What's Next....

Hello all once more. We have been back in the states for two weeks now and I think we have finally adjusted to the time change and life in the U.S. again. We have had a very busy two weeks visiting family and waiting for Baby Claussen to be born!! Keira Grace was born 6 days after we got home and I have already been to Minneapolis to visit! We also spent a long week end at Lake Cochran celebrating my Dad's 60th birthday. He was pretty impressive water skiing--he even dropped one and slalomed for a little while!! Traig and I took a two day trip to Spearfish to look for a house and we were very excited to find one that should be a great fit for our family. Traig has taken a new job with a small I.T. firm in Spearfish and he has already put in a few days of work! We will be leaving in the morning as the kids start school on Tuesday. They are excited--Noah will be in Kindergarten so that is a bit unsettling for Mom!!

God has provided for us and we are once again reminded that God's plan is so much greater than what we could ever have planned for ourselves.

Grace and Peace,
Laura

Almost Home

It is with mixed emotions that I post what will be our last entry from Africa. We are leaving for Johannesburg on Wednesday, spending Thursday doing some last arts and crafts shopping and Friday we fly out. It has been an amazing six months. Traig completed seven installations. The last three, Partners in Health is holding of on until a later date--at which time Traig is hoping to return for 2 weeks to finish up. It has been a very successful trip in terms of what he has accomplished. It has given him great joy to speak with the doctors who are working out of these remote clinics and who are now able to provide such a higher level of care for the Basotho in the mountains.

On a personal level, the experience has changed us in a deep way. At one point Traig had said if all that our children take from this is that years from now we can tell them God called us and we answered, it was worth the trip. It didn't seem like rational or sane thing to do--moving 4 children around the world for 6 months. God doesn't always call us to be rational but he has called us to follow Him. He provided for us in ways that have been greater than we could have ever asked. And through this all, we can honestly say we have no regrets. I don't know that I have ever felt closer to God in all my life. I know that I have never spent so much time in prayer-it seems like the past six months my prayers have not ceased.

I came to Lesotho thinking I would change the world--in 6 months. I had no idea how deeply I would be changed. I have had to examine every belief that I have had and now deal with a guilt so deep knowing that I can leave here. This is not my life. I have the means to return home and enjoy all the food that I could ever want. I will never know what it feels like to go to sleep hungry wondering if I will be able to feed my children the next day. Our friend Daniel told Traig how he dreamed of someday being the one who had a chair to sit in and a table to eat at. He said he knows he should be happy with what he has (a mattress), but some times he just wants to be one of those other people. How often I have wanted to be one of those other people with a bigger house, nicer car, exotic vacations--never once have I wanted to be the one with a chair to sit in.

We leave so many new friends behind, and we are taking comfort in knowing that for those who know Christ as their personal Lord and Savior, this is just see you later for someday soon we will be together in Heaven.

Thanks so much for all your prayers during this time. We know that we could not have done it without all your encouragement and prayer support. Please pray for us as we all transition back to "normal" life.

The Story of Palesa

I met Palesa about 2 weeks ago at Queen 2. She was just sitting in a crib in next to the nurse’s desk at the entrance to the children’s ward. She was all smiles. I later learned that she had been abandoned at the hospital in May. Her mother brought Palesa to the emergency room claiming that something was wrong with her leg, then the mother disappeared. Two months later, mom was found and is now in prison for 18 months for abandonment. Palesa spent that time sitting in her crib, they never found anything wrong with her. She is almost 19 months old and she can sit by herself and just started to roll in the last couple weeks. She is very smart though. She waves, nods yes, and babbles continually. I am sure that her physical delays are due largely in part to the fact that she has been in a crib for almost 10 weeks.

One Monday night I was brining supper to someone from Beautiful Gate who is at Queen 2 with a BG baby and I discovered Palesa had gotten a hold of one of the nurse’s supper and had it all over her and her bedding. She had been sitting in the food mess for quite some time. It took me quite a while to get anyone to direct me to clean bedding for her but eventually I found a sheet for her bed. I cleaned her up the best I could with what I had and sat for a good 20 minutes contemplating just taking her home with me. I truly don’t know how long it would have taken for anyone to notice her gone. Instead, I put her, in her filthy clothes, back into the crib and kissed her good night. The next day I went back with soap, towel, lotion and diapers. When I walked to her crib she was all smiles. I scooped her up and a nurse shoved a coffee cup full or porridge at me and walked away-so first breakfast, then a bath and a lot of cuddle time. It was then I began to wonder if they would let me care for Palesa in my home. A completely insane idea in America I know, but this is definitely not America. Wednesday of that week I decided to talk to the head nurse and I was truly hoping that she would say no, not because I didn’t want the opportunity to love on this babe for a couple weeks, but because I so badly wanted to believe that someone here cared. When I met with her, I was armed with my passport, driver’s license, and all our contact information. She never even asked my name. I explained that I wanted to care for Palesa in my home until other arrangements could be made and she said “Very good, come Friday.” So Friday morning I walked into the Children’s ward and back out again with that beautiful and precious baby. She stayed with us for the weekend. She never cried once and we loved having her.

Before I left on Friday, I had told the head of the ward that I would check back in each day. I just felt that there needed to be some accountability. Monday morning when I went to the hospital they told me that Palesa’s grandmother was going to come that day to “see if she liked her”. If she did, she would have the legal rights to take her that day. My heart stopped. Where had she been the past two months that Palesa had been sitting in hospital? I pulled myself together, dressed her in her cutest clothes and I stayed with her until holding back the tears was not possible any longer, and placed her in her crib and once again, walked away from this little angel. Later that afternoon, I returned to see if she was still there. When I entered the ward, she was sound asleep in her crib. Her grandmother had come later in the morning and was not sure if she was coming back. “Maybe tomorrow” they told me. I could have taken her home again, but I couldn’t stand the thought of having to bring her back again the next day wondering if I would see her again. After only three days with her, it was such a deep hurt to leave her.

When I awoke Tuesday, I knew what I needed to do; I returned first thing to the hospital-another bath, breakfast and a bottle. We had a great couple hours together. I brought another very cute outfit for her-several shirts, tights and socks. I wanted her to have as many articles of clothing on as I could pack her into as I was sure that her grandmother would not have much to dress her in. Tuesday was a long day of waiting and wondering. About 5 that evening I returned to see if she was still there. She was and with her in her crib were two cockroaches eating what was left of the cheese curls and other food that had been put in her crib for her to eat through out the day. I grabbed her and told the nurse that I would be back in the morning. She ate a great supper that night, had another bath and was loved on for hours. She fell asleep in bed with Hannah. Wednesday morning was the same routine of layers of clothes, and pancakes for breakfast. I brought her back again and the waiting began. That night Traig was very late, almost 6 o’clock before he got home, so I was not able to go back to the hospital as it is dangerous for me to be there after dark. Thursday morning when I got to the hospital, her crib was gone. One of the nurses came right to me and said that her grandma had come Wednesday morning for her. I left knowing that I had to keep it together, the kids and Traig were all in the car has he had taken the day off so we could go to Bloemfontein. I told the kids the “good news” that Palesa was in a home now and with her grandma. To them that sounds like a great thing! We pulled out of the lot and the tears where streaming down my checks. Then Hannah said, “That taxi sure has a nice sticker on it”. I looked up and at that moment God spoke to me through a taxi cab. The sticker said “Everything is in God’s Hands”.

