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The Nation of Orphans

June 7, 2010 in Across Our World, Swaziland with 2 Comments

Swaziland, located in South Africa has the highest rate of HIV/AIDS in the world, giving it the name

‘Nation of Orphans’

Swaziland’s general population in 2005 was 1.3 million. In 2009 the population fell to 900,000.

Nation of Orphans

There are between 120,000-150,000 orphans, which is appx. 14% of the population, expected to rapidly increase in the next two years to well over 200,000 orphans.

Much of this is due to the HIV/AID epidemic. HIV infection rate is at 44.6%. Statistics say that 70% of kids will be HIV+ by the age of 15! If you are 15, your chance of reaching 30 years old is only 6%.

I read that in the year 2020, it is expected that no adults will be left in Swaziland. Swaziland has the lowest life expectancy in the world– 28 years old.

“Pure and faultless religion is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress.”

James 1:27

Photo Courtesy of Dan Fellner; www.fellnertravel.com

May Moms4Change be a symphony of voices with compassionate hearts & hands, who will stand in the gap  for a Nation of Orphans. A Nation of Orphans that cry out for their basic human needs to be met – food, water, education, and medical treatment that they may fight against the death of their children, families & country.

Do you hear their cries? I pray that today you hear & say, “YES! I’ll be the one to help! I’ll be the voice that cries out with you to those who can make a difference. I will stand in the gap for you, Swaziland.”

Shine On Sisters!

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Finally! UN Outlaws Child Abuse

May 28, 2010 in Across Our World, Europe, Russia, Swaziland with 0 Comments

Please take time to read this brief, but informative article via Tom Davis’ Blog & Childrens HopeChest.

Too Many Children in our World Suffer Appalling Abuse

Today, the UN outlawed abuses inflicted on children including prostitution, pornography, and the sale of children. I don’t know why this took so long, but good for them. It’s good to see world leadership stepping up and doing their part to protect kids from abusers.

What if the church stepped up to do something radical? What if the church said, “If there are any children in the world in danger of being exploited sexually or trafficked, we will take them in. We’ll find families. No questions asked.”

That’s the kind of Acts 2 love and sacrifice that would change the world.

New York — The United Nations on Tuesday launched a major campaign for universal adoption of treaty protocols that outlaw the sale of children, child prostitution and pornography, and protect youngsters in armed conflict, with Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon calling for full ratification by 2012.

“The sad truth is that too many children in today’s world suffer appalling abuse,” he told a ceremony at the headquarters of the UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) in New York, marking the tenth anniversary of the adoption of the two optional protocols strengthening the Convention on the Rights of the Child by providing a moral and legal shield for youngsters vulnerable to prostitution and pornography or caught up in armed conflict.

“Two-thirds of all member states have endorsed these instruments. On this tenth anniversary of their adoption, I urge all countries to ratify them within the next two years.”

Mr. Ban cited recent advances: the release three months ago by the Maoist army in Nepal, under UN supervision, of more than 2,000 soldiers who had been recruited as children; the UN-assisted freeing of children from the ranks of armed groups In Côte d’Ivoire; the prosecution by the International Criminal Court (ICC) of former Congolese militia leader, Thomas Lubanga for war crimes against children.

He noted, too, that fewer and fewer states now permit children to join the armed forces and reiterated his previous calls to the Security Council to consider tough measures on those states and insurgent groups that still recruit children. From AllAfrica.com.

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San Jose CA… Extinct by 2050?

May 11, 2010 in Across Our Street, Across Our World, Swaziland with 2 Comments


San Jose, CA Population just under 940,000

San Jose.

The 3rd largest city in California.

Know anyone who lives there?
Imagine in 40 years from now all the people who call

San Jose their home are dead.

All 939,899 of them.*

Not because of an earthquake, but from preventable disease & poverty.

40 years.

What would you do to save San Jose’s people?

~~~~~~~~~

Photo Courtesy of Dan Fellner; www.fellnertravelinfo.com

In Swaziland, Africa

this is a REALITY.

Right now.

According to the UN statistics

By the year 2050,

the entire population of Swaziland could be dead.

900,000

Literally Dead.

Wiped off the face of the earth by

famine, disease & crimes against its children.**

What WILL you do to save Swaziland’s people?

Let’s be the HOPE to this dying country.

~~~~~~~~

Now obviously I have stretched this comparison for all it’s worth. I hope you hear my heart behind comparing two completely different cultures.

More important than cultural differences is the paramount similarity:

HUMANITY

We are all human beings deserving of safety, love, education, health care, and a future for our children. I admonish you to let that soak in. We are one with the Swazi people.

Awareness is needed. Workers are needed. Teachers are needed. Funds are needed. There’s not time to say, “somebody else will do it.”

It’s time to be awakened from our comfortable slumber and reach out with all we have (and compared to them, we have a lot), and give in whatever way possible.

Don’t allow yourself to be burdened with guilt so that you harden your heart and close your eyes.

So today, all I’m asking from you is this: Think. Take a few minutes to read further statistics below about the Swazi people, whose hope is quickly dying without the world stepping in to help them.

A crazy thing happens when we think ~ we start to question. We start to get upset because of the injustice. We start to FEEL other people’s pain & suffering. And watch out, because when we start to FEEL, we become passionate & moved (no one is guilting us) with active compassion.

Allow the fact that an entire civilization could be dead in your lifetime, to penetrate your conscience and soften your heart towards change. It’s not a popular topic, trust me, to talk about people across the world that we’ve never met. But when did doing what’s popular get us anywhere?

