Monkeys next door!

Everyone says how "proud" they are of me. I think I'm the blessed one. How many of you get to say there are monkeys playing in the trees in the empty lot next to your house? Some mornings it is just a blast to live in Africa!!!

It doesn't happen every day but it was a fun treat last Sat. to find them jumping from branch to branch until Soza started mowing our lawn, then they ran off. I hope they come back again soon. I here that they aren't as common in Mbabne (the mountains) as in other areas of Swaziland.

That reminds me. Never complain about mowing your lawn. You have lawn mowers in the states. Here they use "grass cutters" but which are really weed eaters to mow the whole yard!!! What a pain, needless to say, we are having someone else do it for us.

I'm definately not starving!

What do a group of missionary ladies do just before Christmas? We have a make your favorite Christmas dish and share the recipe party!!! (I'm the one with the "HO" shirt that says repeat 3 times.) Now those of you who know me well, know that cooking is not my gifting, especially when they don't have all the ingredients I'm familiar with. We had a cooking day the day before. I had the Nathaniel and Joelle and Danielle (Teresa's, the one in peach, children) help me make a gingerbread CarePoint out of the closest I could come to graham crackers here -- called "tennis biscuits". We made icing to cement our creation from scratch!! 3 cups powdered sugar ("icing sugar" here), 1/4 teaspoon cream of tarter (someone had that but I'm not sure if it was from the states or not) and 2 egg whites (they do have eggs here :). We added candies and iced the plate to look like snow. It is in the center of the table. Christy (I hope you read her blog too) is already digging in. We had delicious meatballs, homemade scones, cinnamon rolls, pecan sandies, buckeyes, mincemeat pies, "brown pudding" (boring name for a chocolate delight), snickerdoodles (my favorite cookie), rich man's shortbread (delicious!), sugar cookies (decorated to the hilt) and I made my fruit smoothies (to add something a touch healthy)!

We opened with the Christmas story, stuffed ourselves sick, had a "dirty Santa" gift exchange (where you can steal the gift of the ones before you) and then watched the Nativity movie. Most of us hadn't had the opportunity to see it. It is very well done. We can't wait for the sequel. :)

This is also a picture of my friend Zinty. She also works with me and does a fantastic job! I look so big next to her. I know, I am big!

Merry Christmas! And don't eat as much as we did. We all needed a nap once our sugar levels all began to plummet. But boy was it delicious!!! I'll diet after the new year!!

It's Holiday!

I told you I would let you in on why I was rushing around to get so much done last week. In Swaziland the schools run from Jan. until Dec. and then they are out from around Dec. 7th until Jan. 22nd. Now this makes sense, this is their summertime. What is strange is that a lot of businesses also close down from today until around Jan. 14th. That is why I was trying to get so much done last week. All our office people are out of here for the next 4 weeks. Many Swazis go to South Africa much like Georgians go to Florida.
I'm still working. In fact, today I am the vegetable delivery person for the Oasis @ Swaziland CarePoints. Even they are on shorter hours over the holiday! My Rav (that's my jeap like vehicle) is filled, and I mean weighed down with potatoes, onions and carrots.

I have been downloading the Oasis sermons online but I'm missing family and friends. Church is not the same. I need some of our praise and worship!!

Please email me and if you have keep trying but they aren't getting through send a short message to sandra@theoasischurch.org and telling me you are having trouble. I have not been able to email anything with a photo attached. I've only received emails from my mom and Scott and Dee and Steve recently. I am news deprived because the Internet is so slow here and no TV so just let me know what's going on in the world. Although I am in the office a lot over the holidays learning and organizing and will stop in to my CarePoints, I will have more time on my hands that after the middle of Jan. EMAIL ME!! Or make comments on my blog if your emails aren't getting through.

Otherwise all is well. I'm reading more and decided to start a jigsaw puzzle for the holidays. I'm also getting caught up on some of my DVD watching. Take care and Happy Holidays!

Merry Christmas!

