Days 1 and a half…
Sorry for skipping the blog yesterday, it was a LONG day of
travel. The Liberty U team had a layover
in Paris and took advantage of their 11 hours there by checking out Notre Dame,
the Eiffel Tower, and some other sites. Kait and I were already in South Africa
and enjoyed laying flat to get some sleep at a hotel – trying to sleep upright during
the 16 hour flight from Atlanta has been getting more and more challenging as my
joints are aging! We picked up the girls the next morning and headed straight to
eSwatini (Swaziland). After purchasing a car full of food that will soon be delivered
to children living in child-headed homes, we headed to one of our first sponsored
homes – the Maziya homestead – where we learned siSwati, played cards, and
loved on Mazwi and Mphilo.
This morning began by purchasing prescription and OTC medication
for a clinic at our New Hope Children’s Centre.
We have the most amazing nurse, Kandas, to help us run the clinics – and
all the medication is funded by the Indianapolis Rotary Club. Kandas even purchased some injection-style
drugs that helped our elderly Gogos (grandmothers) with their arthritis and
chronic pain….and worked to threaten the children into behaving (wink wink). We paid about $350 for the medication and it
was enough to fund clinics in 3 rural communities. We saw about 100 caregivers and orphans today
in Malindza and will see children in Hhelehhele and eLangeni tomorrow.
Banelile came back to the clinic today. She is a little 4 year old sweetie who has attended
our preschool for the past 2 years. She is
SO smart! We keep waiting for her to talk, because she clearly understands both
English and siSwati, but the elementary schools are refusing her enrollment
applications since she is currently mute.
Luckily one of our past volunteers
Anika paid for her to enroll in a School for the Deaf so she can learn sign
language. She also donated dark skinned “Barbie”
dolls and Banelile could not get enough of hers. 😉
After a long day of prescriptions and sick kids and filling discarded
plastic bottles with dirt/sand for our upcoming recycled bottle toilet construction
with IUPUI (Beth, one garbage bag down 9,000 to go haha, and the kids even helped!!),
we went to see Sikhanyiso. For those of
you who have been following our journey for the 11 years it’s been existing,
you probably knew Sifiso, my dancing buddy who helped us find cheaper local vendors,
captivated our American volunteers with charisma and charm, and was a mentor to
our orphaned children who didn’t have a local male role model since their own
fathers are dead. You also probably know
that he too died last November from tuberculosis after his lungs collapsed
leaving a little girl who ties for the most adorable 3 year old in the world
(my daughter is also soon turning three 😉). After his death, GHFP adopted Sikhanyiso into
our (unfortunately) ever-growing network of very loved, very ambitious, future
world-changing orphaned and vulnerable kids!
Tonight we delivered warm clothes (Sikhanyiso lives up in the mountain
where it is quite cold this time of year), school bus fees and rent fees (she
lives in a small one-bedroom apartment – thanks Ashela!!).
I know some of you reading this blog are new friends… but the
one thing I hope you learn is that a little goes a very long way in eSwatini. We delivered $50/family worth of food today
to child-headed homes that will last months.
This 10kg bag of rice, 10kg beans, peanuts, canned fish, canned beans,
soup mix, peanut butter, and cooking oil will fill their bellies through the
winter until they can successfully grow their subsistence farms again. We bought $2/child worth of albendazole
medication which will rid their bellies of the intestinal parasites currently
stealing their minimal nutrition. We paid $130/year for Banelile to learn sign
language offering her a “voice” in an otherwise mute world. We paid $80/month so 3 year old Sikhanyiso
has a safe place to go to sleep and wake up to learn and inevitably become a change
agent for her tiny nation, eSwatini. We aren’t talking millions here…or even
thousands. What I learned quickly 11
years ago when I first ventured into this little country is that a little – in our
standards – does a lot here. I am going
to bed tonight with such a grateful heart.
THANK YOU to everyone over the past decade who has donated a little or a
lot. Kait and I have stretched every
dollar to make a difference here in Swaziland.
Your donation matters!
www.ifightpoverty.org/donate.html
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