So now I am back to where I started, on my knees praying for this baby and all the babies that have gone down this path before her and all the babies who someday will. We were privileged to share in her life for even such a short time and I thank God for the time that we had to care for her. I pray that her mother will one day be willing and able to care for her again. It is sad that this desperate mother could have ended this child’s life but chose to put her somewhere safe and she is now in jail for that decision. I am not advocating child abandonment, but children die here so often because their parents no longer want to or feel they can care for them. Palesa’s birthday is December 26th. We will be honoring her every year on that day by remembering the millions of orphaned and abandoned children all around the world. There are many charities that are in need of any help they can get. If you are interested in information on ways to help in Lesotho please contact us. Remember though, there are lots of children in the U.S. who are in need of love and assistance as well.

Grace and Peace, Laura


The Starfish Story
Original Story by: Loren Eisley

One day a man was walking along the beach when he noticed a boy picking something up and gently throwing it into the ocean.

Approaching the boy, he asked, “What are you doing?”

The youth replied, “Throwing starfish back into the ocean. The surf is up and the tide is going out. If I don’t throw them back, they’ll die.”

“Son,” the man said, “don’t you realize there are miles and miles of beach and hundreds of starfish? You can’t make a difference!”
After listening politely, the boy bent down, picked up another starfish,
and threw it back into the surf. Then, smiling at the man, he said…
“I made a difference for that one.”

A life worth living...

I don’t mean to take the easy way out of this week’s blog but I really want to share with you something that we received from our friends Tim and Sheila Steele, missionaries who work with Family Life. I read it for the first time this past Wednesday. I had spent that morning at Queen 2, the hospital here in Maseru. I was staying with a baby girl from Beautiful Gate who has TB and pneumonia so that her regular care giver could take her first break from the hospital in over a week. The baby is 16 months old and was admitted almost two weeks ago. (The little boy has been released and is recovering well from his burns-there is going to be scarring, but he is healing.)

During my time at the hospital, a baby not 20 feet away from where I sat went home to be with Jesus. I know nothing of her situation, but I know that she is happy and fully healed today safe in the arms of our Savior. I took tremendous comfort in the message the Steele’s passed along and I know that I couldn’t explain the why’s of this life better than they did.

Grace and Peace, Laura

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Molly Ann Mutz (Rainey) birth -- June 20, 2008 homegoing - 168 hours later

Recently Dennis & Barbara Rainey shared with our staff their perspective on watching their newborn granddaughter, Molly Ann Mutz and her extended families, experience a lifetime of love in just 168 hours. While Molly lived... the Rainey/Mutz families rejoiced with her. In her home-going... they rejoiced as well. (Philippians 4) Sometimes our God chooses to answer our prayers with a touch of comfort, maybe emotional healing or possibly a miraculous physical cure. There may have been times where you have felt Him restraining you in making a major decision or He closed a door to an opportunity that you felt certain would've been in your best interest. He does that, you know. There may even have been other times in your life that God has used life's circumstances to teach you a lesson about His sovereignty and your need for His guidance and to temper your pride and self-absorbed focus. He does that, too. Whatever God does to get your attention, remember that He does it for the best of intentions; to honor His name through our responses and to draw us, and others, to Himself. We won't see the eternal impact of our actions or our words until heaven. There are two webpages relating to Molly Ann that have been posted through FamilyLife's e-zine called The Family Room. We wanted to make certain that you know through this hard circumstance God's name was honored and praised and the dignity of Molly Ann was treasured and her mother Becca and father Jake were comforted. To His name be all the glory in all of life's fullness, Tim & Sheila

Dennis' Reflections Barbara's Reflections

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Building a Better Lesotho

Well it has been a while since I have posted to the blog. For the past few weeks Laura has been sharing her experiences with orphan care here in Maseru. If you have been reading her posts you know it is an emotional battle -- seeing so many children in need. Laura has a very big heart for children and I am glad she is finding opportunities to share her love at the Beautiful Gate and other facilities here.

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But this week it is my turn again, and I want to share some positive thoughts on progress here in Lesotho. Yes, in the midst of the poverty and illness and other depressing things there is hope for this country. I personally see it in the medical work being done here.

You probably know that the primary reason we are serving here is so that I can install a network of satellite dishes at remote mountain clinics throughout Lesotho. The satellite dishes and related technology were purchase by Partners In Health (PIH) using donated money. PIH is based in Boston, Massachusetts, USA. I highly suggest you visit their website at www.pih.org. Click on the "Who We Are" menu and read their vision statement.

Prodelin dish in Tlhanyaku

Recently I have installed dishes at two very special places. First was the mountain village of Tlhanyaku (pronounced "kline ya koo"). If you are regular visitor to the blog you read that Hannah traveled to this site with me. I flew to Tlhanyaku three times and each time I was amazed at the construction happening on new clinic buildings. A whole series of new structures is close to compete, which will more than double the size (and capacity) of the existing clinic. And the craftsmanship is amazing considering how remote this site is. The end result will be a first-class rural health center.

During my last visit to the site Richard greeted me at the plane. Richard is an educated Mosotho hired by PIH to manage the clinic operation at Tlhanyaku.

Tlhanyaku Clinic

As we walked downhill toward the clinic I commented about the progress on the buildings and how nice the site looked. Richard agreed. "Yes, it is taking a long time but they (the builders) are doing a very nice job. When I hear the people talking they say now they don't have to go to Mokhotlong or Maseru to get to the hospital -- we have a hospital here in Tlhanyaku now!"

The expanded clinic will have room for weighing babies *inside*

I replied, "well it's pretty close, but I guess you don't have any beds for patients to stay overnight..."

"No, we do!" said Richard. "We can have up to 10 patients overnight now!"

He was just beaming as he spoke. -- a Mosotho man very proud of his clinic and the service they are able to provide to the mountain people. The Tlhanyaku clinic has a permanent educated physician (Dr. Simba from Zimbabwe), dependable solar power, high speed Internet, and soon will even have an x-ray lab! They see up to 70 patients a day.

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Patriot dish in Lebakeng

I have also been working at the remote clinic in Lebakeng, which also sees up to 70 patients a day. As I mentioned on this blog a few weeks ago the clinic in Lebakeng is also undergoing heavy construction. All of the work is being done by hand with a beautiful cut stone / block combination. It is a great example of Basotho taking pride in their work!

