My heart ached

 

This week has been another action-packed week dealing with burned children (not ours), visitors, birthdays (including my own) and preparation for Christmas.

I have spent much of my week working on the details of the 8-year-old burned girl who I wrote about in an earlier blog https://janinemaxwell.blogspot.com/2018/09/5-day-old-baby-girl-burned-in-house-fire.html .  She was 5-days-old when the grass roof of her house was lit on fire and collapsed in on her tiny body, burning her face beyond recognition. And she lived.  I met her at the hospital this week so that I could meet with the doctor as he assessed her situation and prepared a report for the US hospital who will be offering her life-giving care. 

I knew her burns were severe, but I didn’t expect to see a chunk of her skull missing where I could see her brain throbbing each time her heart beat.  Her left eyelid has melted to her eyeball underneath, so when she moves her eye, her whole eye socket moves.  When asked, we learned that she has been in extreme pain every day of her life with a headache and face-ache that never went away, my heart ached.  WHY didn’t this child get care sooner? Why was she left in the rural bush to suffer with a Grandmother who had no way to soothe her pain? 

Soon she will get help. Soon she will get pain relief. Soon she will be loved and cared for as she begins the long road to healing her body, heart and mind. But until then, she suffers, and continues her fight for life.

We see the fight for life every day, and in doing so we are often reminded not to take life for granted.

This week one of our staff suddenly lost her brother-in-law. His arm swelled up, he started vomiting blood and a day later he was dead. Another staff had boiled water to bathe her two small children and was just about to add cold water to the wash bucket on the floor when her excited 2.5-year-old did a playful summersault in to the scalding water, burning her leg/thigh/buttock and side.  Accidents happen.  Pain and suffering are real, and until Christ’s return, we will live in a world of suffering.

I’ll never forget the day that we welcomed a little girl (nameless for this blog) who was 18-months-old, weighing 14 pounds.  Her femur had been broken when she was only 6-months-old, by her mentally disabled mother, and she also had a broken nose and fractured skull.  She fought to live, and this week we celebrated her 4^th birthday.  She is full of joy, full of love and full of hope. 

As I watched our older children perform in the Project Canaan Academy 2018 Christmas Pageant, I couldn’t help but look back at each of their lives and where they came from to where they are now.  Each and every one of them are miracles, with the scars to prove it. We couldn’t be more proud of the young people that they are becoming and seeing them up on stage singing, dancing and reciting their lines brought tears to my eyes and joy to my soul.

Many people will spend this weekend with family and friends, celebrating Thanksgiving in the US.  I encourage you all to look at your lives (the good, the bad and the ugly) and give thanks for what you have been given – access to clean water, a roof that is not made of grass, walls that are not made of mud and sticks, access to healthcare when you need it.

Live from eSwatini … I am thankful for the gift of life.

Janine

PS - Don't forget to go to www.khutsala.com for Christmas shopping with a purpose!

Abortion. Suicide. Starvation. Disease.

Left: Wesley (17-months-old) and Right: Julian (5-months-old).  Wesley is ONE YEAR and 2 days OLDER than Julian.  Wesley doesn't sit up well yet. 

As a former marketer I am always looking for trends, intentionally and unintentionally.  I often see patterns, changes and trends, causing me to wonder if it’s the beginning of a shift in something as complicated as society, or as simple as a grocery store.

I have been sensing a shift in the past six weeks as we have received 15 babies (!). May I take a moment to say that we only got one baby from December 23^rd 2017 to February 28^th 2018, and in an average year we receive a baby every TWO weeks.  But in the past six week we have received a baby every 2.8 DAYS. 

I was recently been accused of taking in babies from young mothers who got pregnant by accident and don’t want their babies, like I’m a drop-off service or adoption service. That is not true, in any way, shape or form.  ALL children come to us through the Social Welfare office after they have thoroughly sought any family who is willing and able to take the child.  We have received children whose mother tried to abort and/or commit suicide, some have been abandoned in the forest or pit ditch, some born in a pit latrine (outhouse).

