HopeAlive2010 has some great news. Our 2010 trip to Swaziland was a tremendous blessing, both to us and to the Swazi children in need of care, love, and the Gospel. The Lord has opened doors since our last trip and we’re excited to announce that HopeAlive2010 is becoming HopeAlive268, a nonprofit organization dedicated to longer term ministry and support of Swaziland. We want to invite you to visit our new website at HopeAlive268.com and learn more about the problems facing Swaziland and the Swazi church, what the Lord has called us to do, and how you can get involved.
The task before us is one that only God is capable of completing. We desperately desire your prayer for this new ministry, the people giving their time, and most of all, for the orphaned children of AIDS victims in Swaziland and the caregivers that sacrifice daily to provide what little the children have. If you would like to know more about specific prayer needs, please contact us for more information.
Thank you for your support and we can’t wait to see God’s grace revealed as he works through HopeAlive268 to share the Gospel in Swaziland.
It is winter time now in Swaziland and this year has been exceptionally cold! Often, I awaken in the middle of the night and look to see what time it is in Swaziland. Many times, it is in the very early hours of the morning, when the skies over Swaziland would still be dark and the air bitterly cold. I think about our little orphans, many with out shelter, sleeping under trees and bushes, shivering as they seek shelter from the cold night, which often brings rain and wind. I think that as I lay in the comfort of my bed, they are beginning to stir to a new day, with no morning hello, kiss or hug from Mom or Dad. No warm touch or even a smile. With no guarantee of security, they will begin their day to seek food. Some walk miles to the Siteki Care Point where they know at least one meal will be served to them. I am thankful that we are able to provide food to at least 38 of these precious children, ranging in age from 0-5! This week, we were able to not only send money to see that they are feed but also extra money to ensure each of our 38 orphans receives a NEW WARM BLANKET!
FOOD: We send monthly support to provide food for these kids. Please remember and keep in prayer the fact that this is not an orphanage. These kids cannot sleep at the care point due to lack of space and man power. We hope in the near future to possibly change that!
CLOTHING: To clothe these kids, we are currently making “pillowcase dresses”. We are collecting pillow cases, ribbon, cute add-ons, buttons and fabric. You can collect any of these items and send them to us, you can make a dress and send it to us or you can donate towards the dresses. We are also making shorts for the boys. If you sew and would like to make some that would be great! Otherwise you can send us material or donate towards the purchase of supplies. If funds allow we would love to purchase shirts as well.
HOW YOU CAN HELP: If you feel led to donate financially toward the food or the purchase of pillow cases and shorts material, then you can do so by sending it to the Calvary Chapel Palm Harbor address or via Paypal. Please see the HOW YOU CAN HELP page.
We are excited to share with you the new project we are starting and ways you can help out! As you know from previous posts we are currently supporting a group of orphans in Siteki, Swaziland. With no mother, father or family to speak of, these kids have truly been abandoned and desperately need the love of Christ. So, with that in mind, here is what we are doing:
1. Currently we are sending money monthly to provide food for these kids. Along with food and water the children are able to recieve the spirtual food that is so needed to survive. Through Bible stories, songs and prayer these kids are being presented the gospel while at the care point. Please remember and keep in prayer the fact that this is not an orphanage. These kids cannot sleep at the care point due to lack of space and man power.
2. In an effort to meet the need of clothing these kids we are making “pillowcase dresses”. We are collecting pillow cases, ribbon, cute add-ons, buttons and fabric. You can collect any of these items and send them to us, you can make a dress and send it to us or you can donate towards the dresses. We are also making shorts for the boys. If you sew and would like to make some that would be great! Otherwise you can send us material or donate towards the purchase of supplies. If funds allow we would love to purchase shirts as well.
If you feel led to donate financially toward the food or the purchase of pillow cases/shorts material then you can do so by sending it to the Calvary Chapel Palm Harbor address or via Paypal (see How You Can Help Page) .
Please be praying for these 32 little hearts (and growing). Below are their names and ages. Please pray for their protection. Pray that they are able to eat at least one meal a day. Pray that they know how dearly they are loved. Pray that God intercedes in their lives in a powerful way!
