| FROM “BUSH BUNNY BRENDA“ DATE: APRIL 15, 2023 A PASSLE OF PRESCHOOLERS! What do you get when making 7:30 a.m. visits to the children’s homes? A PASSLE OF PRE-SCHOOLERS wanting a ride!  A Passle of Happy Preschoolers! To these little ones, there is nothing better than asking Mama Brenda for a ride in her King Cab. It’s a short 400 yards/meters to the pre-school, and I go very slowly, so they enjoyed a whole 5 minutes of “riding the road” before their daily fun time. They are growing up quickly, as every one of these children came here as infants. Our Bakers Dozen (13), the fast-growing 1‑year-olds, will soon be taking their place. Heaven only knows how I will get all of them into my double cab when they start pre-school. Guess they will have to learn to take turns! That will be a challenge for sure. HOW DO YOU FORGET A 4 YEAR OLD? Seems it’s not difficult when the responsible person doesn’t double check the area. Tomacina, age 4, was forgotten by her Uncle at our Thursday food give out this week. In the 15 years we have been distributing food at our mission base, we have never had a family member forget a child they brought with them. With a hungry little girl on our hands, I presented her with food and a water bottle, which put a big smile on her face. We waited for 2 hours before taking action, as we thought surely the Uncle would return for her. When he didn’t, we took her to our office where she finally remembered she was from Namara Village. Capena called those in Namara whom he knew but found no one who knew the little girl. She didn’t know any family member’s names, so that added to the problem. Fortunately, the village chiefs were in town for a meeting, so Social Services used their influence to get the Namara Chiefs out of the meeting, hoping they could identify her. Praise the Lord that one of the chiefs knew her! He gladly went with our staff in our Land Cruiser to show our driver the way to her mud hut. Our driver reported upon his return that the Uncle thought she had left with a friend from the same village who had brought his children with him. The Uncle never thought to check the area, so the result was one little girl in tears when she realized she had been left behind.  Tomacina back with her Granny and siblings in Namara Village. Praise Jesus, it all ended well! Tomacina was reunited with her family after 6 hours of turmoil. Our staff will do their best in future to be more watchful of the little ones, making sure they all leave with whom they came with. FIX-IT TIME, AS THE RAINY SEASON FADES OUT We’ve had more sunny days in the last week than we’ve had all rainy season, put together. It was a JOY! So on Friday the 14th, I closed the playground, and had our carpenters and brick layers do all the small fix it jobs that were needed to keep the playground equipment safe. The major job was the 2 swing sets that years of swinging kids and weather had worn out. It now has new supporting beams that in 7 days will be ready for use. Have to give the cement pillars a chance to dry and harden before they receive the stress of lots of happy kids swinging to their hearts delight!  Bricklayers cement-in the new swing mounting beams. WE LIVE AS A BLESSED FAMILY BECAUSE YOU CARE. THANK YOU FOR ALL YOU DO SO THAT WE CAN BE THE LORD’S HELPERS TO THE CHILDREN OF THIS AREA. BLESSINGS, BUSH BUNNY BRENDA LANGE AND THE BALAMA STAFF |
Monthly Archives: April 2023
BUSH BUNNY BRENDA BLOG: APRIL 8, 2023
| FROM “BUSH BUNNY BRENDA“ DATE: APRIL 8, 2023 ELEVEN PRESCHOOLERS ON THE GO! Two days of dry weather and our soccer field was ready for players! The eleven preschoolers lost no time in doing their warm up exercises so they could kick their ball around.  Preschool kids doing their warm up exercises. https://youtu.be/hghakCGtyKg We have 3 shy ones in the group, but with a bit of coaxing, they soon began to play “bounce the ball” with me while the others kicked the ball all over the field. These 3 to 5 year olds have more energy than anyone can fathom. Before their soccer coach could stop them, they had chased the ball to the far end of a 100 yard/meter soccer field! (See the videos and share their enthusiasm!)  Preschool kick ball team chasing the ball as fast as their little legs will run. https://youtu.be/r1hZydc57Lo They were having so much fun chasing the ball, (and we were laughing so hard while they did it), that it was hard to keep a straight face when telling them where the boundaries are. They actually did do better the 2nd time around, keeping the ball inside the area we had marked. They are a sharp bunch with great potential for sure! CHOOSE ANY COUNTRY IN THE WORLD, AND YOU WILL FIND THAT KIDS ARE THE SAME WHERE EVER YOU GO! ART AND ENGLISH—MIXED TOGETHER MAKE FOR A FUN TIME OF LEARNING We have a new face among our helpers here at the base. Sergio, a Christian, came here looking for work, as he heard we liked murals painted on walls. I told him there was a much better use of his talents at the moment.  