Aside from the sheer number of children who have been placed with us, we have been shocked by the severity of their health condition (including 27% of who are HIV+ and two with Tuberculosis).  On top of that 50%+ of the new children have been severely malnourished and one was admitted directly to the hospital with several deathly serious conditions including streptococcal meningitis. With malnutrition, comes stunting, which has a long term effect on a child's life (see

http://unicef.in/Whatwedo/10/Stunting)

I have included several photos of our children to show you real, live examples of stunting.  While we expect to get these children strong and healthy, the long term effects are unknown for each child. 

Left to right: Cristal, Wesley, Julian.  Cristal and Wesley are 17-months-old.  Julian is 5-months-old. Cristal came to us as a newborn.  The two boys arrived this past week.

Peace (left) and Comfort (right) were born on the exact same day, the same year. Peace came as a 1.4 kg newborn baby. Comfort arrived last month.

I hope, and pray, that the past six weeks have been an anomaly and that the wave of children will reside, but I may be hoping against hope.  It seems that hopelessness itself is on the rise.  It seems that life has become more disposable, babies are being abandoned at an alarming rate and children are dying of starvation and disease, in front of our very eyes.

We can't save them all, but we sure will do our very best to save the ones who are put in front of us.

Will you help us to help more children?  Will you sponsor one of these little ones today?

In the US: bit.ly/ProjectCanaanChildrenAngel
In Canada:  bit.ly/ProjectCanaanChildrenAngelCA 

Live from eSwatini … praying for our children.

Janine

P.S.  For those of you who are not aware, there is no adoption here in eSwatini for a variety of reasons, so the children placed with us are with us until they are adults.  We are committed to caring for them and guiding them until they are 22-years-old and are ready to step out in to the world.  Every time a new baby arrives, it’s another 22-year commitment.  Every time. 

65 children must move today

Big boys moving to Emseni #4

Watch a drone video of the move here!

Today is a big day on Project Canaan!  We moved 65 children up to their next home and there is excitement all around our children’s campuses.

·      23 big boys moved from Emseni #2 to Emseni #4, which has just been built. 

Each boy has their own clothes wardrobe, made at the Kufundza Center on PC.

·      23 small boys moved from Emseni #1 to Emseni #2.

River is a BIG BOY now!

·      10 toddler boys and 2 toddler girls moved from the Labakhetsiwe toddler home up to Emseni #1.

·      5 babies moved from the El Roi Baby home to the toddler home.

Shalom, Amanda, Peace, Manday, Tandeka

 

·      2 small babies moved from Kuthula Place to the El Roi baby home

Frank and Jordan

It’s all very exciting as we have been preparing for this for months.  Each group started to visit their new home weeks prior to their actual move.  They begin to experience a new schedule, some new foods, new toys and lots of new brothers and sisters. We typically have staff move with them for continuity and each home has their own type of welcome party for the new arrivals.

After the big move, there was a special snack at each home, and everyone gets to enjoy a new movie with their family tonight.  A great day, all around.

We receive 35 new children each year (on average), but we have already welcomed 35 children this year.  With 11 new babies coming to us during the month of October alone, we are on track to welcome 42 new children this year. That’s a lot of children saved and a lot of hope restored.

Thank you to everyone who helped fund the Emseni #4 boy’s home. THEY LOVE IT!  Thank you to our amazing staff who orchestrated the move and are enjoying the children in their excitement.

Would you like to sponsor one of our children? Here is how:

In the US: bit.ly/ProjectCanaanChildrenAngel

In Canada:  bit.ly/ProjectCanaanChildrenAngelCA

Just had to add a photo of Jonathan on the move.

Live from eSwatini … I love moving day!