Basotho Craftsmanship

The doctors working in Lebakeng exhibit the same pride as the builders – going the extra mile to provide the best healthcare possible in this remote place. Dr. Nico (a Mosotho educated in South Africa) is the primary doctor for this clinic. He is a highly intelligent individual and being Mosotho he has the advantage of speaking the language of the people he is serving.

PIH Doctors Dr. Leeroy Moyo (Zimbabwe) Dr. Nico Lesia (Lesotho)

It is not uncommon for Dr. Nico to walk for hours to make house calls in the neighboring villages. Recently he took a motorcycle training course here in Maseru to learn to ride a dirt bike that we will fly to his clinic this month. (Over 100 motorcycles were donated by Sir Elton John to Lesotho for use in the rural health program, Lebakeng will receive one of them.) Dr. Nico is a fantastic role model for his fellow Basotho – an example of compassion, love, and dedication to improving his country.

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And there are many more stories of Basotho people striving to build a better Lesotho. PIH has several Basotho doctors now, working in Lebakeng, Bobete, Nkau, and Methalaneng. They have Basotho staff at the office in Maseru, and of course talented Basotho contractors and builders. Basotho men and women are testing the blood samples coming back from the remote clinics, and tracking patient data and treatment results.

MAF Staff: Oliphant, Joe

MAF has a terrific group of Basotho “national staff” at the hangar involved in all of our operations including aircraft maintenance. Our airstrips are maintained daily by mountain Basotho people. And at all of my VSAT installations I have employed Basotho with construction of the dish or at least setting the pole in cement.

Living here it is so easy to focus on the negative things. Climbing HIV/AIDS rates… a growing orphan population… poverty… hunger… litter… crummy roads… contaminated water… electricity coming and going… corrupt politicians… and on and on and we start to ask “Do these people care? Do they even want to make life better?? Where is God in all this???….”

And we risk missing the signs of hope.

Please pray for the nation of Lesotho. Pray that it would continue to seek God’s guidance and that the Basotho people would have the opportunity to use their skills and abilities here in their own country.

And as always thank you for your prayers for our family and our time here. We have less than 6 weeks left and there is still plenty of work to be done! We look forward to seeing many of you very soon.

Blessings,

Traig

Hello Again

Sorry for the delay in posts, Traig has been trying to finish a post about what has been going on in the mountains but he remains as busy here as he was in the States so I am just going to go ahead and post another update. First, thank you all so much for the tremendous outpouring of prayer and financial support for the Beautiful Gate these last couple weeks. I want you to know how much it has meant to the people there. I have with great joy delivered bags of papa, apples, potatoes, eggs, diapers, and money on the behalf of those who have given. Benno, the acting director, told me that I must have great family and friends to so quickly respond to their needs. Please know that a good work is being done there.

It is with a heavy heart that I share with you that the little boy who was so badly burned is now in the hospital. Today he underwent surgery to scrape the burned flesh. I understand that it will be extremely painful for him the next few days. He celebrated his 1^st birthday yesterday. Last week I went to visit him in the hospital and it was the closest place to hell on earth that I have ever seen. I had always heard that it was a horrible place but I could not even begin to know just how horrible until I was there.

M’e Augustina’s cousin had been shot in a robbery and she wanted to bring him lunch and I knew that would be beneficial to have a Sesotho speaking person with me as I tried to navigate through the hospital to the children’s ward-so off we went first to the “Casualty Ward”. It was a huge room lined with beds only a few feet apart. It became clear that there was a theme among the patients. None over 35, all with cracked skulls, arms in slings, bandages around their heads-M’e told me it was all gun wounds and stabbings. Queen 2 does not provide food or beverages to patients so it is possible for people to starve to death in the hospital. No one changes the sheets on the beds or the bandages on the wounds either -if you want a blanket, you must bring your own-hence, why M’e was bringing lunch for her cousin. While we were in the room, I noticed others being fed, having their bandages changed, being helped to the restroom—by what I can only assume where their “gang” friends. These men looked like they had just finished up a drug deal and were now spoon feeding mashed carrots to someone who had not made it so well though whatever happened the night before. M’e told me that one night when she was there, the man in the bed next to her cousin died and it was over two hours before they could get anyone to come and remove the body. It was not an easy place to be.

With great fear for what was next, we walked to the children’s ward and just thinking about it now brings a wave of nausea and tears. There were no colorful pictures on the walls, no toys, books or soft blankets. Just rows of sick children, many dying of AIDS, mixed in with children with broken bones, burns, bruises and cuts. We made our way through the people and found my little one. A Beautiful Gate staffer stays with him at all times and she was holding him while he slept. We talked about how his nights were and how he was eating while I tried not to think about what was going on all around me. The place was heavy with death and I could not find the small ray of hope that I cling to everyday I am here. A kiss on the forehead for him and a hug for the M’e who is spending her days and nights in a place where I could hardly be for more than a few minutes and we left.

Please pray for safety for him while he is there, and for his little body to heal. Also, it is common for patients who are not HIV positive (the baby is not) to contract the virus while in the hospital because of the unsanitary conditions-needles are reused and there are just no precautions taken. Queen 2, currently has a 40% infection rate among patients.

In 2007, the Lesotho government spent almost 28 dollars per person on health care, in the U.S., same year; the government spent 7,439 dollars per person.

Please be ever so grateful for the many undeserved gifts God has bestowed upon us.

Grace and Peace, Laura

Praise and Prayer

We are entering our last two months here in Lesotho! I can’t believe that we are starting to think about wrapping things up here. The installs are going well and everything remains on track for Traig to be finished by the end of July. Please continue to pray for safety and efficiency for Traig while he works.

Praise and pray for Beautiful Gate. The staff was paid for April! They had thought that they would be able to get caught up with payroll in the next month, but that no longer seems to be a possibility. N'tate Beno is sending requests to several large charities hoping that one of them will be able to provide financial relief soon. When I went on Friday, my housekeeper suggested that I bring what was left of her bag of mealie meal (what they use to make papa) for the staff. Later, one of the workers to me that they cooked their last bit of papa on Thursday and had I not brought that, the staff would not have eaten that day. God is so good! M’e Augustina has a heart the ladies working there. Today she is baking bread for me to take to them tomorrow.

We also had a very sad event last week. One of the staff accidentally spilled a cup of hot tea on one of the babies. It resulted in 2^nd degree burns on his hands, arms, legs and feet. They rushed him to the hospital and thankfully, a nurse from Australia who volunteers at Beautiful Gate was able to accompany him. The hospital offered very little, not surprisingly, but they were able to get the bandages needed. No pain medication was offered and the hospital sent them away shortly after they arrived. Sara, the nurse told me that in Australia (or the U.S.), an infant with those types of burns would have been hospitalized for a couple days to monitor dehydration, and offer pain control. Please pray for this little one that his body would heal completely and that infection will not occur.

Beautiful Gate also took four more newborns from Queen 2 (the hospital) last week. That brings their total to 38 little ones. Social Services are talking at least two more months before they begin to process adoptions again. Of course every month we have been here, it has been a couple more months till the ban lifts so who knows when it will actually be.

