Another day in eSwatini!

This morning we went shopping for Nothando's new home!  Previously, our high school junior was raising her 5 year old daughter Luyanda and a handful of nieces and nephews (all 9 of her older siblings are dead) in a mud and stick home. In July, thanks to you, we raised money and built a new home for them. And today THANKS TO YOUR FURTHER GENEROSITY, we bought them their VERY FIRST BED!! I told Nothando about the "no more monkey's jumping on the bed" book my daughter loves and encouraged her daughter Luyanda to jump and give it a try (oops!! haha)! We bought mattresses and brand new sheets and plush pillows.... it literally gave me goosebumps knowing that previously all 7 kids slept on the (mud previously) cement floor with a few blankets on top.  Tonight, for the first time in life, they will experience a bed.  THANK YOU!!

Additionally, thanks to our friend Sube, we have now installed a gutter-tank rain catchment system that will collect rain water for irrigation and cleaning purposes.  Malindza is an arid particularly dry area so being able to harvest every drop of rain possible is often the difference between growing crops versus not....health versus malnutrition...life versus death.  We are so grateful for the opportunity to build this system allowing Nothando to harvest the water and use it to change the future for herself, her daughter, and her nieces and nephews!! Thanks Sube!! xoxo

Afterward, we delivered school supplies and emergency food aid to all 16 of our sponsored Malindza high school students.  Since the area is so rural, this took the entire day!  And the "roads" to these children's homes are not what you'd think.  I often wish my car had wings to fly over the grand canyons in front of us...or that it had tires of steel to sustain the constant punctures from the cactuses and thorny bushes.  All day my stomach was in knots worried about the very likely chance of blowing tires or getting our car stranded in the "middle of nowhere" while understanding the importance of the work we are doing (this area faces severe food scarcity  and extreme malnutrition).  After a long day of driving (off-roading!), I was in an anxious/sour mood and ready to return the car safely to the comfort of our guesthouse driveway.  As we delivered the last emergency meal-pack, I was cheerfully counting down the 90 minute until home. Even if Santa Claus or a genie in a bottle granting wishes popped up in the middle of the highway on the way home, I would not have stopped.

Have you ever felt like you were being tested?  As we were driving along the MR3 (major highway), I noticed in the distance an animal or something traveling slowly in the road.  Cars were dangerously weaving out of the way (there are no shoulders in eSwatini).  As I approached, I was shocked to see an elderly man in a tattered orange jumpsuit pushing an empty wheelchair in the busy highway with speeds up to 70 miles an hour.  He was shuffling slower than a turtle - I wish I was exaggerating.  I briefly told my mind to ignore it.  I drove on eager to reach the comfort of home.   Then, a few miles away, I felt myself being pulled to turn around.  I apologized to the team - who all yearned to be home and eat their first meal of the day at 8pm, and made a U-turn. 

When I reached the man, I asked him where he was going and how we could help.  He said his bus would be 5R ($0.50).  I eagerly ran to the car to grab it, patted myself on the back, and had my mind set to HOME. As I got in the car to drive away, I felt ashamed and got back out.  I asked the man if we could drive him to his destination.  He looked so relieved!  We folded his wheelchair into our trunk and I helped lift his paralyzed left side of his body into the car.  I refrained from unrolling the window - although the car now smelled like a dead animal - and drove following his instructions.  When we reached his destination, he asked for a glass of water - we obliged - and then after he thanked us and prayed that God would bless us abundantly for the rest of our lives.

In Swaziland, I'm selfish.  I'm tired.  I'm emotionally exhausted.  I feel like we're doing "all we can" here...or at least "enough".  I was tempted to speed past the crippled man pushing a wheelchair in the highway like all of the other cars.  But, I knew that my whole life has been filled with people like you who have helped me when you likely didn't feel like it - and definitely didn't have to. Today was a day we had the chance to be that person in return.  As Sukhi lifted him out of the car and placed him on the path with his wheelchair to guide him, I was thankful that my patience and anxiety were challenged.    

This morning we went to church and the pastor told us to rid ourselves of the negative aspects of our lives/personalities as God is giving us a fresh new year to change for the better. Goodbye impatience! Goodbye anxiety! What will you kick to the curb??  Tomorrow we will be cooking for over 100 children in Malindza for a new year's eve party.  Hopefully these girls like to chop vegetables...and LOTS of them! ;)