Janine

Life without electricity

When we first moved to Swaziland the landscape around us looked very different than it does now. At night when the sun went down, and we looked across the valley to the neighboring community called Sigcineni, it was very dark, with only a few open cooking fires dotting the hills. Now when we sit at the end of the day and overlook the distant hills we see hundreds of lights illuminating small houses that are home to many of our workers.

What is the difference you ask? Employment is the difference.  Many of our workers come from Sigcineni and their monthly salary has enabled them to first, feed their families, second, pay school fees, and third get electricity brought to their house.  For most, this is the first time in their family’s history that they have had electricity – lights to do homework by, lights for night time security, power to even have a refrigerator.  Electricity is life changing. Employment is life changing.

In order to keep these workers employed, we need your help. I am not asking for a donation, I am asking you to do some Christmas shopping at our Khutsala Artisans website at https://heartforafrica.myshopify.com/.  After paying our worker’s salaries, 100% of the profit goes directly back to help provide for our 211 children who live at Project Canaan.

Khutsala Artisans employees 100+ from our local community and they have had skills training in the area of bead work.  This year we made 100,000+ beaded items and shipped them to our warehouse in Illinois.  This includes a spectacular handmade wooden Nativity Set that includes 14 pieces that incorporate SwaziMUD beads and a sisal manger (the sisal harvested from Project Canaan).  We only made 200 of them and at the time of this blog post there are 134 Nativity sets left https://heartforafrica.myshopify.com/ so you should order yours today.

This year’s Christmas ornament is a very sweet Gingerbread man, complete with handmade SwaziMUD ceramic buttons.  You can even get the whole collection of six ornaments for $60 at https://heartforafrica.myshopify.com/collections/christmas-ornaments

 

Our Khutsala Artisans are very proud of the work they do.  Whether it’s the animal key chains or SwaziMUD jewelry, they are surrounded by beauty and hope every day that they come to work. In fact, our Khutsala motto is “Creating HOPE through beauty, design and excellence”.   Will you shop today and give the gift of HOPE (and maybe even electricity)?

Start your shopping today at  https://heartforafrica.myshopify.com/

Live from eSwatini … it’s time to Christmas shop!

Janine

I'm tired

The face of hopelessness (identity hidden)

Ian left eSwatini (formerly Swaziland) for an extended trip to the US and Canada on October 5^th and I followed a few days after.  We have collectively been on 24 flights so far, sleeping in six different locations and meeting with hundreds of people.

Why are we doing this? We are doing it solely to share what is happening at Heart for Africa and to raise funds to support our work. 

Meanwhile, back in eSwatini, our family has received ELEVEN children in the 19 days that we have been away.  The youngest is 5-days-old, the oldest is just over two years. Included in those eleven children are two sets of twin girls a pair of siblings and four children who are HIV positive. 

When we travel abroad our goal is always to educate people to what is happening in the tiny Kingdom, and invite them to join us in helping to raise the remnant that is being left behind as a nation is being decimated by the HIV/AIDS pandemic.  Poverty leads to starvation, starvations leads to desperation, desperation lethargy, lethargy leads to hopelessness and hopelessness leads to baby dumping, child abuse and death.

Below are US and eSwatini population growth charts, where you can see the largest population base in the US is the 25-year-old, followed closely by the 55-60-year-olds. In contrast, eSwatini’s largest population is under the age of two years, and the second largest is the 22-25-year old group – the ones having all the babies.  But those are just charts, just graphs that people can dispute.  I have seen those 2-year-olds and those 23-year-olds. They are real.

I am tired, and discouraged.  We have worked in eSwatini for 13 years now, and have lived there for 6.5 years of those years, and the situation is not getting any better. I find that donors and friends tire of hearing the same stories that we tell about this baby being found in a pit latrine, or that baby being dumped in the river. Then there’s the story about this one coming with broken limbs or fractured skulls and then there’s the never-popular child with AIDS, Tuberculosis AND they are literally starving to death.  Who wants to hear about them?  It just makes people sad and kind or ruins your day. Heck, it makes me sad.