Thank you for your continued prayer support.

Laura

The Beautiful Gate

Hello all. I have been spending time over the past four months at the Beautiful Gate. It is a wonderful center that is funded almost entirely by American churches. Different missions teams have come over and built new buildings and done grounds work to make this the best orphanage in Lesotho. The children are cared for by volunteers and a paid staff of Basotho women. Basotho men keep up the grounds.

After the New Year, the donations that come from churches and individuals have for various reasons declined. The support that keeps the children fed and the local staff paid has dropped to dangerously low levels. It has been over two months since they were able to make payroll. You must understand, Leostho is not a place where people have savings to fall back on. There is also no government assistance such as unemployment pay or food stamps to get the families affected by this through this time. A few of the staff have left, but most stay because with an unemployment rate of 50%, they know that the chances of finding another job are slim. It is better for them to just keep waiting and hoping that the money comes. The drop in staff has affected the care ratios for the children. They had cut out morning and afternoon snacks until an Australian couple began donating the money to cover the cost of the crackers. They have also cut milk out of the meal schedule almost entirely. Remember, these are all children under the age of three. They are going from formula to water at one year of age. They are not starving by any means, but their little tummies are not getting the proper nourishment.

I write this for two reasons. I ask first and foremost for prayer for this facility. Pray that the staff would not lose heart and that the funds would come in soon so they can be paid. I also ask that you be faithful in your giving to your church as we are now seeing first hand what happens when church budgets are not met. It is easy to forget that at the other end of our monthly giving are people all around the world that are relying on our support. We have been convicted of so many things in our time here, and hope we do not easily forget the lessons we are learning.

Did you know…

If Americans who attend a Christian church increased their giving to an average of 10% of income, there could be an additional $86 billion dollars available for overseas missions each year. One source estimates that $70-$80 billion would impact the worst of world poverty and $5 billion could end most of the 11 million under-5, global, annual child deaths. Also, $7 billion would be sufficient for global primary education for all children. There could also be $30.9 billion more a year for domestic outreach. Source: www.emptytomb.org

Americans spend, as a group, $2. 5 billion per year for world missions, $2. 5 billion per year for chewing gum,$ 8 billion per year for movies, $22 billion per year for hunting, $34 million per year for state lotteries. Source: John and Sylvia Ronsvalle, Behind the Stained Glass Window.

In 1916, Protestants were giving 2.9% of their incomes to their churches. In 1933, in the midst of the Great Depression, it was 3.2%. In 1955 just after affluence began spreading through our culture, it was still 3.2%. By 2002, when Americans were over 480% richer, after taxes and inflation, than in the Great Depression, Protestants were giving 2.6% of their incomes to their churches. Source: www.emptytomb.org.

4,151,243
This is the number of children under 5
who have died since the beginning of 2008.

-----If historically Christian church adherents in Union County, South Dakota, chose to increase giving to a congregation-wide average of ten percent, there could have been $17,660,000 additional given in 2002 for international outreach and $5,886,667 additional for local outreach to people in need. If church adherents in Union County would choose to contribute their portion of the estimated $5 billion needed to help, in Jesus’ name, prevent global child deaths each year, $81,828 could be applied to prevent 393 child deaths.

-----If historically Christian church adherents in Lawrence County, South Dakota, chose to increase giving to a congregation-wide average of ten percent, there could have been $17,014,000 additional given in 2002 for international outreach and $5,671,333 additional for local outreach to people in need. If church adherents in Lawrence County would choose to contribute their portion of the estimated $5 billion needed to help, in Jesus’ name, prevent global child deaths each year, $78,837 could be applied to prevent 378 child deaths.

The county information is from the website www.emptytomb.org.

There’s nothing like love Mama. Love is first class. ---M’e Augustina

All I could think about was how on earth 20 children fit to sleep on the floor of the rondavel I was standing in. A large pot of beans were cooking in the corner, supper for the evening. M’e Neo was glad for our visit, we went to play games and share a snack with the children-lift M’e Neo’s load for a little while. Over time, she has taken in children whose parents have passed away or have chosen to not care for them for whatever reason. Her home sits in front of the salvage yard on and long dusty road and the roar of large trucks hauling scrap metal gave us notice to temporarily halt our games so they could pass. Each night they move their table with three chairs out of the way so they can all lie on the floor to sleep. A small stack of blankets provide their warmth for the night-it is currently 49 degrees here. Several of the children are HIV positive, their only inheritance. There is one teenager with her 18 month old daughter both positive, with no one to care for them but M’e Neo.

This woman loves each child like they are her own. In fact her home is so welcoming, children play there before they go home to their families. I watched my children playing and laughing with these children just like they would at any play date. Playing has no cultural barriers-neither do peanut butter and jelly sandwiches. Not one of those children would turn down the snack offered to them; they do not have the luxury of being picky.

Then there is M’e Neo. I often think when was M’e Neo last alone? When is her break from the ministry that she has so boldly taken on? Each night she lies down with 20 children and each morning she wakes up with 20 children. The burden she carries for those children. The prayers she says on their behalf. The shame I feel for knowing that I would not have the strength. And what does this woman have to offer these children? She clearly does not have the financial resources to provide. But what she gives them they need more than anything else. Love, a hug & kiss good night, and the very best she has to give. So in a place that could not be further from any life I previously knew, I find myself with something in common with this woman. I, too, pour out prayers for my children, offering what money can not; love, an hug & kiss good night, and the best I can give.

We think sometimes that poverty is only being hungry, naked and homeless. The poverty of being unwanted, unloved, uncared for, forgotten by everybody, I think that is a much greater hunger, a much greater poverty than the person who has nothing to eat.
---Mother Teresa

My day with Dad by Noah

We were in the airplane first. And then we landed in Lebakeng and there was lots of people there and we gave them hats, stickers and some socks. And there were some other airplanes there dropping some bricks off. Me and dad built a pipe. Then we had a snack, I had fruit snacks and dad had a chocolate chip bar. Then we had lunch after our snack and then we went for a little walk. Ummm...we went and saw the river. There were women carrying rocks on their heads. Then we went back home. I sat in my Dad's lap because there was a sick person laying on the floor of the plane. I was tired so I slept. Then we went back to the hanger and then I drank the rest of my juice that mom got me, then mom came and picked me up and that's all.

No roads lead to Lebakeng....

This past Friday was my first visit to the remote medical clinic in Lebakeng. I was blessed to have Noah (5) along with me and was again joined by Jeremy Keeton from Partners In Health (PIH). This was a day trip to conduct a site survey and select a location for the VSAT dish. Noah seemed to enjoy the flights and made himself right at home on the clinic grounds -- playing and handing out stickers and clothing we had brought for the patients. I was very proud to watch him walk up to patients and give them socks and stocking caps we had brought. (These were clothing items donated as part of a project my sister Keeli is organizing back in the States.)

