annie in swaziland

Ty & Annie Day 8 & 9:

The last couple of days were HARD work!  One of our New Hope Primary School’s soon-to-be second grade orphans does not have a decent home.  He lives with his aging Gogo (grandmother) and 4 of his cousins. All of their parents (the Gogo’s children) are dead.  Two of his female cousins were living with one of their aunts but the uncle was abusing them, so they came to stay at our Gogo’s home.  The one-“room” home – now housing 6 – is barely 36 square feet and is made of rocks and mud.  The roof blows off in the wind.  There are no windows so it is dark all day and night.  The floor is the dirt Earth.  Rain comes in from every angle.  This is not a home…  When the weather conditions were particularly bad, the children continuously sought refuge inside of our school.  We had to do something….

It is $2,000 to build a nice rural home made of concrete blocks complete with a cement floor, windows, and a corrugated iron roof.  This includes the funding for a pit toilet (think: permanent port-a-potty) made of the same materials (currently the granny and children just go to the bathroom in the thorny desert around their home).  We offered orphan created Christmas cards this year for a donation and were fortunate enough to get large orders from Dr. Lisa Newell and Colleen Murphy that enabled us to fund the first home/toilet combo for this family.  We could not thank them enough for housing this family with their Christmas donation! Seriously, my heart bursts in gratitude to you and your families for the sacrifice this holiday season for these beautiful children!!

But of course no project in Swaziland comes without some challenges.  The major challenge was that CashBuild (the building supply company) delivered ALL of our home building materials to the WRONG HOMESTEAD!  I don’t blame them as there are no street names, or even “streets” at all, in Malindza.  Only endless dirt roads that - to the outsider - have no rhyme or reason.  But the result was that Ty and I had to carry the materials to the correct homestead…even the 30 bags of 120 pound cement!  Right now we are renting a tiny Chevy Aveo to save money and the car cries every time I turn it on in fear that I will pack it with another 3,600 pounds of cement.  We carried door frames, window frames, 45 foot metal rods, and heavy sheets of corrugated iron by hand because they wouldn’t fit in our itty bitty vehicle.  But as I see the granny and children get more and more excited about their soon-to-be new home, every ache and pain is worth it.  AND I have a bicep now!! Only on my right arm for some reason, but it shows up when I flex!!!!

Ty and I have been helping the builders.  There are 6 of them who will camp out in a tent and work for 10 days straight for only food (rice, canned fish, & beans) and $450 USD divided by all 6 workers.  The work is grueling.  Ty and I dug the 6 foot hole for the pit latrine.  It took us two solid days as the Earth is very rocky and the dirt is hard.  The builders have so far dug the foundation for the home and laid the concrete base.  They will start the block work tomorrow to actually build the structure. Our builder told us that he usually charges much more (he helped build the luxurious new mall downtown Mbabane), but when he saw that he would be helping an elderly Gogo and her orphaned children, he decided to drastically reduce his price.  You see this kind of giving spirit all of the time in Swaziland. 

It was echoed at church this morning.  We went with our builders to my friend Maseko’s church that he built for the orphans of Malindza.  He told the children over and over that God is going to save them so that they can in turn save others.  Maseko said that even if God is giving them a challenging time right now, they should not give up hope for themselves and meanwhile continue helping others.  God put them on Earth at this very moment of this very day and month and year because He has a special purpose for them all.  Even if they are uneducated and poor, they can still help others.  He said that God is helping them so that they can help those around them.  What is your life worth if not to benefit those around you?  When I am in Swaziland, I see this each and every day.  When Ty was experiencing major butt sweat and fatigue, a mentally challenged neighbor boy came by, grabbed the pick-ax, and chopped away at our pit latrine hole.  He was smiling the whole time and later we learned he is friends with our Gogo.  We saw two kids from our school that came to our Gogo’s house for food and even though she is lacking, she fed those children in addition to her own orphaned grandchildren.  The builders – who could make so much more on another commercial property – have agreed to give up their holidays and their larger paychecks to help us build homes for the orphaned kids.  It makes me tear up… each and every day here… and makes me love Swaziland even more. 

If you’d like to contribute toward the next $2,000 we need for another home/toilet combo please donate online: www.ifightpoverty.org/donate.html or mail a check to GHFP 2436 N Alabama Street Indianapolis IN 46205