And why on earth would you want to give money to help two crazy Canadians who are now raising 210 Swazi children until adulthood?  We need donor support, but people are busy, distracted and often, disinterested.

While we are enjoying seeing trusted friends and having familiar food, I long to be back home in eSwatini where most of my family lives.  Every day we deal with death, child trafficking, rape, violent crime, lies, stealing, pain, heartbreak and hopelessness every day, and oh, the hopelessness - that is the worst. But I have found that hopelessness is nearly impossible to convey to a western audience and get them to respond. I have seen the face of hopelessness, hundreds of times, and it is always the same. The eyes of a hopeless person are empty, but still open. Their skin is dry and blotchy like they have never had a drink of water.  Their limbs are limp and lifeless, which usually matches their hair and the way their lips sit on their face – limp and lifeless. 

BUT I do see hope in the eyes of our children,  our amazing staff and the social workers/police/doctors whom I have the privilege to work with. I see joy in their smiles and hope in their eyes just knowing that someone sees them, hears them and cares. 

I am “cheating” by writing this blog on Friday night on a 3+ hour flight from Atlanta to Denver so that I am not “late” posting my blog after everyone has finished their morning coffee and moved on with their day. As I am writing this I am listening to a song by Lincoln Brewster called “While I wait”.  The lyrics say:

“While I wait, I will worship, Lord I’ll worship your name.

While I wait, I will trust you, Lord I’ll trust you all the same.

I live by faith, and not by sight.

Sometimes miracles take time.

You’re faithful every day.

Your promises remain.

Though I don’t understand it, I will worship with my pain.

You are God you are worthy, you are with me, all the way.

So while I wait, I will worship, Lord I’ll worship your name.

Though I don’t have all the answers, still I trust you, all the same.”

We need funding for our children. NO, we need funding for HIS children.  I’ll stop asking when He has provided sufficiently for the children He has placed in our care.

If you can sponsor a child today, please do so. 

In the US: bit.ly/ProjectCanaanChildrenAngel

In Canada:  bit.ly/ProjectCanaanChildrenAngelCA

Live from an airplane … I will worship while I wait.

Janine

He literally almost died of hunger

19-month-old comfort after his first bath and meal

Last week I shared with you that we received 7 babies in 7 days.  I have written 335 blogs since we moved to Africa in 2012, one every single Saturday morning, without fail, but last Saturday’s seems to have struck a chord with many of you because it became my 2nd most read blog of ALL time in just 7 days. I have wondered all week what it was that made you share it more?

“7 babies in 7 days” (read at:  https://janinemaxwell.blogspot.com/2018/10/7-babies-in-7-days.html) had 9,300 reads in 7 days.  Coincidence?  Or just lucky #7?

Last week I also shared with you about us picking up little baby whom we have named “Comfort”.  He is 19-months-old and is the size of a 5-month-old.  He was found living with his 90-year-old Great Grandmother and was literally starving to death.  Yesterday our Social worker, Margie, sent me a photo of Comfort, only 10 days after arriving at Project Canaan, with the caption, “Baby Comfort after 10 days of good food and lots of love.  He’s crawling and smiling often!”

Happiness bringing toys for Comfort

I was at the airport in Chicago when I read that and saw his photo and almost burst in to tears. 

And do you know what made it even better??  I was working on child sponsorship updates to send to every person who sponsors one of our children and Margie also told me that our baby girl named “Happiness”, who is ONLY 13-month-old, was very quick to welcome the “new guy” and has deliberately spent her time moving over to sit beside Comfort, bringing him special toys and making sure that he feels welcome.  He is being COMFORTED by the Comforter, through another baby who was loved back to life this past year. Unbeknownst to me, that is common behavior for Happiness when a new baby arrives at the El Roi Baby Home. That to me is the hand of God working right in front of our eyes, daily.