Lebakeng is an absolutely beautiful place. The airstrip and medical clinic sit on a plateau at an elevation just over 6000'. The plateau is at least 2/3 surrounded by a river canyon. Like many other mountain clinics, Lebakeng serves a large area of villages but there are no houses right near the clinic grounds.

Lebakeng is an interesting challenge when it comes to missions work and remote medical care as you cannot access this area by road. I do not mean the roads are rough, or poorly maintained, or long, or dangerous -- there literally are NO roads into Lebakeng. So unless you enjoy a long hike or horseback ride, your only means of reaching the people in this area are by MAF airplane.

In fact, everything including building supplies has to be flown in. Right now PIH is expanding the medical service offered at this clinic and is building several new structures including a pharmacy, staff housing, primary care clinic, TB clinic, AIDS clinic, generator/solar/battery building, and storage buildings. EVERYTHING needed for the construction project (well over 100 tons of material) is being flown in by MAF plane. MAF South Africa pilot Mark Laprini has been assisting our Lesotho team by flying shuttle flights of building materials in a larger Cessna 208B Grand Caravan. This larger aircraft can run 6 flights a day and must be loaded and unloaded by hand.

It was amazing to watch the construction activity at the site and think about the tremendous effort involved in bringing medical care to this remote place. The amount of brick and stone, concrete mix, steel bar, window frames, etc. that have to be flown in. The workers hand shaping stones for the buildings and operating with minimal power tools. Bags and cans of food. Cooking fuel. Heating fuel. Wood and coal. Medication and bandages and gauze and blankets and all the other things that are needed for people to live and work and strive to provide adequate health care in Lebakeng. What a huge task!

Spending the day in Lebakeng was another good reminder of why MAF is serving God here in Lesotho. In this remote place our planes are fundamental in delivering the materials and medical professionals needed to extend the lives of the Basotho mountain people. About an hour before our return flight to Maseru, we noticed some women carrying very heavy stones on their heads. At first we thought they were moving the stones from a central pile to one of the building sites. Upon further investigation we learned these women were carrying the stones well over a mile, uphill, from the river below the airstrip. Imagine if all the building materials for this growing clinic had to be carried in on the heads of local Basotho women!

I am thankful that MAF is here to help carry the load.

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As always our family thanks you for your prayers. We ask that you continue to pray for the Basotho people living in the Lesotho mountains. Please pray specifically for the growing clinic in Lebakeng, that construction would be swift and that the work being done in this place would bring much needed medical care and extended life to thousands of isolated people. Thank you and God Bless.

Traig

Thlanyaku (Klien-ya-ku) by Hannah

Today I went to Thlanyaku to help my dad put in the pole for the dish. We rode in the airplane and I was the co-pilot! We wore headsets so we could hear each other and talk to each other because the plane was so loud! We left early this morning and got home at supper time.

When I got to the village, I gave out stickers to the kids there. The kids didn't have very warm clothes and there was a girl in a tee shirt and it was cold. They loved the stickers! One girl kept pointed at her hand for more! None of the kids spoke any English so it was hard to communicate with them but they knew what stickers were.

We walked to the clinic where the pole was to be set up. The clinic was not very far from the village. Four men came and helped us dig the pole. They lived in the village and they came with shovels and big sticks to break up the rock. It didn't take them too long to dig the hole and it was really deep!

For lunch we had chicken, papa, and marojo. I tried it all but I didn't like it so I ate the lunch that my mom packed for me. My dad ate it all-he loves it! They serve the same food at all the clinics. Then we went back to dig up the hole more. We just got into the hole and picked out the rocks at the bottom.

We went to the clinic and gave them baby clothes. I gave one sleeper and a pair of shoes to a baby boy. Thursday is the day that babies come to the clinic so they are going to save the rest of the clothes to give out next week.

We walked back up to the runway to wait for the plane. There was a small stream there that we went and found rocks at. Then we heard the plane coming so we got ready to go. We had to hurry to get in the plane because there was a bad accident in another village and the plane we were on had to get them to the hospital in Maseru. So we got dropped off in Bobete and we thought we were going to have to spend the night there at the doctors housing! Then another plane came and picked us up just before the sun was going to set. If the sun had set, we couldn't have left because the runways are not lit so there is no way to see them. The plane that got us in Bobete had three other people in it, a nurse, a doctor and another man who needed to go back to Maseru.

When we landed, we had to help our pilot fill the plane back up with gas so it would be ready to fly on Saturday.

I had a good day in Thlanyaku!

My trip to Bobete -- by Thomas

I woke up at 6:00 in the morning. We were flying in the plane and I got to sit in front. I got to fly the plane and I did the wrong thing and made it go up to high. We got to Bobete. Then we built the VSAT. I gave my dad and the people who helped us build it the nuts and bolts. We had lunch that was chicken and rice and papa and it was good. Then we finished building the satellite. I played and then I had supper. Which was mutton, and papa and it was really good. We looked at the stars and we saw Orion, the Southern Cross and the Milky Way. Then I went to bed on a bunch of wooden boards with a mattress. It was warm but not really comfortable. Friday we did some stuff on the satellite, had breakfast, and waited for the plane to come get us. Two planes landed there because one plane came to get my friend Gus's dad and the Ambassador to the European Union. They were there looking at my dad's satellite and talking. We loaded the plane and they put a sheep in the bottom of the plane. The sheep went to Maseru for people to eat. Then we flew back home. It was a fun trip. My favorite part was eating the sheep for supper.

- Thomas

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Thomas joined me for the second VSAT installation in the village of Bobete this past week. It was great having him with me and I hope it is something he will never forget - even if his favorite part was eating mutton. It is pretty rare for two of our planes to land at the same mountain strip at the same time, so it was an extra treat to see both planes parked at Bobete.

- Traig

1 down… 9 to go!

It has been an exciting past few days for me personally as I have completed the installation of the first VSAT dish! For the first time ever the medical teams working in the mountain village of Nohana have communication with the rest of the world.

On Tuesday, April 15, I flew to Nohana along with Jeremy Keeton – IT Specialist for Partners In Health. (A few “Flat Stanley’s” also joined me – something the teachers in our families will appreciate…!) Flight delays kept us from getting to the site until after 2:00 PM and we were planning to commission the dish at 8:00 PM that evening (this is scheduled in advanced with the Network Operation Center at Constellation Network Corporation, our satellite provider.) Less than 6 hours to construct, wire, configure, and point the dish – a little more pressure than I had hoped for on the first attempt! Thankfully we had plenty of help as several local Basotho men pitched in. They were eager to build something so unique in the mountains.

All things considered the installation went great. By 9:30 we were online and making test calls to the United States. Dr. Jonas Rigodon, who has been the physician at this remote clinic for 18 months, was very excited to email his colleagues and his wife (a little quicker than sending letters back and forth on the airplane!).

