| FROM “BUSH BUNNY BRENDA“ DATE: OCTOBER 16, 2021 BABIES? NOT ANY MORE! I was shocked as I exited my King Cab pick-up to see 3 of our “now walking babies” come RUNNING to the fence to greet me. Little Fatima’s Foster Mother, Cecelia, was nearby so I asked her, “Did I just see Fatima RUN to the fence?” Cecelia shook her head yes, saying “It is her favorite speed now!”  L to R. Adelaide, Julho, Fatima, and Maezinha with “big Sister, Anna” standing behind them. Little Maezinha was another surprise, as it was the first time I had seen her move so quickly. Sorry I didn’t catch it on video, but these little tykes are FAST! I think I will set up a baby race to see who is the fastest in each age group! Will show you the fun when I am able to make it happen. A CHICKEN CHRISTMAS No goat feast this year as we had to make the difficult decision last month to sell the 20 breeding age females we had left due to a lack of good grass this year. We had no males that were eating size, so our “girls” and their young went to a breeding farm in the county south of us. We couldn’t get new breeding stock as goats are nonexistent in our county. The local market sells goat only 1 day a week now, and the price/kg is more costly than frozen chickens. FROZEN CHICKENS are the obvious menu this year, so we will need at least 16 of them to feed our ever-growing family of 160! A plump 2.2 lbs./1kg chicken sells for $8/R112.  Yeah! We need chickens for Christmas! With the chicken and fixings, our party will cost around $350. Deboned chicken with fancy rice will be this year’s menu. Toys are available, but have a $10 price tag on them. I’d love to give the 60 older children a shopping trip if enough toy donations are possible. We’ll organize the under 5‑year-olds with age appropriate gifts. Thank you for anything you can give towards our Christmas Party. DYNAMIC DUO FROM RSA Jessica and Stephanie are close friends who desire to give me a helping hand in November. Stephanie has a missionary heart, and has wanted to come play with our children ever since we met at an RSA BBQ in March.  Jessica Christie  Stephanie Nolen Jessica I have known since she was an infant in arms. Her mother, Shiona, became my best friend as she was my volunteer shopper for my groceries when I first went into Mozambique in 1991. Our supplies were flown in to our remote area, thus the need for someone to buy and box our grocery list each 6 weeks for the plane. It is a thrill to have both of them coming here, as they plan a real Thanksgiving Dinner for me since I haven’t had one in the 31 years I’ve been in this country. GOD IS GREAT, ALL THE TIME. BLESSINGS BUSH BUNNY BRENDA LANGE AND THE BALAMA STAFF |
Monthly Archives: October 2021
BUSH BUNNY BRENDA BLOG: OCTOBER 9, 2021
| FROM “BUSH BUNNY BRENDA“ DATE: OCTOBER 9, 2021 REGINALDA COMES HOME! Tuesday, we were blessed to have BABY REGINALDA released from the hospital after a 12 day stay due to malaria which caused serious anemia. Seven months old, but weighing only 4.7kg/10.3 lbs., this infant was in serious danger. Malaria destroys red blood cells, so if an infant is borderline anemic, which she was, then malaria can wipe out her blood supply very quickly. A transfusion on her 2nd day in hospital, and lots of prayer, gave her the force she needed to fight back.  REGINALDA on Tuesday, happy to he home. She now has a sponsor, PTL! Our objective is to provide Reggie a high protein diet (Hypo high protein cereal), that will build her immune system and help her gain weight as she is far behind the “norm” for her age. Plz keep her covered in prayer as she continues to regain her health. BABY CHEBANE MAKING HIS MOVE! Two months ago, Chebane, now 9kg/19.8 lbs., was in the same fragile state with low body weight, just as REGINALDA is now. I wanted to show you what loving care, your prayers, and a high protein diet does for these infants. THIS LITTLE MAN IS A “JOSHUA GENERATION ” KID FOR SURE! Baby Chebane 60 days after starting a high protein diet. https://youtu.be/pxzlGFlsv8o OCTOBER MEANS HUNGER TO MANY Wednesday was especially busy as that is the time when we distribute food to our 7 foster homes. In addition, Social Services sent us 2 families of newly orphaned children who are badly malnourished. Ten people in all. September to November is hot and dry with little food able to grow. That is why we concentrate our county wide food distributions in those months. Malnourished children need up to a year of a constant high protein diet to fully recover. Malnourished children are placed in our year-round food program distributed every Thursday at our Balama Center to orphans living with their grandparents in local villages.  