SOS {Shine On Sisters!}

*Report taken from 2007 Top 50 Cities in USA

**This post contain even more alarming facts & statistics The Nation of Orphans

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Twins Stadium Builder Moves to Africa

April 26, 2010 in Across Our Street, Across Our World, Swaziland with 0 Comments

Just goes to show you can have the respect of your peers, be successful, make a name for yourself, but when it comes down to it, your heart can still be empty and LONGING to impact lives! That’s how the man that built the new Twins Stadium felt. What’s fantastic is he & his wife are DOING something to make that dream a reality! That’s what I call a GRAND SLAM!!!

Twins Stadium Builder Moves to Africa

We are all called to do different things with our lives. But do you think you could ever sacrifice, sell it all, give up the so-called American dream for the greater good of others?

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An Orphan Spirit, Part Two

April 16, 2010 in Across My Heart, Across Our Table, Across Our World, Swaziland with 0 Comments

If you haven’t read my last post, please do so. It is Part One of the story.

For those that have them, this is a typical Swazi home

Redemption. Deliverance. Rescue. Don’t we long for it? God brought redemption to me, a little girl missing her Daddy, in a form I didn’t expect.

My Mom remarried an incredible man, whom I’ll refer to as Lee. Lee, I don’t think could’ve loved me more if I had been his biological daughter.

Seriously. He never once called me his step-daughter. I was his. He was mine. And nobody better say differently! His tender heart softened mine so that I let him into my world and heart. In fact, it was with Lee that I first saw the Save The Children Infomercials on Sunday afternoons.

I kid you not, every single week, every single show he could not keep from crying when he stared into those little black African eyes. His compassion astounded me. He made me realize these are REAL kids. They need food! They need parents! He & my mom gave their support to Save The Children whenever they could. Redemption.

So yeah, I identify with the Orphan Spirit, but even more so I identify with REDEMPTION. I’ve experienced both & I can tell you that through the years, my void of loneliness & fear was replaced by ONE man letting Jesus soften his heart to children – both to me and to children he’d never met.

I want to tell you that I did find & contact Steele when I was in my mid-twenties. Honestly, I can’t even remember how I found him. I wanted him to know I forgave him & I had lived a good life. Ultimately, there was no redemption for me personally. Hopefully there was for him.

It is because I identify with this Orphan Spirit and experienced redemption in my own life that I feel so passionately for the children in Swaziland whom I know have been abandoned and left to themselves. I sense a small measure of their heartache.

And I know there are other moms that can make a difference, whose hearts have been broken, who are willing to be the voice crying out on their behalf, who want to reach across our world to help a child in need of love.

These are  the children who have been orphaned because disease and famine have stolen their parents. Can you imagine being that parent, knowing you are dying, having to leave your little kids to fend for themselves? This happens everyday across our world. Swaziland’s population is currently around 900,000. Of that 900.000, over 150,000 are ORPHANS!

These kids in Swaziland need someone – a Mom – to give them some hope of being loved, adored & cared for. To let them know they ARE worth being loved & they do belong to someone who cares about them. We all may not be able to go to them physically but we can sponsor them, send notes of love and pray for them to know God’s love. One person choosing to love, made all the difference in my life.

God is in the redemption business… and so am I!!!!

Orphans being fed at one of the CarePoints

If you wish to find out more about sponsoring an orphaned child in Swaziland, please email me at danielle.moms4change@gmail.com, or leave me a comment saying you want to help and we’ll find a way!  I know specifically of 3 children who had previously had sponsors who now are in need again.

Keep lovin’ Moms!

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Beveni Video

April 14, 2010 in Across Our World, Swaziland with 0 Comments

please take 3 minutes to watch this video.

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Africa Bound

April 13, 2010 in Swaziland with 6 Comments

I just want to briefly share some great news.

One of the main reasons I started blogging was/is to share my journey from a global missions spectator to a vital participant in serving our world’s children who can not serve themselves. I’ve just received word that I’ve been given an opportunity to serve them hands on (not just on the keyboard!).

There is a group traveling to the Beveni Carepoint in Swaziland, Africa in late September. In speaking with the director of that Carepoint, there will be room for my husband & I to both go as well! The ministry with which we are associated is Children’s HopeChest, which has set up Carepoints all across South Africa, to care for orphaned children in the surrounding areas. They currently assist near 4,000 children with food, clothing, shelter if needed, and education. Our little Swazi girl, Siphiwe is being helped at the Beveni Carepoint, so that means we will most likely get to meet her, hug her, love on her, HANDS ON!!!!! :)

So I invite you to come on the journey with me through this blog. I’ll be sharing the preparatory highs & lows that are sure to come in the next few months until the September missions trip. And I, of course will be sharing with you the trip itself & the impact being made across the world!!!! Who knows it might just inspire you 4 change!

To find out more about Childrens HopeChest, please see the link on my blogroll.

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Love from Africa

April 9, 2010 in Swaziland with 0 Comments

We were so surprised when this card came all the way

from Swaziland shortly before Christmas.

Siphiwe colored it herself & wrote on the inside!

What a precious gift, to know Siphiwe who has lost so many family members to AIDS, is struggling to survive, has very little hope for a bright future here on earth would write, “I will pray for you everyday.” I am humbled to know that this little angel is praying for me.

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A Beautiful Young Lady

April 8, 2010 in Swaziland with 0 Comments

Siphiwe is being cared for body, soul & spirit through the Beveni Carepoint in Swaziland

Siphiwe is a Swahili name which means, “we have been given.” And yes, we have been given a beautiful gift in Siphiwe. This is a gift I want to treasure & not forget about just because she is thousands of miles away. She is 10 years old and lives in the region of Manzini, Swaziland with 7 other children/orphans. She has lost both parents to AIDS. It is not known if she herself is HIV positive but we continue to pray for her protection & health regardless.

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