Please check out our Timbali Crafts website that is finally up and running!

www.timbalicrafts.org

You can help us out by sending this address on to your friends and recommending that they check us out!

THANKS!

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Pray for Philar...

Philar is one of the women that I work with here. She's 62 years old, is HIV positive and suffers from asthma and TB. Besides cooking at the feeding center, she also takes care of (with the help of one daughter) nine of her grandchildren who have either been orphaned or abandoned.

About 2 yrs ago, one of Philar's toddler age grandchildren become severely malnourished while in the care of her (the child's) father. One of our AIM teams helped get the child into a hospital about 1.5 hours away where they are able to treat malnourished children. Philar lived at the hospital for an entire month to be the care giver for the child. Just yesterday I saw a picture of the child, and she is now looking chubby and healthy...so much different than when I first met her 2 yrs ago.

A couple months ago a man broke into Philar's house in the middle of the night and beat her up, dislocating her shoulder and inflicting many bruises. We're not exactly sure what motivated the attack. Philar has had a hard time recovering. Last week, Thulie, one of the other women I work with who is also HIV positive herself, called to let me know that Philar needed to be taken to the "Hope House," a facility that helps care for HIV positive people who are unable to take care of themselves at home. Thulie made sure they had a room available, and Musa, one of our Swazi staff, arranged for transport there. The hope house provides a small one room apartment for each patient to live in. Thulie (and her 2 yr old son) stayed w/ Philar to help cook her meals, etc.  

Last thursday Philar needed to go get her records from her previous doctor, so her and Thulie tried to walk the 6 blocks to catch a bus to get there. Philar was only able to make it one block down the street, and couldn't go any further. Thulie left here sitting in the grass along the curb, while she walked to our office to get one of us to see if we could drive them. I drove them to the clinic, and then back to the Hope House later that day.

I called Thulie yesterday to see how things were going. She said Philar is now refusing to take her ARVs (AIDS medication) and only wants to take the traditional Swazi medicines (which are worthless against AIDS). It seems like Philar is just giving up. Thulie is encouraging Philar to keep fighting, b/c so many children need her.

I'm hoping I can go visit Philar tomorrow and also try to pray w/ her and encourage her. Please join me in praying that the Lord would strengthen Philar's body and encourage her heart!!

What's up w/ Ellie and Julie...

Ellie started preschool this week and so far so good! We are thankful that the school is just a block from our house (although we still struggle to get there on time!) and is a great little Christian Academy where lots of missionaries and foreigners send their children. Her classmates are from all over the world.

A funny story from her first day: When I went to pick Ellie up after her first day of school the teacher said, "How do we ask her if she needs to use the toilet!?" The teachers would ask Ellie if she needed to use the "toilet," or the "lou" or go "wee" and ellie would pull on their pantlegs and yell "potty!!" (like she's used to at home, but not a word they use here). Neither could understand each other and Ellie ended up having a little accident her first day of school. :( It didn't seem to phase her. Even in preschool there are cross-cultural things to figure out! :)

That's the update from Swaziland! Thanks for reading!

Okay, so not everyone is going to like this blog, but I'm pretty sure that my mom, alice, marcia and a few others will appreciate it. :)

Last week I got to go on a little overnight prayer(/nap!) retreat all by myself. My friend Kate watched Ellie and I had a full 30 hrs of time with the Lord. It was GREAT. I stayed at a little "country lodge" up in the mountains w/ tons of gorgeous flowers all over the grounds. Before I left the next morning I just spent about an hour snapping pics of them all. While I was at it I was just reminded of the beauty of God's creation, of His amazing creativity, his attention to details, and that if he cares so beautifully for the flowers, he'll do so even more for me! Hope you enjoy a quick look at some of God's beutiful creations in this part of the world!

I'm in South Africa today. It's amazing the difference a 3 hour drive can make in your surroundings...as I type this I'm sitting in a nice coffee shop, enjoying some high speed wireless internet. I may even go see a movie this afternoon. I know this probably sounds really materialistic of me, but sometimes it just feels so good to be in a mall. :)

Thought I'd take advantage of the fast internet to send out some photos of what Ellie's been up to. She's one of the busiest little people I've ever seen! Here's a few glimpses of what it's like for Ellie, growing up in Africa...