Girls:
Novuyo 5
Nonduduzo 5
Valencia 5
Hlengiwe 4
Fisokuhle 4
Spelele 4
Tengetile 4
Sphesihle 4
Tengetile 3
Nosmilo 3
Samukelisiwe 3
Tengetile 3
Boys:
Mlandvo 5
Sibonginkosi 5
Victor 5
Nkululeko 5
Sethu 4
Menzi 4
Khumbulani 4
Londwa 4
Lindokuhle 4
Mazwi 4
Mzwakhe 4
Sakhile 4
Mgcini 3
Vusile 3
Sakhi 3
Tiphindzile 3
Smanga 3
Thabiso 3
Muhle 3
Mhlengi 3
Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world. -James 1:27 (NIV)
Our hearts remain in Swaziland and the memories embedded within us forever!. The Swazi people have indeed become our family.There are several projects ongoing and plans have began for our next HopeAlive team trip back to beautiful Swaziland. Of course we remember daily our little friends at the Good Shepherd Childrens Ward, ones who dramatically changed our lives. We pray daily for those we met in the schools, prisons, street outreach, womens conference and youth conference. The faces of the many orphans we met in Siteki and Shewula come daily to our minds. The children of Shewula have a wonderful mentor, Dana Harding who touched our lives in a powerful way. In our last blog we mentioned the Siteki Orphans and our desire to see food provided for these starving children. Upon our visit, many of the children had not eaten in days. We are not OK with that. We are now supporting the approximately 40 children that come to this Care Point seeking food, water and shelter from the elements. If you would like to help support these orphans who range from infants to approximately six years of age (many with NO adult supervision), you can do so through our PayPal or by sending support directly to Calvary Chapel (see our How You Can Help Page). For more information about the Siteki Orphans, see the Siteki Orphans page under “Projects” at the top of this page. If you might be interested in our next Missions Trip, HopeAlive2011, pop us an e-mail, we would love to hear from you.
HELLO!! It has been a long time since my last post. Thanks to all of your prayers we made it back safely from Swaziland a couple weeks ago! I have to admit I have really been slacking on our blog. I want to apologize to anyone who has been anticipating a post but I am really working this week on catching up. I am slowly editing all of our pages and transforming them from what we want to do…to what we did. Please stick with me as it takes about a day to change one page. For now I will tell you the trip was an amazing success. God has done so many things through and in us as a team that we are simply blown away. He opened doors we couldn’t even budge alone. He lit the path so we could easily see where we needed to go. I cannot wait to share our HopeAlive journey with you! The picture below was taken during the march at the youth conference. The sign was hand made by one of the teens.
22. Twenty-two days and 16+ hours on a plane until we set foot in Swaziland! It is exciting to think that all we have been praying for, all we have been working towards, all we have been collecting for, will soon be taking place! At the last weeks team meeting we packed 22 huge boxes full of supplies. These boxes contained everything from medical supplies, soccer balls and flip-flops to quilts and handmade treasures. Everything was donated by you and shipped to us from all across America. It is so amazing to see others rise up and get involved in something so close to our hearts. Many of you we do not even know! Thank you all so much for the support and prayers surrounding this trip! It has been such an encouragement to the team and will be to the Swazi people. Please continue to spread the word and mission of HopeAlive! Please remember to keep our team in your prayers! Also, please (please please) send us a short video clip of you, your family, youth group or church waving and saying hello. We are trying to put together a video to show the Swazi people just how many of us over here have been praying for them. They need to see how many people care. We cannot make this video happen without your help! You can send the videos to swazilandvideo@gmail.com.
I know this team picture is fuzzy (and silly) but it seems none of us can stand still long enough for a real picture. When we do capture one, I will be sure to post it!
Hello All! We will be making a video to take with us over to Swaziland in September. Our desire is to show the Swazis just how many people all across the globe are thinking and praying for them. This is where YOU come in! We need you guys to send us short video clips (no longer than 30 seconds) of yourself, church congregation, youth group or family. Be creative! You can say something, share a verse, pray or even just smile and wave! The video clips can be taken using webcams, cell phones, or video cameras. Please send your clips to swazilandvideo@gmail.com . The trip is only 2 months away so please send them as soon as you can!
Happy June Everyone! Thank you all for such a great response on collecting quilts for Good Shepherd Hospital! Each and every quilt will be dearly loved over in Swaziland! The trip is fast approaching and we need your help collecting some supplies, we only have about three months left! We have come up with a list of things we would like to take with us on the trip and have begun to collect these items. (Find the full list on the How You Can Help page) This list has everything from flip-flops to ace bandages on it. Everyone can do something, every last small thing counts! Be a part of this movement! Keep spreading the word of HopeAlive!!
Attention all QUILTERS – We have a group making Quilts for the Children’s Ward at Good Shepherd Hospital. If you happen to be a quilter and would like to make a quilt, or 2 or 3, please let us know. We would love your help! The size of the beds in the children’s ward are 42.1 inches X 50 inches. We have no pattern or color specifications. For more pictures of the quilts already made, check out our HopeAlive 2010 Facebook.
Swaziland Cultural Village (click on the blue link to view the video)
While finishing up some pages on the site, I stumbled across this video. During our last Swaziland trip in 2009 we visited the Cultural Village. Here we saw the traditional side of the Swazi people. We peeked into traditional huts and wandered through the old village just soaking up the culture. There is nothing better than listening to the Swazi people sing!
Hope you enjoy! Have a blessed day!