Sorry I haven’t blogged in a few days! I have not been able to log into my blog!! (Ugh!!!) So here are a couple of blogs.
12-12-07
Besides having 3 Christmas parties in a 4 day period (I’m exhausted and sunburned); I have been rushing trying to get other projects done before the end of the week. Why before the end of the week you ask? I’ll fill in that part of Swazi culture in my next blog.
This blog is about the Christmas celebration in Swaziland for Children’s Cup. Last Thursday was the party in Mozambique. A mission team from TX and several of our staff were there for that one (I was not). On Saturday was the MEGA party for the 11 Manzini (Man-zee-nee) CarePoints and approximately 2500 kids. It was cool and rainy, colder than a warm summer rain and at times downright cold as we were soaking wet. We still had a blast but the event was modified slightly. Monday we were in Mapheveni (Mop-a-vein-ee) which is the one CarePoint furthest away in Swaziland, right next to the Mozambique, about a 2 hour drive. We had the other extreme there, it was a scorcher! We all started saying the rain had not been so bad. I had to make myself be conscious of my water intake as I felt a headache and the beginnings of heat exhaustion. We still had a fun day! Tuesday was the Mbabane (Bah-bawn) party, it was nice to be only 5 minutes from the field it was held on and the weather was hot but bearable with an occasional breeze. Worn out at the end was an understatement! It was loads of fun though.

Now what all occurred at the parties? Singing and performances, face painting, balloon animals, bouncing inflatables, relay races, soccer drills, tug-of-war, sack races, hot dogs, sodas and chips, Christmas play and songs and performances by different groups of children. At the end, every child got a little gift bag with goodies including a washcloth, toothbrush, juice, chips & of course candy. Each party the helpers started with a prayer of protection and that each of us would love on and show each kid the reason for the season and how much God loves them. The kids were so well behaved even when they had to wait in lines. I’m going to try to upload several photos but they might not get added until next week.
Even though it won’t be a white Christmas here and Santa Claus did not visit the parties (they have no clue who he is). It’s beginning to feel a lot like Christmas! Merry Christmas to all and to all a good night!

12-13-07 (or in Swaziland 13-12-07)
I was at Mapheveni again today. This CarePoint is in the midst of sugar cane fields and has poor hired hands which remind me a lot of migrant farm workers in the states. The water supply is the river which is not only unhealthy but also dangerous. 6 months ago 2 children were killed in the river, one by an alligator and one by a hippo. Today, while we were there, we got word that a 2 year old boy had just drowned that morning. The mother was at the river doing laundry and the boy wandered off, when she found him, he had drowned. The mother was in shock and grief when the community leader went to check on the situation. The child was one that ate at the CarePoint. It is just was a reminder of how dangerous life is here. It is not uncommon for me to see small children walking along the sides of busy roads unaccompanied by any adult or older child. Children are left alone constantly to fend for themselves which is such a stark contrast to the rules I enforced for DFCS in the states. I have a much better appreciation for why many foreign families do not comprehend the urgency of child protection and guidelines in the states.

I want to briefly mention also that Tuesday night I went with Teresa (Children’s Cup staff nurse) and Rajne (a doctor staying with me for 3 weeks from Phoenix) to the government hospital. It was sad. Nurses there issue medication but family members are the care givers, they feed, bathe and give the patient the medicine. It is a step above living at home. There are numerous beds in a large rooms. At least 8 beds per room in the children's wards. Your belongings go on the one little metal night stand next to the bed or under the bed. Are Mangwaneni teacher, Precious was visiting her sister there. Her sister was skin and bones. She was confused and not able to communicate much, she did wave goodbye when we left. Things family had brought for her, extra clothing, wash basin, juice had disappeared and no one could find them.
We went to the children’s ward where there was varying illnesses and only basic care – medication, oxygen & some with IVs. One area had the residential severely mental or physically handicapped. This was their home. There were 3 children that had been abandoned. One with cerebral palsy, the other two with no apparent problems. (They are not open for international adoption, you must live here for at least a year.—I know you were thinking it. It crossed my mind too.)
If you are not sponsoring currently, please reconsider. The need is great and we are making differences! There were 3 families that night that we prayed over and asked for God to heal, give peace and comfort and give the doctors wisdom. The impact of just having someone, even a stranger, care was visually evident in these family members. There are children that by our efforts at the CarePoints are being kept from getting to the point of needing to go to the hospital. No telling how many lives have been saved by preventing an accident or catching an illness before it escalates. I just want to thank you for your generosity in supporting me and Oasis @ Swaziland. Merry Christmas!