This VSAT system will bring much needed Internet access, email, and telephone capabilities to help meet the healthcare needs of the Basotho people in and around Nohana. This is a small village of maybe 1000 people, but the clinic serves a much wider area of at least 8000 people. To give you an idea of how bad the health situation is here, this clinic has been tracking all the patients who test positive for HIV/AIDS. In the last 18 months the number has grown to over 2,500. And of course not everyone in the Nohana area has come to the clinic or been tested.

Another troubling statistic: Catholic Relief Services (CRS) has joined the effort in Nohana by distributing food packets, blankets, and teaching new farming techniques (the AIDS treatments here are much more effective with a proper diet). CRS also started an initiative to profile all of the orphans and “at risk” children in the Nohana area. So far they have also exceeded 2,500 and have not reached the outer areas of the village population.

2,500 AIDS patients and climbing. 2,500 orphans and climbing. Just one small village.

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This week I will continue the VSAT project by installing a second dish in the village of Bobete. I was in Bobete on Friday to set the mounting pole. It is a tiny clinic grounds and like Nohana serves a large rural area. It is not uncommon for the clinic here to see up to 300 people a day. The flight schedule should allow Thomas to fly with me and stay the night in Bobete while I install the dish. It should be an interesting experience for both of us as Bobete has no electricity and just this morning had a couple inches of snow!! I am curious to hear what he thinks about the experience.

As always thanks for your prayers and emails. Please continue to pray for the Basotho people as winter sets in here. It was very cold this morning and snow kept us from flying to several mountain airstrips. Please pray for a mild winter in the mountains and good weather to keep our planes flying.

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And finally a special CONGRATULATIONS!! to Megan and Tony who are expecting their first baby in October. We love you and are very happy for you!

Have a great week everyone and God Bless you and your families,

Traig

The Poles are Here!!

FINALLY the long wait is over – the mounting poles have arrived! It has been six long weeks since we ordered these poles and until receiving them I have been unable to install the satellite equipment for the mountain clinics. This is the primary reason we are here so it has been a frustrating wait! I am learning the hype is right - things really do take longer here...

The dishes I will be installing are 2.4 meters in diameter (about 8 feet), quite heavy, and require a very sturdy mount using 6” steel pipe we cannot get in Lesotho. (Wait, I take that back… there was ONE pipe big enough in Lesotho, and we bought that one and welded it between two shipping containers to use for our training dish. It’s not going anywhere now…) So we special ordered galvanized poles from a steel plant in South Africa, which have to be made in two sections short enough to fit into the airplanes. They have been held up due to considerable issues in the steel industry in South Africa, which I understand is the result of rolling electrical blackouts in that country. Steel prices are surging here – poles for just the first 5 sites cost us over $3,500 U.S.

On Wednesday morning I met with the supplier at 8:00 AM to pick up the poles, and by 9:00 AM was on the MAF plane to the village of Nohana to get the first mount set in concrete. It was great to be back in the mountains! This week I will return to Nohana to install and commission the first dish, then fly to the village of Bobete on Friday to set the next pole. By the end of April we should have two clinics online (Nohana and Bobete) and a pole set in the village of Nkau. Everyone is anxious to get these clinics online and improve the processes and care provided by the medical workers in the mountains.

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As I prepare for the start of this VSAT project, I want to share something that has been on my heart recently. Since the completion of the VSAT training course in late February I have been thinking a lot about two people. Pastor Joséph Thontwa and Emmanuel Swebolo are Congolese men who traveled from their home in the Democratic Republic of the Congo to Lesotho to participate in the VSAT training. They represent CEUM – a large, growing Christian church in the Congo and Central African Republic.

These are incredibly strong Christian men. Pastor Joséph is the head Pastor of a church of 1070 members with two weekly worship services, in French and Lingala (the local language). He primarily gives the French sermon, although he speaks both languages fluently. In fact he reads, writes, and speaks FIVE languages fluently. Pastor Thontwa is married with four children.

Emmanuel Swebolo is a Deacon in the church, and the head of the Missions Board. He speaks four languages, and is also married and has five children. Together with Pastor Thontwa he will travel into the jungles of the Congo for up to a month at a time, ministering to the Pygmy people. They take whatever transportation is required including car, boat, motorcycles, horses, even walking for days into the forests to reach these isolated people.

The dedication these men have to advancing God’s Kingdom within their home nation of the Congo is astounding. Currently they desire to expand their ministry by adding distance education for college level Bible courses. This will require installing VSAT satellite technology at four locations in the Congo. When the opportunity came for them to receive VSAT training in Africa they eagerly registered for the course, despite knowing the great lengths they would have to take to get to Lesotho.

I have learned it is difficult to get into or out of the Congo. The Congolese government is very restrictive when it comes to issuing passports and visas to leave the country. Prior to travel, these men were required to apply in person for visas 10 DAYS in advance. This meant a trip of 1000 km from their home in Gemena to the capital city of Kinshasa. Their first application was delayed (resulting in missed flights) but thankfully they were approved two days later. At this point they had already been away from home and family for two weeks and the VSAT course had not even started.

Arrival in Lesotho brought another challenge. Congolese people are not trusted by most governments in Africa, and cannot enter a country without a pre-issued visa. When I went to the airport to pick them up I was met by huge smiles from Pastor Joséph and Emmanuel and very angry words from the customs officer who felt their paperwork was not in order. He was not at all happy about letting these men into Lesotho without proper visas. Ultimately they were released into the country with a 72-hour permit and we had to purchase them an extension for R 400 (about $50 U.S.).

I want you to understand that Pastor Joséph and Emmanuel are intelligent, educated, dedicated individuals. Unfortunately, they do not understand English very well (their sixth and fifth languages, respectively) and this resulted in frustration and confusion during the VSAT course. Ultimately these men left Lesotho without achieving the full requirements for VSAT certification and will have to take an exam in the Congo the end of May. To add further defeat, travel hassles kept them from getting home until a full week after the training course had ended, the airline lost one of their bags, and they had money stolen in the market during a layover in the Congo. They were away from jobs and family for a full month and endured some pretty frustrating experiences and STILL cannot install the VSAT technology they so desperately want to implement in their home country.

Laura and I were so impressed by the dedication these men have. We had them to our home for lunch one afternoon during their stay and despite language barriers were able to talk about families and the work they are doing for God in their country – which has been ravaged by wars and poverty. It was again humbling to think of how easy our life is (even here!) and how much we still take for granted. These guys have such limited resources yet do whatever it takes to spread the Gospel and reach the lost people.

I have stayed in contact with Pastor Joséph and Emmanuel. Tomorrow morning (Monday, April 14) Pastor is riding a motorcycle 200km on “bad roads” to another town to teach bible courses for a week. Please join me in praying for these men, for their families, their growing Christian church, and that God would bless their work and use them as powerful tools in a country that is in pretty bad shape and needs the Hope and Love of Christ more than we can imagine. And specifically that He would grant them travel mercies as they go about their ministry and that He would enable them to complete the VSAT training so they can further spread the Gospel through technology.

