Seeking prayer and support

Spring has arrived!  As I write this it is just about the end of the third marking period at the school where I teach, and my students are all abuzz with their plans for the summer.  Although there’s still a whole quarter of the school year remaining, I can sympathize.  I, too, am already thinking about summer, which for me this year means a return to the Kingdom of Swaziland.

We will once again distribute clothing, food, and medical supplies in the various villages where we have done so in the past.  This year the distribution work is more urgent than ever, since there has been a severe drought in Swaziland that has badly hurt the local economy.  

This year I also plan to extend my stay a week so that I can spend some one-on-one time with my African “son” Mancoba, who works with an organization called One Heart Africa in Swaziland and neighboring Mozambique.  I look forward to meeting his family and visiting Mozambique for the first time. 

As the trip activities take shape, I’ll let you know more. You can follow my blog or Twitter; the addresses are printed below.  If you’d like to be added to my email list, reply in the comments below and I'll add you.

I would deeply appreciate your prayers as I prepare to go.  A few specific prayer requests are:  

1. finishing out the school year  
2. raising support for the trip  
3. traveling, including long plane/bus rides and at least seven border crossings  
4. spiritual and emotional preparations  
5. for my wife while I am away for three weeks  
6. the building and maintaining of relationships in Africa  
7. that I would put God first in all these endeavors!

If you are willing to contribute to my support needs this year, you may make a check out to Bridge Community Church with “M. Sander-Swaziland 2016” in the memo line.  You can also donate online at www.swazilandrelief.org

This year I also created the little tcard below.  I boldly hope that it will find its way onto some of your refrigerators, bulletin boards, or perhaps into your summer reading books to remind you to pray for me, the Swaziland Relief summer team, and for the kingdom of Swaziland.

Thanks for reading my blog, and thanks in advance for your prayers and support.

The Drought Emergency in Swaziland is now "Official"

The Kingdom of Swaziland has been experiencing record drought this year, the worst in nearly four decades.  Our partners in Swaziland spoke openly of the drought and the problems it would bring when we were there last summer.  Everyone has known that this emergency existed and was only going to get worse.  Except, apparently, the government.  

Now everyone knows.

On Wednesday of this past week, the Prime Minister officially declared a drought emergency.  This means that the Kingdom of Swaziland will now designate significant funds for drought mitigation.  However, there is concern about where the money will come from, and how effectively the government will tackle the problem.

Today in the Times of Swaziland this opinion article ran entitled Siyabonga but ...  ("siyabonga" translates to "we thank you").  Like many other articles on the subject, the gist is that, while it is nice that the government has acknowledged the crisis, they are late to the party and much damage that might possibly have been avoided has been done.

The photo below shows a man inspecting his decimated cattle herd in southeastern Swaziland, not far from Nsubane, which we visited last summer (see this map of last summer's trip)

What makes the picture all the more tragic is that cattle do not merely represent his livelihood, but his store of wealth.  In traditionally pastoral societies, owning cattle is like having money in the bank.  They can also potentially increase one's wealth (by calving).  The death of so many cattle is like what a stock market crash or a bank failure would be here:  people suddenly losing all of their savings with no way to recover it.

As of this moment, we are pleased to say that the well at the BCMC primary school in Madudula is still operational, and the school is still open.  Many schools had to close, at least temporarily, so that latrines could be dug.  Flush toilets were not an option in the current water shortage.  (Our school was already using latrines.)  

Please pray for this crisis.  Pray for rain in Swaziland.  The forecast for this week is hopeful (see below), but a lot of rain is needed to overcome the dryness that has already occurred.

Please also pray for the government and its leaders, that they will (finally) address this crisis and manage it wisely.

Niyabonga kakhulu!  ("Thank you greatly!")

-Mduduzi

A photo of our introductory meeting ...

Swaziland Relief 10th summer team

Hello everyone. 