Suffering vs. Celebrating

The harsh contrasts here are sometimes difficult. Friday, all our staff were either heading back from Mozambique with a team or in Manzini getting ready for the Christmas party for 3000 children from the 11 Manzini CarePoints that was to happen Sat. (The Oasis @ Swaziland CarePoints will be Tuesday in Mbabane.) It was rainy and busy and I got a call that the funeral for the cook, Gugulethu's, baby is for Sat. and they needed to settle with the funeral home for the coffin. We had no one in town to go by the funeral home and they would not release it on credit. Fortunately they are open 24 hours (most businesses close promptly at 5:00 pm and I would not be back to Mbabane until after 5 pm). I arrived with a coworker, Nomtie around 6:30 pm. Both Gugulethu and the teacher Precious were there. They were trying to make arrangements.
It was good that we arrived later than we had thought so we could be there when they were there. I found out that when someone dies at a “state hospital” it will only be released to a coffin from the “state funeral home”. The body cannot be released until the bill is settled. In my true American fashion I wanted to know if we could call the hospital, find out how much the bill was and just send the amount with the funeral home to pay when they picked up the body. Okay, I have a lot to learn. That is not how it’s done in Swaziland. You do not tempt any Swazi by giving them money that doesn't belong to them, even if it is E100 ($15). That was exactly why we were at the funeral home to settle the account for the coffin instead of giving the money straight to the mother. When you are so poor, it is best not to put the temptation out there.
We settled the amount for the coffin and we were to call the funeral home when we had settled the bill at the hospital and they would come pick up the baby, free of charge. They would however charge to transport the baby in the coffin to the funeral (which was closer than the funeral home). I asked if they could just pick the baby up in the morning and transport the baby from the hospital to the funeral which would be closer than bringing it back to the funeral home and they said no, that would still cost. He assured us someone was at the hospital that we could settle the bill with.
Long story short, there wasn’t. I drove Nomtie, Gugulethu, Precious & myself to the hospital. The mortuary is a separate building next to the hospital that has a big black solid gate. It was dark, foggy and drizzling as the 4 of us squeezed through the partially open gate to find the lights on, the door unlocked but no one home. There was the big freezer like door off the entryway and a bare looking office with no one there. We tried calling out. Then Precious and Nomtie left to go talk to the guards to see if they could find someone to assist us in settling the bill (let me also note you park outside the hospital grounds and then walk through the guard gates to even get to the hospital). I was left with a grieving mother who I could tell was just barely holding it all together and who only spoke Siswati, at this point I was feeling so inadequate since of course I only speak English. I couldn’t even ask if her baby had been a boy or girl (it was a girl). I coached her to sit down as we waited. Nomtie and Precious came back to say that the mortuary was only open for new bodies the hospital called them to come get and we would have to come back @ 8 am (the time the funeral had been planned to take place). All the Children’s Cup staff would be in Manzini by 8 am for the start of the biggest event for the CarePoints for the whole year and none would be available for this, including me. I always want to have the answers; to be able to rescue the situation. God is patiently teaching me I can’t do it all. It’s so painful. I left the details to be worked out with Precious (I did give her the money for the bill, she is a proven, trusted, responsible teacher). She would catch a ride to the hospital and meet the mother there @ 8 am and Precious would also work out someone to transport the baby to the funeral. I then drove Gugulethu and Precious home. It was dark, muddy and foggy as we wound around little narrow roads to get as close to Gugulethu’s homestead as we safely could in the car. She was to walk the rest of the way in the dark alone. I got out of my car with her, gave her a 10kg bag of mealy meal for her to take with her and gave her a hug. I wanted to be able to do so much more. Change her environment from the harsh reality it is. I can’t. But God is with her just like He is with me.
When I finally got home I collapsed in to bed. I want to be able to answer why? Why is the world in Swaziland and other places so out of balance as AIDS ravages a population? Why is there so much pain and hardship and poverty?
"All praise to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. He is the source of every mercy and the God who comforts us. He comforts us in all our troubles so that we can comfort others. When others are troubled, we will be able to give them the same comfort God has given us." 2 Corinthians 1:3-4
Saturday I was at a party trying to make a day special for kids who live in this stark reality daily. It was fun watching them in the blow-up jumpy castles, having relay races, getting their faces painted, eating hot dogs and soda and chips and getting to sing and have fun even in the rain. It was sad as I thought about the mother burying her baby. All I can say, without Jesus, there is no way I could handle all of this. In fact, He’s teaching me, I don’t have to, He will handle it for me. By His grace alone I will.