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I know this was a very long post, thanks for reading if you stuck with me. Also thanks so much for your prayers and support of our family and now our friends in the Congo. If you want more information on these men or how you can send them words of encouragement please let me know.

Traig

Trunks

I just finished sorting through some of the kid’s clothing. Our housekeeper always puts the laundry away despite me telling her it is a great chore for the kids, and often times we find that the clothing is mixed up. I was thinking about how when we set out on this journey, I spent hours going through clothing determining what would go and what would stay. We had 15 trunks and I needed to be very deliberate in what I packed. Countless times I though, “How will I ever get 6 people’s things into these trunks?” , packing and repacking, we did it! Toys, some food, and clothing, 14 trunks ready for Africa-one was filled with computer parts that Traig needed to bring.

Now I am ashamed of the amount we brought here, even more ashamed to admit we brought clothes that we have not even worn. I have been in my housekeeper’s home-very nice compared to those around hers-two rooms. Everything she owns would fit into less than 15 trunks. Over the weekend, Traig visited the home of a man he has befriended. Daniel is his name and he has a wife who 6 days a week, works a 10 hour shifts in the Gap clothing factory here in town making about 29 rand a day (about 4 dollars). A loaf of bread is 4.50 rand, a half gallon of milk 15 rand, and a kg of bananas 8 rand. So that is what a day’s labor would get their family at the store. He has been without steady employment for about a year and he washes cars to make money. They have a beautiful son, Emmanuel, who is 2.

Daniel’s home was smaller than our kitchen, and we do not have a large kitchen. There was one shelf with a few blankets, a small closet that held all their clothing-2 shirts for Daniel and a dress and shirt for his wife. A make shift table in one corner and a bed, her kitchen was a hotplate on the table. I have struggled with not having water on and off since our arrival, they had no sink to have water run to. No toys, except a small stuffed dog that Noah gave Emmanuel shortly after we met them. I was getting a bag of tomatoes from our garden to send home with Daniel and Noah said he didn’t think that Emmanuel would like tomatoes, he though he would like a toy. He then went to his room and returned with one of his stuffed dogs. A real sacrifice for Noah as he only brought Cry Dog’s best friends to Africa, (Cry dog is Noah’s favorite toy).

Everything they owned would not have filled one of our trunks. I struggle justifying how I have lived my life for the past 31 years and how I have raised my children. I hope they remember what they are seeing all around them and that they can some how grow up in America without succumbing to materialism there. May they know now and always that happiness, joy and peace come from God, not all the things that we try to fill our lives with.

Grace and Peace to All, Laura

“Blessed are you who are poor, for yours is the kingdom of God. Blessed are you who hunger now, for you shall be satisfied. Blessed are you who weep now, for you shall laugh.”

Luke 6:20-22

Too Many Caskets...

Our recent posts on trips to the game park, the zoo, and the Indian Ocean have shown the more enjoyable aspects of being here in southern Africa. But unfortunately daily life in Lesotho can be a bit more depressing.

The past few days was a little tough on the MAF team. On Friday afternoon (March 28) the MAF hangar received 8 "Code-1" calls. These are emergency medical calls that come in by radio or cell phone (when available) from the mountain clinics and typically require a patient be flown from the mountains to Maseru so they can be admitted into the hospital. The situations can vary from sickness to pregnancy complications to severe injuries. Code-1 calls take priority over all other flights on the schedule.

Friday was a mix of medical emergencies including a 2 year old boy who was severely malnourished and sick. He was accompanied on the flight by a Baylor doctor (Baylor Medical School is working in the Lesotho mountains). Despite the doctor's efforts this little one passed away during the flight.

He was the first of four patients who have died since Friday's flights. Half of the patients from just that day's worth of Code-1 calls have not survived. Two of them were very young children.

When a patient is flown to Maseru for medical treatment and they pass away, MAF flies the casket back to the village for the funeral and burial. Seeing a casket in the hangar is usually not too alarming, but seeing the little ones for babies and children is tough to ignore. There just shouldn't be caskets that small...

I just got off the phone with Danny Hulls, one of our pilots who flew another Code-1 patient this afternoon (Wednesday, April 2). This call came in late today - after 4:00 PM - from the clinic in Manamaneng. A 19-year old male with stab wounds. Danny was alone on the return flight (no nurses chose to accompany the patient) when the young man died a few minutes after take off. Danny described to me how he put on gloves and tried to hold up this guy's head while he was throwing up and choking. How he saw him stop breathing and die alone in the back of the plane. How he attempted to do chest compressions with one hand (...while flying...) but with over 30 minutes to go in the flight there was little hope.

It was the second time in just a few days that a patient has died in Danny's plane - he was flying Friday afternoon when the little boy passed away. Danny has 2 little ones of his own. I cannot imagine how hard these flights are on him and our other pilots. It is tough enough for me to hear about the losses but these guys are right there behind the controls, praying for just a little more time so they can get the plane back on the ground and the patient into the ambulance.

We know there are many people back home praying for our family and the technical work I have come here to do. Please add to your prayers our pilots and their families as they deal with a growing number of emergency flights and the death they are seeing almost daily.

8 caskets this week and counting...

God Bless you and your families back home, please don't take your time together for granted.

Traig and Laura Friedrich

Sunshine, Sand, and Squid

We had a great Easter weekend in East London, South Africa at the Indian Ocean! The kids journaled about the trip and I wanted to include their writings in this blog!


Our Vacation to the Indian Ocean by Hannah Friedrich
For Easter we went to the Indian Ocean! We went shell hunting and we found beautiful shells. The sand was warm and soft on our toes. The ocean was salty and cold. The waves were big and strong. Thomas and I were belly surfing on the waves together. At our campsite there was a play ground we played at.

Thomas
Yesterday we went to the Indian Ocean. Me and Hannah went belly surfing and we went shell hunting and I almost died! There was a very big wave! It took me out! So I went back to the beach.

editors note: He did not almost die-I was about 2 feet away from him when the big wave hit! :)

Thomas also enjoyed lots of seafood including squid. None of us realized that squid is served (at least here) with the tentacles, body and head. The heads were served in little cups. He ate every bite and it has become his new favorite seafood.

Noah-spoken word:) What I like the best about the ocean was getting soaked and my next favorite part was making a sandcastle and my last favorite part was running up the big hills (sand dunes). What I didn't like about the ocean was, well, one time I was in the ocean and a big wave almost came and got me and I didn't like it, it wasn't very fun. Let me think here, um, about camping my first favorite one is animal safari, my second favorite part was seeing the giraffe, why do we call zebras zebras? My last favorite part of camping was going to the Indian Ocean. Thats all.
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The kids had a great time and so did Traig and I. Oceans always amaze me! We camped at a great campground that was inside a small game reserve. Ostriches roamed freely among the tents and we also had to navigate around giraffe to leave the park! The kids took a wagon ride to see the rest of the animals, zebras, wildebeests and bontebok and more giraffe and ostriches. We spent everyday at the ocean and enjoyed the sun. It was a very nice departure from life in Maseru which some days overpowers us. The extreme and desperate poverty surrounds us and is closing in on us more each day it seems. Until we left for the weekend, I had forgotten what it was like to not have someone begging for food and money as soon as we were in public.

