Sub­ject: Blog, July 25, 2010

TWINS AND THEIR FAMILY OF 10
 
On July 21st, the twins I told you about last week had to be tak­en back to the hos­pi­tal late in the afternoon.
Both had devel­oped severe nasal block­ages and were strug­gling to breath.
The hos­pi­tal refused to admit them, so I was told to pick them up and start them on liq­uid antibiotics.
By 8pm that night, Pas­tor Fred and I final­ly had the babies and grand­moth­er set­tled into their mud hut and the new drugs administered.
We got on our knees and prayed for God to spare the lives of these lit­tle ones.
With­out a mir­a­cle, I felt the lit­tle girl would not live the night.
The next morn­ing I found BOTH TWINS look­ing much bet­ter and breath­ing normally!
I KNEW GOD HAD ANSWERED OUR PRAYERS and was ECSTATIC!
Both twins are doing well at this time and the whole fam­i­ly of 10 kids, grand­moth­er, and fos­ter moth­er (all mus­lims) were pre­sent­ed to the church this morning.
They saw the mir­a­cle our God did and want­ed to know more about Him. PTL!
 
BALAMA MAMA says help! It’s rain­ing babies!
 
In the last 7 days we received the fam­i­ly of 10 orphans (two of them new­born twins weigh­ing only 4 lbs each).
On Fri­day, July 23rd, I sent Eric out to pick up a fam­i­ly of 5 orphans which includ­ed a 16 YEAR OLD orphan with her OWN TWINS!
They came to our mis­sion on Thurs­day after­noon, with a let­ter from Social Ser­vices say­ing they need­ed urgent help.
I guess so, since the 16 year old, very thin and ane­mic moth­er, was car­ry­ing two month old twins boys.
Agi­ri­na (Ah-jeh-ree-nah) told us her 8 year old sis­ter and two broth­ers, ages 4 and 3 were at their mud hut.
 
We gave her imme­di­ate food and sent her home in one of our trucks with all she needed.
I need­ed a day to get a house ready, so Eric and our min­istry team picked her up the next day.
Their hut is in sad condition.
 
The moth­er of these chil­dren died 3 years ago. Father died in 2008, so they went to live with an aunt who died in 2009.
A man mar­ried Agi­ri­na and she became preg­nant in Sept. 2009.
 Her hus­band refused to help her plant a field of corn and beans which is absolute­ly nec­es­sary for any fam­i­ly to sur­vive in Moz.
He aban­doned her in Decem­ber.  She had the twins ALONE in May, 2010.  Quite a feat for any woman, much less a 16 year old.
With only min­i­mum help from neigh­bors and her uncle, she has been the sole care­tak­er for her twin sons, as well as her sis­ter and brother.
They had only star­va­tion foods, so the entire fam­i­ly is ane­mic and bloated.
 
Now in a home we had just pur­chased and ren­o­vat­ed, this lit­tle moth­er has the help of a live in fos­ter moth­er from med­ica­tions online our church.
She looked so relieved to no longer be the only provider for her family.
 
Spon­sors are need­ed for this fam­i­ly, as Agirina’s ane­mia and poor health, means her breast milk can­not sup­port the twins.
They boys, Pedri­to (Peh-dree-two) 1 and Petri­to 2 need milk for­mu­la to sup­ple­ment their Mom’s breast milk.
 
Since the twins only need 1 can of baby for­mu­la every 5 days ($6/can), a spon­sor­ship of $30/month will sup­port both the twin boys at this time.
The lit­tle broth­ers also need spon­sors at $30/month/child.
 
Their pho­tos will be fea­tured in the next Bush Beat.
 
Con­struc­tion and Reha­bil­i­ta­tion is going full speed ahead with 5 work crews of brick lay­ers and car­pen­ters on the job.
The road crew are expect­ed to con­demn our orphan hous­es this com­ing week, so there is no time to lose in get­ting hous­ing ready for the orphans to move into.
 
I great­ly appre­ci­ate ALL OF YOUR PRAYERS and sup­port as we go through this dif­fi­cult time of change.
Bless­ings, Bush Bun­ny Brenda
Now known as the Bala­ma Mama!
 
