2/24/2006

   Hello everyone. We are in the midst of an incredibly busy week, and so many great things to testify to. We just got back from a half a week in Preoria South Africa, to check on Busisiwe's progress after her surgery. We were so blessed to find her happy and running around outside on the property where she is staying. The skin that was grafted is adhereing very well to her open wound areas, and the release of the contractures was incredibly successful. She is already standing more erect than I have ever seen, and there is nothing inhibiting a full recovery to perfect posture except the mental block of being bent over for 14 months. What a huge praise!

   On another note, we have had some intense meetings here this week with some co-workers, Ben and Janeen,  from the states, and are making major progress in the planning for future orphan projects here in our commmunity. I will be updating you soon in the future about plans as they unfold. We have thoroughly enjoyed having Ben and Janeen here and it has been sweet to share with them all the Lord is doing here. It has also been so neat for them as they originally initiated all of AIM's work here and established some of the rich relationships we now enjoy with Swazi's. 

   On a tougher note, this week I, along with some co-workers, visited a couple of care points within the community and we were heart-broken as we met with the children there. There we found many children sick with stomach issues laying lifeless on the floor of a cement structure, as flys flew in and out of their mouths and eyes. One of the little ones was a girl, 2 years old, who was unable to walk due to a number of reasons and severe malnourishment. We later found out part of her malnourishment was most likely due to that fact that she was actually fed large quantities of alcohol by a distant relative during early developmental stages of her life. After praying intensely with them we did some teaching on sanitary cooking and hand washing to help prevent stomach sickness, as well as administered vitamins and clean water to the ones who were sick. I could go into much deeper and more graphic descriptions of what we encountered, but in reality it is all suffice to say that there is a new level of brokenness in my heart for the children here. Subsequently, it has only increased my deep desire to begin caring for the neediest kids in our area. Please continue to pray for us and the completion of our home, as we begin to build next week and try to assess which children are most in need of a place to stay. We are targeting to complete the house by the middle of May Lord willing, and still needing roughly 20,000$. 

   Lastly, on a rich and celebratory note, we have received 10,000 dollars torwards the orphan school fees for this year already. We are only about 3,000 dollars short of our goal, which will provide schooling for a vast number of orphans this school year. That will allow us the interum time to hopefully and prayerfully have the first free school opened in january of 2007. Pray and dream with us for this goal to be met, and for the construction of a school during this calendar year! Most importantly pray for great teachers!  

   There is so much to say and so little time. Continue to pray for Nondumiso as she still has the rash for the sixth consecutive week now. The latest and best assessment is that it is scabies, and so we have moved into aggressive attempts to kill off the bugs if that is indeed what it is. Also pray for me as I continue to dive head first into deeper linguistic study. Well, I am off to dinner and then preaching at an all night funeral and vigil tonight so I must run. Love you all, Themba (Claud)