Traig is STILL waiting for the poles that are the first step in the satellite dish installation. Each week we are promised this is the week they will come in and the weeks keep passing. That is our prayer request this week-please pray for 4 galvanized poles to arrive in Lesotho from South Africa. The solar installs are complete and the clinics are now waiting for the dishes. We had another waterless day today. I was keeping track of the days but they are piling up as quickly as the laundry! I hope this finds you all well and enjoying all the luxuries that we are so desperately missing right now-like the water :)

Grace and Peace, Laura

P.S. We are so excited to become aunt, uncle and cousins to the new baby Akland coming in September--Congratulations Amy and Jim!!!

Happy St. Patrick's Day

Happy St. Patrick’s Day! I write this surrounded by shamrocks and leprechauns that the kids made this morning. We had quite the time explaining what we were doing to our housekeeper, Me Augustina. She thought it all was very nice. Everything is either “nice” or “smart”. She had a very good weekend despite the fact Saturday she went to three funerals for people from her neighborhood. (I will use neighborhood as it sounds better than "shanty town".) All three AIDS deaths she said, one was for a mother who has a daughter and an infant granddaughter who are still living but both positive as well. The funeral director here dictates when funerals will be held, almost always on Saturdays, and sometimes because of the volume of funerals, it will be up to a month after the death before the body will be buried. Have we mentioned the nicest home in town belongs to the funeral director? After just 6 weeks here I can not believe how much the AIDS epidemic has impacted me-it is literally everywhere. Some friends of ours, Ben and Sara, have a nanny and the nanny’s husband just died of AIDS. They are purchasing the casket and the cow for the funeral. It is very rude to not serve your funeral guests a meat hence, the cow.

It is estimated that there are over 150,000 orphans in Lesotho, 100,000 of those because their parents died of AIDS. To think the entire country is barely 2.2 million people. Over the weekend, I went to a school where the Jewels of Hope program operates on Saturday mornings. The room had about 40 junior high/high school age kids, boys and girls, all orphans, at tables making jewelry. The objective of Jewels of Hope is:

“To reach out to orphans with the love of Jesus and give them hope; by discipling each one through the Word of God and empowering them with life skills towards a safe and secure future. By partnering with families, churches and organizations to provide a means of income generation for child-headed households and vulnerable children, that is both safe and legitimate, whilst the children are able to continue with their education. The income generation activities, together with mentoring and Christian discipleship, take place within a project setting that is provided and maintained by the partner organization, using support systems and methods developed by Jewels of Hope. This project setting is known within Jewels of Hope as a ‘network’.”

Each Saturday, the teens make jewelry and then it is sold, (they are in desperate need of more ways to distribute the jewelry). The money earned buys new beads to make more jewelry as well as pays them a monthly salary. There was a table of teen moms with babies on their backs, who were busy trying to earn their 150 rand—a little over 20 dollars-for the month. It is a minimal amount, but about 40% of the people in Lesotho make less than 1.00 a day, so for teenagers, they are doing ok. Plus it is a place where they receive other help. When we were there, we distributed over 40 pairs of shoes and baby blankets to the mommies there. Many of the kids are also caring for younger siblings and several of those siblings where there as well. These are children raising children and this program keeps them in school and gives them a means of support, both financial and emotional.

Please pray for all involved in keeping Jewels of Hoping operating, and all those caring for orphan’s world wide. There is a desperate need for help for these children and it all begins with prayer.

Grace and Peace, Laura

Suppose a brother or sister is without clothes and daily food. If one of you says to him, "Go, I wish you well; keep warm and well fed," but does nothing about his physical needs, what good is it?

James 2:15-1

Wildebeests, Eland and Ostriches... Oh My!

We had our first African wildlife experience over the weekend! We traveled a short 30 minutes across the border into South Africa to a small game reserve where we took a “self-guided” tour, that required 4 wheel drive on more than one occasion. The scenery was beautiful-the mountains amazing as usual. Thomas was in his glory telling us all about what we were seeing. There were only hoofed animals and ostriches at this particular park so we are still waiting for our chance to see lions and elephants and hippos in the wild.

Tomorrow is a Lesotho holiday—the King’s Grandfather’s birthday, so the whole country shuts down for the entire day so everyone can attend a celebration held at the football (soccer) stadium. Being that we aren't that close to the King or his Grandfather, we are going to head to Bloemfontein (in South Africa) to the zoo and to the Pick-n-Pay, a more reliable place to grocery shop.

Today Thomas came with me to the orphanage. He was so busy trying to hold every baby he could get his hands on! The kids are so great there-Hannah went last week-and it is fantastic to see them in that setting. The toddlers love to see them come in the room-today Thomas was about mauled at the door! He laughed so hard and got right down on the floor with them all and played and read books. Kids know how to play so much better than adults do!

Tonight we received our care packages from our Mt. View Baptist Church family—wow were we humbled. We had no idea that we would receive such an outpouring of goodies from home! Words cannot even describe how much we appreciate what was given. The mixer is a life saver as I am doing so much baking from scratch and until now was mixing everything by hand. I was so excited to use it that I immediately mixed up some pudding! It is so nice to have a little taste of home here where sometimes we feel a million miles away from everything we have known. God bless you all and know that you are in ours prayers as well.

Grace and Peace to all, Laura

My New Office

Hello friends and family! Sorry we are falling behind on our blog posts - we have been without Internet at home for 10 days and borrowing wireless Internet from the Vennell's (Tim and Tonya our MAF neighbors) is a challenge. Plus with me taking the VSAT training course this past week and helping coordinate the housing and meals for other international students in the course things have been pretty hectic here. Fun, but hectic.

Before losing our Internet I was planning to post some photos of my trip to the mountain village of Nohana on February 20. Nohana is the site of the first Partners In Health clinic in Lesotho and will be the first to receive a satellite dish for Internet access. The Internet will be used by the medical workers. For this visit I conducted a site survey to get the GPS coordinates of the installation site, select the ideal location for the dish itself, and make sure there were no obstructions that would affect a satellite dish installation. I also visited with the solar installation team who is going ahead of me to each site and installing the solar panels and batteries that will power the dish and related network gear.

As you can see from the photos below, Nohana is a beautiful place. The airstrip sits a couple hundred feet below the village so I had about a 15 minute hike to the clinic. I was able to spend 4 hours at the site and ate lunch with the solar team (and film crew shooting a documentary on solar power in the developing world -- could this be my big break?!?) before my trek back to the airstrip for my flight home to Maseru. It was a fantastic day in the mountains of Lesotho...















Currently we are waiting for mounting poles to be fabricated in South Africa and shipped to Maseru. Then we can start flying the rest of the satellite gear to Nohana and I will begin the installation. I am looking forward to this being my new office for a few days!

Traig