January 2018

Last night was our annual New Year’s Eve party.  We took Sizo and Nomfundo to Philo & Mazwi’s house where lots of kids were waiting eagerly for our (really for our fireworks haha) arrival! We told them that we’re too old to stay up until midnight, so the grand finale happened at 10:30! I think the poor dog was happy we were done.  I don’t love fireworks myself but the look on Mazwi’s face made it worth it!  While the boys were trying not to light themselves on fire, I had a chance to have a “sex talk” with Philo. She is such a great girl and has no intentions, for now, of having a boyfriend.  Nomfundo explained to her that all boys lie and not to believe anything they say (sorry to all the boys who are reading this right now haha).  I told Philo that if she stays away from boys, I will bribe her with cash (I hope that’s okay with you Ty!)  She said that she goes to community meetings for young girls where she learns about HIV and her pastor talks to her about abstinence.  She said she wants to be like the Virgin Mary and stay pure forever.  God really outdid himself making our sweet Philo.   

More soaps! This morning we woke up early to sanitize more soaps!  The process is tedious so although we’re up to 846 soaps, we still have 2x that left in boxes uncleaned.  We will hire our sponsored high school students to clean the remainder and distribute them on our next trip in March.  The 846 will be given out tomorrow to the kids who come to our pop-up clinic in Malindza.  After cleaning all the soaps, the girls went on safari and saw a white rhino, elephants, impalas, and lions.

This week Sifiso’s mom gave me a Swazi name that means the world to me: Nothando.  One, because in English it means “LOVE”, and two, because we have an orphan with that name who is very special to me.  We went to Nothando’s house this afternoon where the entire family of 12 orphaned children were waiting for us.  It was 100 degrees outside today but that didn’t stop us from having dance parties and playing Red Light Green Light, Simon Says, Hide & Seek tag and more.   Nothando was forced to drop out of school after grade 7 when her parents died due to inability to pay school fees and we didn’t find her until 5 years later.  In the meantime, she had a daughter named Luyanda.  Now, she is finishing high school and hopes to be an accountant, so that she can provide for her daughter as her daughter’s father is in prison, so she is raising her entirely alone.  English has been her biggest challenge because she has no one to speak with at home. But every time I come, her English has improved, and I can tell she is working very hard to reach her goals! 

One of my favorite quotes is Mother Teresa’s: “We cannot all do great things.  But we can do small things with great LOVE.”  The need here in Swaziland is overwhelming at times.  We are limited to helping the children we support because of funds.  There are times when you feel like you are trying to empty the ocean with only a thimble and it’s easy to get discouraged.  But over the last 10 years, I have witnessed first-hand the miracle your donations have helped perform here in Swaziland on the children we are able to support.  We cannot bring their parents back.  We cannot cure our kids with HIV/AIDS.  We cannot undo the rapes and abuse they’ve endured or the extreme poverty and food scarcity they’ve grown up in.  But we can show them unconditional love.   Thank you for helping me & Kait love these children in the most life-changing ways.

www.ifightpoverty.org/donate.html