit a home where there are eight children living alone because their parents are in prison.  From there we will drop off cookies at the NICU and Pediatric ward at the hospital in town to thank them for all their help this year, then we will stop and pick up pizza for dinner.  

 

4.     “What the heck? Is that a crocodile? No, just a giant Monitor Lizard.”

3.     “Spencer since you are driving down to the Baby Home, can you drop off this live chicken please?”

 

2.     “It is SO HOT HERE!  Do you think it would be awkward to go hang out in the walk in fridge at the Toddler home since we don’t have AIR CONDITIONING?!”

1.    Supervisor:  Mr. Ian, is it okay if we have hookers at the front gate at Project Canaan?                    
 Ian:  You want to have hookers at the front gate?                                                                     
Supervisor: Yes, so people can stop and buy on their way home after work.                                       
 Ian: I don’t think that would be a good thing to promote prostitution at our gate since we are a Ministry here in Swaziland.                                                                                                       
Supervisor:  No not prostitution, they sell snacks and used clothing.                                                   
Ian: OH!  Hawkers!  No, we don’t want them there either.

 

I pray that in 2014 you find yourself saying things you would never have said before because you said YES to God’s calling on your life. Remember, His plans are better than our plans.  Not always easy or fun, but better.  And laughter helps a lot on the dark days.  That is a gift from Him too.

Happy New Year from the entire Maxwell family.

Live from Swaziland… yes, from Swaziland, Africa!

Janine

Short and sweet - Merry Christmas from us all!

Today is a great day. My family is all together again.

Spencer flew in from Atlanta, Georgia on Wednesday.  Chloe flew in from Taichung, Taiwan this morning.  My world is spinning so nicely right now and I just want to stop and give thanks to the Lord for the peace and joy that I have right now.

Today we celebrated the birth of our Lord and Savior on Project Canaan with a party for everyone who works on the farm and the people who make jewelry at the Khutsala Artisans Shop.  Yesterday we had a lovely Christmas lunch with the women who care for our babies at the Children's Campus (El Roi Baby Home and Labakhetsiwe).  The rest of this blog is photos from those parties.

Chloe's welcome home.  Thank you sisters on the farm!

Sorry for the short blog, but I need to go and prepare my family's favorite meal.  My heart is full and I am thankful that we said "yes" to HIS calling.  He gives "exceedingly and abundantly more than we could ask for or imagine.".

If you have not already seen this, please watch the  Christmas video from the Maxwell's .  We have a donor who will match up to $100,000 given to our Year End Giving Campaign.  Thank you for considering giving to Heart for Africa at this time of year.

Merry Christmas to you and your family, whoever and where ever they may be.

Live from Swaziland ... happy mama.

Janine

"The baby is a curse. Kill the baby and you can move back home."

  Earlier this week I got a call about a 10-month old baby who needed a home.  The mother suffered Placential Abruption prior to giving birth and an emergency C-Section was performed, but not until the child was without oxygen for some time. As soon as the baby was born everyone knew that things weren’t just as they should be.  The baby scored a 2 on her Apgar test and the mother had immediate concerns, but a good piece of news was that the baby tested negative for HIV, even though the mother was positive. 

I love the hearts on the jacket she was wearing.

 When the father of the baby came to see her he said he did not want the child because she was disabled.  The baby struggled to suck because she had a severe cleft palate, but the mother was patient and worked hard to get breast milk in to her tiny mouth.  Sadly, we learned that the baby has since contracted HIV from the mother’s breast milk and is now HIV positive.  The mother had no alternative for feeding  because she was poor, alone and uneducated. She is 23- years old and only finished first grade. She cannot read or write, but she loved that baby that God had given her.

As the child grew the disabilities became more pronounced and the Grandmother started to yell and call the baby an “animal”.  A few weeks ago she kicked the mother and baby out of the house saying that someone had put a curse on the family and the baby was proof of that curse (a very common belief of a disabled child in Swazi culture).  The Grandmother said that the mother must kill the baby, and then she could come back and live at home.  But this young mother loved the baby with all her heart and couldn’t kill the child. The mother and baby went from house to house looking for a place to stay, but with no job and no way to support herself it was difficult. Finally a Social Worker from a local hospital offered to help.  She took the two in and helped get a medical assessment of the baby done by a neurologist.

The CT scan was shocking. Half of the baby’s brain was “black” on the scan.  The baby has severe Cerebral Palsy, Epilepsy, blindness (not total), deafness (not total) and a severe cleft palate.  Both eye cross (one at a time) with seemingly no muscle to control them.  She struggles to swallow and is always choking and coughing saliva that has gone down the “wrong pipe”. The baby cries from morning to night.

On Friday I took Gcebile Shongwe (one of our Senior Supervisors at the baby home) and Brooke Sleeper (our Nurse Practitioner extra-ordinare) to the Social Welfare office to meet this young mother and the baby. It was a heart-breaking meeting and everyone in the room was making a case (aka getting ready to beg) for us to take the baby.  I am not going to lie. I was VERY nervous about us taking the child.  Not only do we not have the expertise needed in this area (not that the mother did either), but with the baby having so many problems and being HIV positive I was very nervous about her life span.  Lord?  What do we do?

I stopped the conversation about health and asked the mother what she wanted?  As tears welled up in her eyes and started to pour down her face she held her baby closer and told us that she loves the baby. She does not want to give the baby away, but she just doesn’t know how to care for her and help her live.  She was angry when she talked about how her own mother had kicked her out of the house and how the father of the child (AND his family) had shunned her and the baby.  It was heart-breaking and heart-warming all at the same time.