Once of twice a week Ellie is out in the rural area with me while I'm meeting with the women. Here she is enjoying a plate of corn meal mush (porridge) with some of the other kids at the feeding center. I think more than the enjoying the food itself, she likes that she gets to eat it all with her fingers. :) Can you pick her out with her new short hair cut? She's 3rd from the right.

She also comes along on MANY trips to the fabric store to "help" me buy supplies for bags. This day I found her hanging out in a bin of fabric while waiting on me.

Seems like every other blog shows a pic of Ellie on this pink motorcycle. That should give you an idea of just how much she loves it. Here she insited on me helping her put it in the swimming pool with her. This little plastic pool has been a life saver on hot days!

Here she is checking out the zebras at a near by game reserve. Not your typical day at the park for a 3 yr old.

Ellie's not so favorite thing is when she has to come with me to the office. Here she is getting creative with some craft supplies she found while waiting on me! We try to keep her office visits to a minimum. :)

Ellie will be starting preschool at the end of April...so we're gearing up for that and thankful that there is a great little christian school just a block and a half from our house!

That's the scoop from the bottom of Africa today!

I wish this story had a nice and neat ending, but it doesn't. I'm sharing it just to give you an idea of what a "typical" day can look like here, the situations people here are facing, and some of the frustrations of trying to get things done!!

Last week I met a little boy named Bevulile (or something similar that starts with a "B"). He's 10 yrs old, an orphan, and HIV positive. He's the nephew of one of the women I work with (Jabulile), and lives with his granny. When we went to his house last Tuesday he was sitting on a grass mat under a tree in their front yard (large dirt area). His arms and legs are about size of Ellie's (3 yrs). His cheeks are swollen, his hair is thinning. He missed most of last school year because of being sick. They said he was too weak to walk any more than the 15 feet to the outhouse. I'm not sure if it is all just from the HIV/AIDS or malnourishment...probably a combo of the two.

Language and cultural barriers can make communication SO HARD & FRUSTRATING. Jabulile had said the granny was refusing to let the boy go to the hospital. The granny said she had already taken him and that he was supposed to go back this week for a check up. To me, it looked like he needed to be in a hospital bed somewhere right away. Finally it was decided we'd wait til this week to take him to the doctor. In the mean time, we were able to get him some rehydration salts that I was hoping would help in some way.

So Tuesday morning we drove the 30 min out to Bevulile's house to pick him up and take him to the doctor. We walked into the "yard" and one of the nasty scrawny dogs laying under the tree jumped up and started coming at me growling and barking like crazy. I was sure I was about to be bitten. I'm glad no one was there with a video camera to catch the reaction on my face, or the weird dance I started doing. He finally ran away when I threw my keys at him. :) I'm sure the Swazi granny fell asleep laughing that night thinking about the tall American woman flailing around in her yard. :)

Anyway, I was suprised to find out Beluvile was at school. They said the dehydration salts had made him feel better, although I think it probably had more to do w/ all the prayers being thrown up on his behalf. We went to school and picked him up. He was walking, but from what I could see, not much else had changed. After heading back to his house to pick up his health card, which we'd forgotten to get the first time, we were off.

We drove 60 minutes to a special Pediatric HIV/AIDS clinic in Mbabane. It's the best care in the country, and absolutely free. We got there just over an hour before the clinic closed, and the waiting room was full of parents and children. They wouldn't even give us a number to try standing in line though, because Bevulile's health card said he had gotten his ARV drugs from another doctor in Manzini...30 minutes back towards where we had just come from...and needed to be check by him. SO, we all got back in the car and headed to Manzini. When I say "all of us," I mean myself, Bevulile, Jabulile his aunt, Ntombi a neighbor who could help translate for us, and her 10 month old baby, who was nursing in the front seat of my car for most of the journey. :)

We got to the hospital in Manzini and I dropped off my passengers to wait in line while I ran a couple errands. I came back 1.5 hours later and they were waiting for me outside. The doctor in Manzini had also refused to see Bevulile because he was supposed to come back for a check up 2 weeks from his last one. WE WERE ONE DAY EARLY. They said even if he was very very sick, they would not see him until after 2 weeks had passed. UGH! I was so frustrated at this point, wondering what we were supposed to do for this little boy that is still so sick, and feeling like there was nothing I could do. I gave them bus fare to head back home, and some extra money to buy some vegetables. I saw Jabulile today and she said she had been able to take him to the clinic for his check up on THE RIGHT day. The doctor said he was doing fine. BLAH!