Sad News

I had the sad task of going to Mangwaneni (Maun-gwah-nin-nee), Mbabane CarePoint (the Oasis @ Swaziland's 2nd CarePoint) yesterday to pray with and offer assistance to one of the young cooks there. She had lost her 15 month old baby that morning. The mother is only 20 years old. You can read more about the baby in Daran and Teress Rehmeyer's blog. A link is on my blog page und "Get Connected".

We feel so inadequate in comforting someone in such deep grief. One of the teachers there, Gugu Precious, is close and has been ministering to this cook, Gugulethu. When I prayed over her I let her know that the grief of a parent losing a child is one of the deepest one a soul can have and that God, our Father, shares in knowing her grief in that He grieved the death of His own son. I prayed that the peace of God would wash over her and comfort her especially when the pain is more than she can bare.

We will be helping Gugulethu with getting the coffin and some food. Children's funerals are very simple and small scale occasions here. When an adult dies however, the family who is grieving must provide food for all the guests who come to pay respects. It is not like in the states where the guests bring food for the family. To me it seems so harsh to have to be the one to give when you are the one with the greatest loss.

Be in prayer for Gugulethu as she tries to get through each day, one day at a time. Give the ones you love a hug and tell them often that they are loved, by you and by God.
"May the peace that passes all understanding, guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus." Philippians 4:7

Philippans 4:13

"I have strength for all things in Christ Who empowers me [I am ready for anything and equal to anything through Him Who infuses inner strength into me; I am self-sufficient in Christ's sufficiency.]" Philippians 4:13 AMP

This is the verse I am clinging too as I attempt new things all the time since I arrived in Swaziland.
My first day here I drove on the left side of the road using the stick shift with my left hand.
By the end of my first week I drove home from the office all by myself without getting lost!
That first full weekend I learned to do things the "Swazi" way. My electricity to the water pump and washer were out so I did laundry by using an extention cord to run the washer and a bucket to add water to fill it up so it would agitate and then to rinse so it could spin.
Last Thursday I went to the "mall", I use that term lightly, all by myself and got lost in the maze of shops and found my way back to my car.
Last Friday I drove "down the mountain" to Manzini (man-see-nee). This is an interesting steep adventure that I will be doing regularly now that I am venturing out of Mbabane and I even get to do it at up to 120 kmh.
Yesterday, I have tackled a feat that I hear few brand new female missionaries have accomplished. I was a "kombi" (comb-bee) driver!!!
A kombi is like a rugged maxi (not mini) van taxi. That is the mode of transportation for many Swazi's. Children's cup has a few kombis for transporting people related to the CarePoints. I had my first official meeting where I had to lead devotion in Manzini for about 10 teachers & staff. There was no driver available to do the transport. I was told "you can do it", "it's not hard". For those of you at the Oasis, you think, driving the church bus (the kombi sits more like the bus than the vans) isn't hard; Sandra can do that no problem. Now picture me not only driving on the left side of the road and making right turns (those are the most confusing for us Americans to remember to look the right way) but driving down the mountain. Okay, the main highway down the mountain is paved and has two lanes, slow drivers stay to the left (not the right), not so bad (I was only honked at a couple of times). Now picture me going up and down dirt roads with pot holes, mud puddles and rain water ruts so wide your teeth keep clattering as you bounce along. Oh the adventure!!!
I got everyone there in just about 1 1/2 hours. (Straight to Manzini is only 32 km or a 20 minute drive -- I wasn't going straight more of a zig-zag & weave). One of the other Children's Cup staff, Lauren who is the counselor for the children, was at the CarePoint that I ended up at and she could not stop laughing as I drove up. She said that I better be getting a picture of this and blogging it. So, here is my photo. I led my devotion and had my meeting and then had to take everyone back! People standing by the road would try to flag down the kombi, even though we were not for public transportation, until they saw it was an old white lady driving it (this is usually a man's job or so I'm told). I was so mentally exhausted when I got home!
Someone asked why I don't panic when I do these things. I said if I panic I can't concentrate. Besides then you miss out on the laughing through it. By the way, I forgot to mention that on the way home I had to turn this big kombie around on a narrow road where the back side was a steep hill. Go ahead and laugh as you picture me making a "K" turn plus some extra back & forths. I turned around safely but have to laugh at the squeals coming from those sitting in the back as I came close to the edge each time and who weren't as confident in my ability and also at the children and adults out on the street laughing at the crazy white lady as she tried to turn around.
I pray that once you stop laughing at my adventures, that you will be encouraged to take on whatever task the Lord lays out in front of you today.
Have a blessed week!