The solution suddenly became crystal clear.  I pulled the Social Welfare officer out of the room to present a possible plan.  She almost cried and said, “YES!  This is the best plan!”  Just then Brooke came out the door with the baby’s heath card and pointed at a box where you list what birth order this child came in.  Brooke said, “There is another child.  A 5-year old.” 

We went back inside and asked the mother about the other child.  Sure enough, there was a 5-year old girl who had been given away to the neighbors when the baby and mother had been kicked out of the house.

For the next 30-minutes we talked about Project Canaan – A place of Hope.  We told her about the “Sicalo Lesisha Kibbutz” and the women who were living in five of the six rooms that had been built.  I cannot tell you how happy and relieved I was to know that we still had one room open at the women’s center.  I knew at that moment that this family was to come and live on Project Canaan and that we could help.  We invited her to come and live at the Kibbutz with her baby and that way we could help her as best we can with the medical appointments and healthcare, but she would still care for and love her own child. That is the best way.  She cried and told us she would love to come, but she had two questions.  The first question was if she could bring her other child?  Our answer was, “Of course!”

The second question was, “When can we go?”

I said, “Anytime is fine.”

She said, “Then let’s go now”. 

And we did.

We loaded up my car and headed off to her homestead.  We arrived to a tirade of obscenities being yelled her mother about the “animal” (referring to the baby) who had cursed the house.  We quickly packed up a small suitcase with all of her worldly belongings, sent for the 5-year old girl to come from the neighbors, jumped in the car and headed home. 

I called the ladies who live at the Sicalo Lesisha Kibbutz and told them what was going on.  I usually seek their council before bringing a new person, but time was of the essence so I called them while we were driving. I briefly explained the situation and they said, “Bring them to us!  We will pray for the baby and welcome them all.”

And so we did.

Anthony went and got a brand new bed out of storage that had been purchased for Room #6.  We gathered sheets and new blankets and a bible (even though she cannot read).   We stopped and bought food and a bag of candy for the new girl to share with the children who lived there (instant friendship J).  It was a joyous day and I was so thankful that we had a solution that kept mother and child (children) together.

Live from Swaziland … doing for "one" what I wish I could do for many.

Janine

PS – in the middle of the visit to the mothers homestead I was given a goat by a Swazi.  It was a birthday gift to me from a friend who is thankful for what we do.  When we picked up the goat, and put her in the back of my car, we learned she was pregnant!  So we traveled 2-hours with 4 adults, 2 children and a pregnant goat.  The baby didn't cry, but the goat sounded like a baby!

Giant slugs, red frogs, flooding rivers, no electricity and a new baby.

“I live on a farm in Africa.” – Meryl Streep, Out of Africa

We live on a farm in Africa too and every day is a new adventure.

I have intentionally added lots of photos in this blog because a picture is worth a thousand words and maybe you sometimes think I just make things up. Nope, the photos, which you are about to see, really were taken here at Project Canaan.

There used to be a bridge there.

The rains have finally started to fall and the storms have been crazy.  With the rain has come golf ball sized hail, massive flooding of the river (3 feet higher than the bridge we have to cross) and our dam is up at least 12 feet and full to overflowing – literally.  Lightening has taken down trees, knocked out power around the country and struck our electrical cable buried in the ground.  This was not an easy fix.  It required a couple of guys to dig a trench 100 feet long, by 3 feet deep until they found the burned cable.  Meanwhile, the things in our freezer have thawed for the third time in several weeks. We have been charging laptops and phones in the car and going to be early, in the dark.  

Our electrical cable struck by lightening, then burned.

I can’t help but reread my last paragraph and laugh (or cry).  Most people here in Swaziland don’t have a car to drive across the bridge.  They don’t have electricity to be knocked out by lightening and they sure don’t have freezers full of “extra food” to thaw without power.  They don’t have laptops to charge and no car to charge their phones with.  They have roofs with holes that let the water pour in. They have walls made of mud that wash away in the torrential rain.  They have maize flour that gets wet in the rain and turns moldy in a few short days. They go to bed every night when it is dark, because it is dark.  At times I seem to feel “entitled” to my frustration about losing electricity for days at a time, when I know that I should be giving thanks for all of those things that I have to make my life more convenient and comfortable. I am ashamed for being angry about losing them for a short time.

In addition to weather we have seen strange creatures on our patio including a giant slug almost as big as my Size 10 sandal and a red frog, who I am told is trying to mate by sticking its tongue out to catch small insects and attract a female.  The good thing to see  this week were the turkeys who are fattening up on the farm getting ready for “you know what”.  Shhhh, we haven’t told them about the big day.

Giant slug the almost the size of my size 10 sandal.

Male red frog hoping to mate on our patio. 

Christmas dinner is fattening up!

The highlight of the week was picking up Baby Lenah (she is #47) from her 17-year old orphan mother.  Both of her parents died of HIV related illnesses.  Lenah is 3-months old and named after her 80-year old Grandmother who begged us to take the baby because the teenage mother was not caring for her at all.  The baby is HIV negative and is a healthy, happy baby.

I am thankful for the “little things”, like electricity.  I am thankful that I have a Christmas tree with decorations and lights that work.  I am thankful that I have a laptop to communicate with Spencer and Chloe from a million miles away. I am thankful that they will both be on an airplane in just a couple of weeks and that we can celebrate Christmas together, on our farm in Africa.

Live from Swaziland … I have nothing to complain about.

Janine