Today marked a milestone in the work of Swaziland Relief.  We held an introductory meeting for the 2016 Swaziland Relief summer team.  This year is a milestone because it markes the 10th summer team. 

Please pray for Swazi people as even now they are facing a severe drought that is crippling their agriculture and cattle herds.  I also ask that you begin to pray for the members of this year's team.

Thanks and God bless you!

The Imbalance of Giving

Happy New Year!

Following Christmas this year I got to thinking a great deal about the magi, those "wise men from the east" who visited Jesus bearing gifts of gold, myrrh, and frankincense, as told in Matthew 2:1-12.  

Here's why:  

My nephew bought his mom a very expensive present this year for Christmas, on his own initiative, and with his own money which he had been saving to purchase a gaming console.  It was an extravagant gift, but I did not try to dissuade him.  I knew my sister was buying him a pretty extravagant gift as well.  Also, someone who learned about his gift to his mom bought him the gaming console anonymously.  It was sitting under the tree when my extended family gathered for Christmas dinner.  (Dear sister and nephew, if you are reading this hoping to find out who is responsible for buying the PS4, my answer is the same as it was on Christmas:  Santa Claus!)

The whole situation has made me think about extravagant gifts.  And also the inherent imbalance of giving.  

If one person transfers money to another person in exchange for goods, that is a purchase.

If one person transfers money to another person in exchange for services, that is a wage.

If two people exchange goods or services of equal value, that is a trade.

If one person receives goods or services from another where some recompense is expected in the future, that is a debt.

In each of these cases, some kind of balance exists or is expected.

But giving is inherently imbalanced.  A gift is some good or service transferred from one person to another without the expectation of recompense.  

Going back to the story of the wise men, you can see the connection.  They entered the house where Jesus was with his mother, and presented them with costly gifts.  Gold, frankincense, and myrrh.  It must have been staggering for Mary; the gifts of the magi constituted more wealth than she had ever seen before.  Certainly she could not hope to balance the gift.  

How do we respond when we receive extravagant gifts?  I think there are two reactions that are common, quite understandable, and nevertheless wrong.

One reaction is to refuse the gift.  "Oh, I can't accept that!"  "You really shouldn't have."

A second reaction is to look to create balance.  This is especially so when someone has done something for you, like help you move.  (I've had lots of people tell me that they "owe me one" after I have helped them move.  Some of my friends owe me two.  I probably won't ever collect.  But I am not looking to.  There's an imbalance of giving when helping people move.)

Of course, there is a twist to the story of the magi and the imbalance of their giving.  Although they could not possibly understand it at the time, they were laying treasure before the King of the universe!  The extravagance of their gifts pale in comparison to the gift of God that is salvation through Christ (Ephesians 2:8).  

Many people refuse this gift.  It seems too extravagant.  They either believe they do not need it or do not deserve it (in the second case, they are correct, but "deserving" has nothing to do with receiving a gift!  "Deserve" is a term related to balancing the books.)  

And certainly we know we can never repay it.  The grace of God is the ultimate gift, and the ultimate example of the imbalance of giving.

There's only one proper response to an extravagant gift.  It should be received with thankfulness, and the recipient should owe nothing except to love (Romans 13:8). 

That reminds me of a song, so I will leave you with this:

July 11 - a "sports day" in Madudula

One of the most important aspects of our annual trips to Swaziland is the building and maintaining of relationships with the local churches.  They are our hosts, our partners, and our friends; people we have worked alongside, in some cases, since 2007.  In pursuit of the goal of relationship-building, the past 2 years we have scheduled a recreational "sports day" in Madudula, for which all of the churches gather and compete in races and games.

The USA did not field a soccer team this year; the less said about our previous soccer teams, the better.  Suffice it to say that I was eligible to play again, because apparently the red card for dangerous play does not carry over from previous years.  Nonetheless, I did not come out of retirement to play this year.