So that's what my Tuesday looked like this week, and that's what life looks like for Bevulile and thousands of other children here every day. Please lift Bevulile up in prayer. Pray his body would become strong and that He would know the love and care of his his amazing Heavenly Father.

This wknd my friends Dennis and Zwakele were married here in Swaziland. Dennis has been on staff with AIM for the last 3 and a half years. Zwakele is from one of the main churches we work with in the rural area where our ministry is focused, and is also on staff with AIM. THE WEDDING WAS A BIG PARTY with lots of dancing and shouting. It was the most fun I'd ever had at a wedding! 

Some things that made it different than the typical wedding you and I might be used to:

--Things got started aout an hour and a half late

--The flower girl threw candy into the crowd rather than dropping flower petals

-- The wedding party did an coreagraphed dance down the aisle to techno music, and took about 10 min to get from the back of the church to the front.

--The wedding cake was a fruit cake! (we finally figured this out after a confusing conversation with the baker, saying the normal wedding cake took 3 months to make and would last up to 5 yrs!)

--They take an offering during the ceremony and everyone in attendance dance down the aisle to give their offering and congratulate the couple!

Friends and I were in charge of all the decorating and flowers, so we've had a crazy weekend, but it was so fun to help our friends celebrate their marriage!

That's all for now!

Julie & Ellie

Ellie and I are settled back into life in Swaziland. Besides making the long journey by plane, there are a few other indicators that assure us we have arrived back in Africa...the temperature is about 80 degrees warmer than Iowa, there are lizards crawling our walls, and people tell me I am looking fat, and mean it as a sincere compliment :) (i.e. it means that my parents took good care of me while I was away, which is of course a very true statement!), just to name a few.

I've especially enjoyed reconnecting with the Swazi women I work with. We had our biggest pay day ever last week, with some women getting as much as 800 Emalangeni ($115). One of the cute grandmas got her pay envelope and started fanning herself like she was about to pass out, the whole time saying, "Oh, oh, ooooo, oh, eeeee," etc, etc. One of the other women ran up and put her ear to her chest to "make sure" her heart was still beating. It was hilarious. I also got to meet some of the new babies that were born while I was away...my friend Lindiwe introduced me to her newest addition...child number TEN!

The new school year has just started here, which means many are in a panic as to how to pay their children's school fees. Since August, we've been giving the ladies the option of putting some of each month's paycheck into "savings" for school fees. Thanks to donors, any money they saved was matched, so their money was doubled. It's been so great to see the women trying to plan ahead and use their money wisely and of course to see God's provision in this way.  

I had a conversation with my friend Lindiwe (another Lindiwe) last week. We've been praying for her husband for a long time. Lindiwe has a strong faith, but her husband does not know the Lord, is not kind to their children, and is unfaithful to their marriage. Lindiwe said he has children by many other women...at least 7 that she knows of for sure, but she says there are many more. Lindiwe says she is scared of getting HIV. The reality is that she more than likely already has it. At one point, Lindiwe said to me, "Julie, the other day I did something that only the Lord was able to help me to do." She then told me that one of the 'other women' came to her house with her sick child, looking for Lindiwe's husband to help with money to see a doctor. Her husband wasn't there at the time, so Lindiwe prepared a meal for the woman while she waited. Amazing. How many of us could be so radically obedient to God's command to "love our enemies?"

We had Ellie's 3rd birthday party over the weekend (this was acutally her 2nd 3rd bday party, with an early one w/ family in the States before we left). She turned 3 on Jan 18 while we were still traveling back from the US, so the party was belated, but still lots of chaotic fun!! It's become our tradition to we invite the children from the local abandoned babies home over for the celebration. Between the 13 toddlers from the baby home, 7 or 8 other missionary children plus mom's and friends, our little home was filled to capacity. Just like last year, it was so precious to see all these sweet little swazi faces smiling and having a blast, knowing the situations many of them have come from and the special plan God must have for their lives. I'll try to post some pics tmrw.

That's the news from Swaziland. We are missing friends and family in the US (Ellie is always talking about "Gemma and Gempa," and all of her crazy cousins that she loves so much!), but we are also so happy to be back in Swaziland, and are excited for what this year holds for us here.

Thanks for checking in with us! 