Child sponsorship donor update

From last week’s 9,300 blog reads and shares approximately 15 of our our children have been newly sponsored!   THANK YOU to those of you who said “YES” and took action and joined us.  We are still very much behind on funding for the 29 children who have arrived this year, so I am asking again (still) for your help.

If you read this blog regularly, or if it’s your first time, please consider sponsoring one of our children today.  You can make a one time gift or sign up to give monthly.

In the US: bit.ly/ProjectCanaanChildrenAngel

In Canada:  bit.ly/ProjectCanaanChildrenAngelCA

We can’t save all the children in eSwatini who are in desperate need of help, but we do our very best to help those who are brought to us through Social Welfare with the police and hospitals who see the desperate need every single day.

Peace and Comfort share the exact same birth date.

Live from Vancouver, Canada … I am thankful for the support of our friends.

Janine

7 babies in 7 days

This is how we found the 90-year-old Great Grandmother caring for the 19-month-old baby boy

For those of you who read last week’s blog, you would have read that we received baby #200 on the Friday before, and her name is Praise.  What a joyous day of celebration that was!

While you were reading the blog the next day, another baby was brought to us. She is 4-months-old and was left in the forest last Friday night and found by a stranger on Saturday morning. Police started the search for her mother to charge her with child abandonment.  We are calling her Treasure (found in the forest) and she is #201.

On Monday night we were called police to say that they had found Treasure’s 2-year-old brother and they brought him to us as they took the mother to prison for abandoning her baby in the forest. His name is Blessing and he is #202.

On Tuesday AM I drove to Mbabane to pick up a newborn baby whose mother was so traumatized that she tried to abort the baby several times and then threatened to drown the baby upon birth. Her name is Patience and she is #203.

Two hours later on Tuesday morning we were called from another part of the country about an extreme case of malnutrition in a 19-month-old boy who is the size of a 5-month-old. He was living with a 90-YEAR-OLD grandmother who had absolutely nothing to give him.  The photo at the top of this blog is a photo of the boy (left) with our boy Peace on the right. The two of them share the same birthday. You can see the devastating effects of malnutrition in his tiny and sad body. His name is Comfort and he is #204.

These two boys share the exact same birthday.  Peace (left) and severely malnourished new arrival Comfort (right).

On Friday AM we received our 10^th set of twins.  They are the 7^th and 8^th born of a suicidal mother and the first baby was born in a bus stop and a good Samaritan took the mother and baby to the clinic where the second baby was born. Their names are Tabitha and Tamara #205 and #206.

Last week 4,900 people read my blog and only 5 people were moved to sign up to sponsor a child on a monthly basis. Since then we have seven more mouths to feed, seven more lives to pray over (several who are HIV+) and seven lives who need hope for their future. Hundreds of people “liked” the blog or shared it or commented on it, and that is lovely, but it doesn’t feed them, bathe them or help keep them alive.  Honestly, we really need your help. If EVERY person who reads this blog gave $10 monthly we would be in good shape.

Maybe you don’t like the idea of giving monthly, so today I am asking if you would consider giving a one-time gift of $2,700 to FULLY support one of these children for a WHOLE year.

This month we have our US and Canadian Board of Director meetings. If we can’t increase child sponsorship for our children, I know we will be forced to stop receiving children in the very near future. This is not a false threat, it is a reality. If we can’t properly care for them, we have to stop. And nobody wants that, least of all, me.

Please, will you help with just one child today?  Praise? Treasure? Blessing? Comfort? Tabitha? Tamara?

In the US: bit.ly/ProjectCanaanChildrenAngel

In Canada:  bit.ly/ProjectCanaanChildrenAngelCA

Jesus loves the little children, all the children of the world.  Today, I am asking Creator of the Universe to rain down provision for these, HIS children, and encourage those of us who are weary and need to see His hand at work.

Live from Minooka, Illinois … show us your provision Lord.

Janine