The races were fun to watch.  There were separate divisions set up by age and sex.  The most interesting race to watch was the older women; I wish I had taken a photo of the bogogo (grandmothers) dashing across the field, but alas, I did not have my camera at the ready.  

Of course, where there is sport there is injury.  Two of our men pulled hamstrings during their races.  I got some pretty nice pictures of the injuries as they happened (not nice that it happened, but a well-captured shot of the action).

I also captured some interesting photos of the races as they finished, including one of team member Antwan winning by a finger ...

...  and the grin of a victorious pastor Themba Fakudze as his team defeated the US team in the 4x4 relay.  That was quite a race to watch.  Our 2nd runner was out in the lead when he stumbled and fell.  In a move that became a living parable, he got up and continued his race!  He actually made up some of the ground he lost and passed our teams baton on to the number 3 runner.  He gave us a picture of perseverance in the face of difficulty, and finishing the race!  Another living parable was when our 3rd runner passed the baton to our anchor man, his son.  

Two other new and interesting things I saw that day were the library at the school in Madudula, and the playground.  Both of these were the work of a Peace Corps worker who has been in Swaziland for the past year.  She was an invaluable help to us in communicating with the school.  She's back in the US now, but her legacy will live on in Madudula.

July 10 - spending a day in "Jersey"

On Friday, July 10th the Swaziland Relief team journeyed to another remote location where we had never gone before.  As was the case with Phangwini, I didn't know the name of the place until the day we actually headed there, so for purposes of identification (and in place of calling it "the place where we are going Friday) I dubbed this region "Jersey."

The name of the place is actually Nsubane, and it lay to the southeast in the shadow of the Lubombo plateau, which forms Swaziland's eastern border. 

There was no discernible village, just a few buildings including one small grocery and one general merchandise store.  The place was quite desolate.  There was evidence of the drought conditions that Swaziland is facing in the dusty fields bereft of any remaining grass and in the skinny cows that still attempted to graze on what meager plants remained.

In spite of the desolate conditions of the land, the people we met in Nsubane were joyous and welcoming.  I have often remarked that when we travel to the various regions in Swaziland, we are greeted "like rock stars."  Let me show you what I mean.  When our truck and vans pulled up to the building at Nsubane where we were going to be holding our clinic and distribution, we were greeted by a half dozen (or more) women who were dancing with joy!

Once we unloaded we followed our typical routine of setting up the clinic and the distribution.  Again we had a yellow and white circus tent to use for the distribution, and a cinderblock structure that housed the clinic.  We used one of our 22 passenger vans as the back "wall" of our distribution center, see the picture with the "shoe department" ready for action.  I also took a shot of our nurse Katie and our "pharmacist" Jason looking out of the clinic window toward the Lubombo plateau in the distance.

Before beginning the distribution and clinic, we held a service.  Pastor Angelo preached a powerful message of God's love and hope, and over 20 people came forward to receive Christ at Bishop Nelson's invitation.  The picture shows the people who came forward being prayed over by Pastor Harry Washington of Vision of Mission Tabernacle church in Philadelphia.

There were no other buildings nearby and no shelter handy from the intense sun (the sun is quite hot in Swaziland, even in winter), so we improvised for the prayer chapel by moving our other 22 passenger van to the side of the clinic building and placing chairs in the shade of the van for our chapel.

I spent most of my time in the prayer chapel in Nsubane (when I wasn't taking all these pictures).  Many people came for prayer for healing, blessing, encouragement, and protection.  One of the most moving moments was when a woman brought her son who was suffering from some kind of paralysis or weakening of his body (I'm not going to pretend to diagnose).  Each member of the prayer team took a turn holding this boy and praying for him.  Here is a picture of Pastor Van holding the boy.  You can also see his mother holding him in the photo with Pastor Harry praying (pink shirt and red skirt in the foreground).

I prayed for his healing, knowing that God can heal by medicine and by miracles.  He did not rise and walk that day, but I still have hope that he will rise and walk some day, if not on this earth, then in the world that is to come.