Sanibonani! Ninjani bazalwane? We hope you are all doing well. We are loving every minute of being here in Swaziland and wanted to update you on the last few days. Wednesday was Lacie’s 5th birthday. Monica and Gogo Polly took cupcakes to her pre-school, and then after school, the Allen family went to lunch together. Sandile Kunene came to the mission house and spent the whole day with us. We spent most of the morning catching up, showing pictures, and exchanging stories. It was so good to see him. In the afternoon, we went to Sibebe for the weekly Bible Study that Maria Shandu leads. We enjoyed seeing familiar faces and spending time with them. For those of you who know about the infamous Sibebe bridge, it has been replaced. We actually felt “safe enough” to walk across it. Sandile enjoyed going to Sibebe with us, as well. It was his first time visiting this specific Bible Study. Maria has been consistently teaching her each week for about 7 or 8 years now. It is always a blessing to be a part of the different ministries here. Wednesday night, we celebrated Lacie’s birthday with a special dinner at home and brownies with chocolate icing. She also opened presents from her family. From Wednesday, we have included a picture of Hunter with Sandile at Sibebe, Brinkley teaching with Maria, and Lacie with her birthday desert. J
Thursday, we spent the day with Teresa at the Mbabane Government Hospital working with Breast Cancer Network. We saw about 30-35 patients from 9:00 to 2:00. During the morning, Brinkley and I went to the children’s ward and visited some of the children there. We started in the abandoned children’s room and fed some of them. There is a picture of Brinkley holding one of the babies. After about an hour or so, we stopped by some other rooms in the ward and then joined back up with Teresa and Doctor Alcidez (the same doctor from Tuesday). Most of the patients that we saw were between the ages of 20 and 25 because of the low life expectancy here. (It is now down to about the age of 32.) Teresa and one of the Swazi counselors had to tell a woman that she has been diagnosed with breast cancer. There is no chemo available in Swaziland, so every patient they diagnose has to have the added expense of going to South Africa. Financially, the Swazi government is helping now more than ever, which is a blessing.
We so have a prayer request. About a week ago, Dr. Alcidez cut his finger while removing stitches from a lumpectomy patient. The stitches had been in for too long, and as usual, all he had was a single razor blade. They immediately tested the patient and discovered that she was HIV positive. He has had to start on ARVs, trying to take every precaution necessary. Because of the medication, he is constantly sick. Please be in prayer for our new, Cuban friend. They will test him in 3 months to see if he has contracted the virus. We have included a picture of Teresa, Dr. Alcidez, and Hunter after a long day at the hospital.
This morning was a pretty typical morning in Swaziland- the truck wouldn’t start so we had to get a new battery for it; the trailer had to be fixed because the indicators decided not to work; in the midst of it all, the Allens’ new truck was ready to be picked up; and every police officer on this side of the country was on the road because the king was making an appearance in Mbabane. After Steve had sorted through everything and the dust had settled, we went to Hawane this afternoon for the weekly Bible Study. Steve taught the adults, and we stayed outside and taught the children. Due to the cool weather and school, we did not have very many children in attendance. However, they did enjoy learning about Abraham and Isaac. We also had extra time while we were waiting for the adults to finish, so we taught them some new games. Their new favorite game is the limbo. They had never played or seen it before, so we had a lot of fun teaching them. We have included a picture of the children during the lesson, as well as one of us with some of the women, or bomake.
Thanks for praying! We will send out another update on Sunday before we leave for the Warrens on Monday. Remember that Steve leaves on Sunday for Israel, so please be in prayer for him, also.
Love, Hunter and Brinkley
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