It's THREE DEGREES in Iowa today. I think the wind chill is in the negative double digits. Ellie and I celebrated the New Year by not leaving the house all day long! :)

We leave for Africa on January 16th. We're looking forward to getting back to life and ministry in Swaziland (where the temps were in the high 80's today!). 2007 was good...probably the least stressful year since moving to Africa. I love ministry with the women I work with in Timbali Crafts. We saw lots of growth last year, and I'm praying for more in 2008 so that even more women and their families can be provided for financially and spiritually. Ellie will soon be three (Jan 18) and her two favorite things are singing and making messes...the other day she sang me an action-filled medley of 'The Itsy Bitsy Spider,' 'We Wish you a Merry Christmas' and 'Happy Birthday.' There's a video clip below that will give you just a glimpse of what a great personality she has. I was trying to get it posted by Christmas, but had some technical difficulties (even when not in Africa!), so the message is outdated, but still cute. :)  

For Christmas my brother gave me the book "Life as a Vapor," by John Piper. It talks about viewing life in light of eternity.  The time we spend here on this earth is short, eternity is long, and doing things that have eternal value is what's important. As I've spent the majority of the last 11 years in countries and cultures that are not my own, and can often fill a bit out of place, living in light of my eternal home has become vital to keeping the perspecitve I need to be where I'm at...where ever it might be. Here's a quote from Piper to make us think and challenge us in the New Year:

"Just think of it. You have one life. One very short life. Then an eternity to remember. Does not the suffering in this world seem inexplicable to you? Is not this great, global suffering a call to magnify the mercy of Christ by how we respond? Is not suffering a seamless fabric, streching into eternity for unbelievers? And, therefore, are not Christians the only people who can respond with helpful relief to the totality of misery? Unbelievers may relieve some suffering in this vapor's breath of life on earth. But beyond that they are no help at all. Shall we not then live our lives--and prepare for heaven--by strategizing in all our vocations, and with all our talents and all our money, to relieve suffering (now and forever) for the glory of Jesus? The twentieth century was the bloodiest and cruelest of all centuries. Man is not getting better. But God will hold us accountable in the age to come not for what others have done. He will call us to account for what the blood-bought hope freed us to do for others in the name of Christ. We will give joyful and tearful thanks in that day for the grace that covered our sin and the grace that caused our love."

What will the "blood bought hope" that is ours in Christ compel us to do in 2008? It's something good to think about...and then to do something about.

Thanks for reading our blog...we'd love your continued prayers and support in 2008!

WORLD AIDS DAY: December 1, 2007

Today is World AIDS day. Here are some of the latest statistics on HIV/AIDS and it's affect on the world:

• 25 million people have died of AIDS so far
• currently there are 38 million people infected with the HIV virus (90% in Africa)
• there are 15.2 million children that have orphaned by AIDS
• 8000 people die everyday of AIDS
• 6000 children are orphaned every day because of AIDS

In SWAZILAND:

• 42% of it's 1 million people are HIV positive
• there are over 120,000 orphans
• the life expectancy for women is only 33 years

[More stats are available at: http://www.nat.org.uk/page/426 ; Stats and some great videos at www.worldvision.org]

The statistics have gotten worse in the 3 years since I moved to Swaziland. Right before I came to the States, there were a few headlines in the paper that were very telling of the situation there...things like: "Population of Swaziland Drops Below 1 Million," and "No Adult Population in Swaziland by 2025." My friend Thulie, who is part of Timbali crafts, found out that her HIV has progressed into AIDS, and her farewell to me was, "I hope I am alive when you return." Thulie has 3 young children whose fathers have already passed away.

I want to encourage you to take some time today and do something in observance of World Aids Day and the millions of people affected by this horrible disease. Here are a couple ideas:

• Pray about the statistics in this blog entry. Pray that adults would choose to be faithful to their spouse. Pray that young people would choose sexual purity. Pray that the many widows and orphans would be cared for and protected. Pray that those who are hurting would find hope in Christ.
• Create some sort of a prayer reminder for yourself. Go buy or download a map of Africa, write some of these stats on it, and put it in a place where you'll see it often and be reminded to pray!
• Get on the websites listed above and learn more about the HIV/AIDS crisis. View some of the personal stories via video. Share what you learn with your family or friends.
• Give to something or get involved in something! Of course there are opportunitites to give/get involved in things AIM is doing related to the AIDS crisis but there are also tons of other causes out there as well. Look at some of the options and ask God where he wants you to put your time and money.

People say that this is the "greatest humanitarian crisis of our time." That means its also a great opportunity for the church to step up and be light and hope in the midst of it all!!