House Calls at Night

The other night Jabulane came to our home with the news that we needed to make a house call to check on a sick girl.
Since there was no vehicle access to the girl's home, we started walking. The three of us had no light and had to cross a maize field in the dark. There we are stumbling over ourselves and tripping over the stalks.
Can you picture us as we were traipsing across the field?
Talk about the blind leading the blind!
Thankfully we did make it there and back in one piece.

Good Shepherd Hospital and the minibus

  We recently went and toured Good Shepherd Hospital, which is about 45 minutes away. This is the hospital where we send all of the CHIPS patients for treatment and appointments. It was nice to finally be able to go meet the doctors, nurses, and staff.  Jabulani gave us the grand tour of the hospital including the mortuary.  We loved visiting the children's' ward and were privileged to hear what a blessing CHIPS is to the staff and how well we look after our patients.  Both Jabulani and Mary help out in whatever way they can when they are there including counselling patients. We are thankful for the staff

  As mentioned in a previous post, the minibus that we use to transport CHIPS patients back and forth to the hospital is in the shop. There is a lot of work that has to be done on the minibus, including replacing the shock absorbers and working on the brakes. The need for transportation hasn't stopped since the vehicle is out of commission so we have had to make more trips in our small vehicle and have had to hire another minibus on occasion. 

Weekly we transport 26 patients to and from Good Shepherd Hospital using the minibus and send another 10 on public transport. The patients have to go for checkup appointments to ensure they are still taking the ARV's medication as prescribed. Once a patient has tested HIV+, s/he will have to take ARV's for life. They have to visit with the nurse before being able to refill their prescriptions.  If someone stops taking ARV's, that is what usually causes their death. 

Additionally we transport sick patients who need to be admitted to the hospital providing that there are beds available. We take all the moms-to-be who are ready to deliver their babies to the hospital as well. 

As you can see, transportation is a big part of the work that we do on a daily basis. Please pray that our minibus will be fixed and that the Lord will provide the means to pay for the repair costs. 

Moses in the Bullrushes

This month's topic for the Children's ministry is 'Moses in the Bullrushes' and we continue to visit one settlement per week, for a total of 4 weeks, before picking a different story and going to each settlement again.

The attendance at Section 19 has dropped off and there seems to be a lack of enthusiasm/interest on behalf of those who come to participate.  We decided to try and change up the format, including more games, in order to get more participation. It's a hard line to walk because we don't want the kids to just show up expecting candy.  Please pray that God's word wouldn't return void but that it would impact the hearts of all the children and their parents who hear it through these Children's ministry programs.

Last week, on August 10, we had 32 children in attendance at the Matatuka Children's ministry program. The program went very well and there was a lot of participation. Praise the Lord for the turnout and open hearts!

A few updates and prayer requests

A couple of updates:

Maria is recovering well from her surgery and is still at the hospital.

Jabu is on week 4 of her treatment and is fairly well. She was sick last week but seems to have recovered.

Vusile is doing fine and was quite the happy boy the last time we saw him.

Khomba: We have tested over 40 people at this settlement for HIV. About half have tested positive for HIV and we have been busy transporting patients to the Good Shepherd Hospital and getting them started on ARV's. The   stable patients have been transfered to the clinic in Vulvulane for care. That transition has been going well.

Crossroads is on hold until September 11 as the children are on a school break.

Maphiveni: This past Friday we started our public health meetings in Maphiveni. There were 8 people in attendance and we were able to discuss obstacles they have blocking them from reaching their dreams/goals for life.

Baby Lato is about 9 months old and isn't doing well. She is HIV+ and was just recently approved for food aid. Please pray that the treatments would work and that she wouldn't suffer the effects of malnutrition.

Another prayer request is for Jabu #2 (there are a lot of Jabu's around here). She is sick with HIV and needs treatment, but is having a hard time to admit to her friends and neighbors that she is HIV+ in order to get treatment. Jabu #2 has many children that she is having a hard time providing for.

The minibus that Chips uses, to transport patients to and from the hospital, is in the shop needing a lot of repairs. Please pray that this would be fixed quickly and within our budget. It's been difficult to be without a large vehicle and we have had to get creative with our transportation needs.

We thank you for your prayers on these matters and would love to hear how we can pray for you.
Drop us a line at piggwr4647[at]aol.com and tell us your prayer requests.

"759,000 Swazis Are Very Poor"

A report was recently published by the United Nations Complementary Country Analysis in the Swaziland Post detailing the extreme levels of poverty found in Swaziland.

According to this report there are 759,000 Swazis, out of a population of 1.1 million, who are living below the poverty line. There are several causes for this dire situation; skewed wealth distribution, rampant HIV/AIDS, stagnant employment opportunities, and wide-spread food insecurity.

Swaziland "has the highest HIV prevalence in the world" and "without an intervention there are fears that the scourge could seriously erode Swaziland human capital base".

A big concern is the food shortage that affects about 1/4 of the population especially children. "At least 29 per cent of children under the age of five are showing signs of stunting which is an indication of malnutrition over an extended period". Drought, increasing food costs and unusable land have all contributed to this problem.

Most of the population lives in rural areas and "of these rural areas according to the UN, 75 per cent lives in poverty compared to 49 per cent of the urban population". Severe poverty especially affects women and female-run households because of limited income opportunities.

There is a great need for viable solutions that address the multitude of hardships that the Swazi people face on a daily basis.

Magagula, Mduduzi. "759,000 Swazis Are Very Poor." The Swaziland Post. June 2010.