Granny Delfina with her 5 grandchildren ages 1 to 9 years. Granny Delfina in this photo just lost her “single mom” daughter in the Balama hospital, leaving 5 malnourished children behind. Thankfully, this grandmother lives only 6 km/3.6 miles into the Bush from our mission. Granny Delfina’s husband will be able to fetch their weekly food using a bicycle for transport. The 2nd family is not so fortunate as they live about 30km/18 miles into the Bush. A neighbor brought this granny into Social Services on his motorbike with only the youngest of the 3 orphans. This severely malnourished 2‑year-old received malaria treatment at the hospital that morning, so we fed them a nutritious lunch before they left for home. YOUR LOVE GIFTS AT WORK, for these are the hunger months that plague the innocent when they lose their parents. THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR MAKING THEIR RESCUE POSSIBLE. BLESSINGS, BUSH BUNNY BRENDA LANGE AND THE BALAMA STAFF |
BUSH BUNNY BRENDA BLOG: OCTOBER 2, 2021
| FROM “BUSH BUNNY BRENDA“ DATE: OCTOBER 2, 2021 “ON FIRE” PASTORS REAPING A HARVEST At the end of each month, our 14 remote Village Pastors converge on our Balama mission station to report what has happened in the last 30 days. End of September completed the 3rd quarter of this year, meaning it was food distribution time for these men who receive a quarterly food allowance, thanks to a generous donor.  Half the Village Pastors with their food gifts behind them. The purpose? All these men are farmers, but raising enough food to feed your family throughout the year is a full-time job, leaving little time for the Lord’s work.  The other half of our Pastoral group. FYI: October is peak dry season when little grows due to a lack of water. This is why our food distribution to orphans from August to November is so vital to the orphaned and vulnerable children we assist. PASTORAL QUARTERLY REPORT Salvations: Children: 653 Teenagers: 252 Adults: 171 Healings: 5 Includes 1 blind man who began to see after prayer, and 1 Witch Doctor whose leg injury healed up after prayer. All medical help had failed. 1 Witch Hut was burned in Namara after a different Witch Doctor and her family came to the Lord. Yes, most Witch Doctors in our area are women. THANK YOU FOR SUPPORTING US, SO OUR TEAM CAN CONTINUE SHARING THE LOVE OF JESUS WITH EVERYONE THEY MEET. FYI: Our churches are now open with a limit of 50 inside at a time. Outdoor meetings, which we prefer, can have up to 100 present. BUSH BUNNY TIDBITS: 1. BABY REGINALDA remains in hospital with an unknown infection after doing so well the first 2 days after being transfused. PLEASE KEEP HER IN YOUR PRAYERS, for she is a fighter who needs a miracle from our Lord.  Alferes (above) is now back at work after 5 days off from a grand mal seizure. 2. ALFERES is back to work, helping a friend build an auto mechanics shop. I am proud of both him and Elizio, a 20-year-old orphan who was raised by his grandmother while living in one of our upgraded mud brick homes. Elizio now totally cares for his grandmother, who is very feeble and unable to cope without assistance.  Elizio hard at work in his new job as assistant bricklayer. Both young men learned by “doing”. Our brick layers took them on as apprentices while building house #7. Now they work as bricklayers at an outside job, under the supervision of a master bricklayer. YOUR LOVE GIFTS ARE REAPING A HARVEST! THANK YOU FOR MAKING THIS POSSIBLE. Blessings, BUSH BUNNY BRENDA LANGE AND THE BALAMA STAFF |