 
 
 

July 18, 2010 BLOG

NEW ROAD WILL DESTROY 9 ORPHAN HOMES!
 
On Wed., July 14th, the Bala­ma gov­ern­ment informed me that the new high­way com­ing through Bala­ma till take out 9 of our 18 orphan houses.
This includes the con­crete brick dorm that hous­es our Jr. High and High School orphans. (A $10,000 loss)
 
This SHOCK WAVE rocked our mis­sion station.
I expect­ed to only lose 3 orphan homes and not until next year!
The Road Crew will be com­ing this week, July 19th, to tell us when we have to vacate.
More than 300 mud huts will be destroyed, so speed is of the essence if hous­ing or land is to be found before prices sky rocket.
 
Tak­ing imme­di­ate action, I sent 2 pas­tors into the neigh­bor­hood to find out what mud huts were for sale.
 
MIRACLES NEVER CEASE! J
 8 MUD HUTS are for sale with­in 300 yards of our mis­sion sta­tion. ($550-$600/hut)
Thanks to sev­er­al extra love gifts giv­en last month, we have enough to pur­chase these buy drugs with­out a pre­scrip­tion huts this week.
God is nev­er late.  He knew what was com­ing and pro­vid­ed before we even knew the need.
We PRAISE THE LORD and send our thanks to the donors who gave those gifts last month.
Your funds are at work.
 
As if this news wasn’t enough, anoth­er shock wave hits…
 
10 ORPHANS NEED IMMEDIATE HOUSING WITH US!
On Thurs­day, July 15th, Social Ser­vices sent us a grand­moth­er with 10 ORPHANS (includ­ed 8 day old twins).
With no food, no help, and only one small mud hut, she can’t cope.
One look at the twins, and we rushed them to the Bala­ma hos­pi­tal. The male twin was near death with diar­rhea and a res­pi­ra­to­ry infec­tion.  The female twin was look­ing ill also.
With no house to put them in, Cape­na, our project man­ag­er, orga­nized food for the 8 orphans, (7 under age 5 and one teenage boy), and then drove them back to their home vil­lage.  The vil­lage chief orga­nized neigh­bors to care for the chil­dren until we could pro­vide them a new home in Balama.
Grand­moth­er and a 2nd neigh­bor woman stayed to care for the twins in the hos­pi­tal.  As I write this, both twins are recov­er­ing in the hos­pi­tal and look­ing much perkier.
 
How did this happen?
A man with 2 wives had a total of 8 kids and the 2nd wife was preg­nant.  Late in 2009, the man and his first wife died, leav­ing the orphaned teenage boy and 4 chil­dren under age 5 with the grandmother.
Being a strong woman, she coped, but then the 2nd wife, preg­nant with twins, died the same day she gave birth.  This left grand­moth­er with new born twins and 3 more toddlers!
The hus­band was mus­lim, so the vil­lage mosque took up an offer­ing to buy a can of baby for­mu­la ($6) and a baby bot­tle ($1).  This was a BIG ges­ture from a vil­lage that has lit­tle income.
Grand­ma lacked edu­ca­tion in how to pre­pare the for­mu­la, so the male twin picked up a dead­ly type of diar­rhea that kills infants in less than a day.
It was a mir­a­cle that they both didn’t have diar­rhea as they ate from the same bottle.
By God’s grace, the twins were saved because neigh­bors brought them to us the same day the twins got sick.
 
MIRACLE HOUSING:   A lot with 2 mud huts and a $700 tag, was locat­ed with­in 200 yards of our mis­sion station.
With the emer­gency reserve funds which your love gifts pro­vide, we pur­chased these 2 huts that day.  With a few improve­ments, the 7 tod­dlers will be able to move in with a fos­ter moth­er this week.
Spon­sors are need­ed to help us care for these 7 lit­tle ones at $30/month/child.
Pho­tos will be pro­vid­ed to each sponsor.
The twins will need milk for­mu­la and an addi­tion­al fos­ter mother’s care for the next year.  TWO spon­sors are need­ed at $50/month.
 
Please feel free too write.
I’ll keep every­one updat­ed and answer ques­tions via this blog.
Blessings,
Bush Bun­ny Brenda