Day 3:
This morning we started out at the eLangeni community pre-school.
The kids were excited to see their “teachers” and although almost half of the
class graduated in December – Ty and I recognized many of them! We spent the
morning playing games and hanging the beautiful numbers 1-30 canvases created
at the St Charles, IL Painting for a Purpose party hosted by my future sister Kelly
Rakunas (Thank you ladies of St Charles!! And Ty wants me to shout out to the 3
men – himself, Jerrid, and Gorilla)! The kids LOVED your masterpieces! Ty and I
pulled a few of the kids aside and quizzed them… they were solid until about 13
so this will be an awesome teaching tool!
It was exciting to see the money we gave to build the stage, chalkboard
and corkboard were well used (all projects completed successfully) and the
alphabet canvases painted by the WinGS women are still loved and in use (Thank
you Cheryll, et al!!).
Then the girls went on safari and reported that they saw a
dung beetle pushing a large animal….poopie.
And a rhino charging their jeep. Unfortunately the lions were hiding in
the shade but they got to see (and then eat) a wildebeest which made them
happy.
We then went to Mpaka High School where we met Mpilo (our
newest GHFP sponsored student for the first time) and paid all 4 of our students’
school fees. We then drove each child
home and dropped food at the child-headed households (Thank you Mitali/FOODOM). Sharon’s grandmother is back with her
grandfather. Apparently he is done
trying to kill her in order to marry a younger woman. She thanked us for
praying for her and said that she felt that was the key to their reconciliation. It makes me nervous that this will be short lived,
but she looks happy and her 3 HIV positive grandkids look healthy (thanks to
her extraordinary efforts – she walks or hitch hikes 10+ miles to get their
ARVs to keep them alive) so I will continue to hope for their continued
happiness/peace.
On our drive home after a long 12 hour day, we stopped by Mazwi
and Philo’s house to drop off their food.
Samkelo (older brother) was home and showed me Mazwi’s report from the
hospital earlier last week. It said that
he experienced a fever for 2+ weeks and had a strong failure to thrive/negative
weight gain. It also said that due to his previous experience with tuberculosis,
swollen face, and bloody lesions on his face that his situation was dire. I called my friend Dr. Rachel at Baylor
University and asked her opinion. She
said that it could be a simple allergy to anything in this world – or it could indicate
his resistance to his ARV medication and since he is already on the second (and
last available line of HIV drugs in Swaziland) that it could mean an emergent
and serious situation for him. She urged us to rush him to Baylor – which we
will do on Thursday. Please pray for his
healing and happiness. Tonight we saw
him studying by candlelight with his tiny face covered in hydrocortisone cream
asking to be taken back to the hospital so he can feel good again.
If you want to host your own Painting for a Purpose party
contact annie (anniefightspoverty@gmail.com)
and if you’d like to donate to help sustain our programming go to: www.ifightpoverty.org/donate.html
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