Sergio, our fantastic new Art and English teacher, whom the children really enjoy makes learning fun! Art, Music, and English are Sergio’s strong points, so we are putting them to use. He agreed to hold Art/English lessons each Saturday for all our school aged children.  4th to 7th graders learning English with Sergio, the new teacher. He challenges our children in drawing/coloring and then spends part of the class teaching them simple English (numbers, alphabet, etc.). Both of these subjects were points I had hoped to achieve with the children this year. God knew my heart and sent Sergio to fill the void. I sat in on the English class for the 5th to 7th grades and found out those kids are super sharp!  Listen as one of the boys speak whatever number Teacher Sergio points to. https://youtu.be/71d_3W1wmhE YOUR LOVE GIFTS MAKING A DIFFERENCE IN THE LIVES OF THESE CHILDREN. BLESSINGS, BUSH BUNNY BRENDA LANGE AND THE BALAMA STAFF |
BUSH BUNNY BRENDA BLOG: APRIL 1, 2023
| FROM “BUSH BUNNY BRENDA“ DATE: APRIL 1, 2023 THIS IS NO APRIL FOOLS! TWO INFANTS JOINED OUR FAMILY THIS WEEK BABY BOY, Almeda (baby number 20), 5 months old, came straight from the hospital to us on Monday after receiving treatment for malaria. His Granny was not feeding him properly before and during his hospital stay, even though we had provided all that was needed. The Malnutrition Doctor observed this and asked us to accept him into our program as he felt Granny couldn’t care for Almeda. The family didn’t object as they realized the baby would perish if left in Granny’s care. There was only an Uncle remaining in the family, making it a necessity that the infant come live with us. Almeda is mildly anemic, but with a good high-protein diet and lots of love, this 5‑month-old little one will soon grow strong. He had not gained any weight in the last several months but managed 600 grams since coming to us this week. His current weight of 5.25kg/11.5 lbs. is a big improvement! A normal weight for 5 months is from 7 to 9 kg/15.4 to 20 lbs. Almeda now resides with our newest mother, Amina, in the Zebra House (House # 6).  Baby Almeda with Foster Mother Amina BABY GIRL, Madelina (baby number 21), is just 2 months old. This little orphan was living with her elderly Granny who struggled to care for her.  Baby Madelina is very upset with her Granny The mystery of 6 weeks of poor weight gain since this orphan joined our program was finally solved at Thursday’s weigh-in. A family member came with Granny and revealed that Madelina was being fed the 7 days of milk in 4 days and then was forced to survive on 3 days of sugarless Kool Aid! (Flavored chemical water) With this starvation diet, it is a wonder the infant is still healthy! As I held Madelina while we sorted out the details of her staying with us, this tiny little thing consumed three bottles (2 ounces each) over the next 2 hours. I instructed her foster mother, Felicina, to feed her on demand but in small amounts, as 2 ounces is all she can tolerate right now. MADELINA IS A SCREAMER!! Our foster mothers know that screaming and continuous crying causes an infant to burn calories and lose weight, which we are trying to avoid. Babies who have been starved often panic when they awaken and are hungry, fearing that no one will feed them. Their screams are acts of desperation. In a few days, Madelina will learn to trust Felicina by realizing the milk will keep coming. No need to panic!  Baby Madelina (2 months old) with Foster Mother Felicina. BOTH THESE INFANTS NEED A SPONSOR, so get in on the fun of having a distant little one to pray for. Please email me if you would like to be a $40/month sponsor and tell me which infant you would like to assist. TODDLER UPDATES When visiting the baby/toddler homes, I keep my phone camera ready, as the 14 toddlers living there are growing faster than weeds in a corn field! FRANCIANO, 15 months old, came to us as a wee little infant, and HE JUST STARTED WALKING! See the cute video of him as we imagine him saying, “No help needed, I got this”!  Franciano doing his best to balance on a slightly slanted surface https://youtube.com/shorts/wDTplKdfQ5w?feature=share QUISTON, now 3 years old, is terrified of cars. Why? He had health issues as an infant, and associates cars with going to the Doctor or even worse, the Hospital! This photo shows him finally trusting me (without crying) to take him to the pre-school in my King Cab. I want to teach him that car rides can go to fun places too, for he loves the swings at the pre-school playground! Anselmina, his pre-school buddy, has no such fear, and loves to ride in the car. She has been a big help in getting Quiston to trust me and car rides.  Quiston and Anselmina in my King Cab. Their playground is just a few feet away at our Learning Center OUR FAMILY IS INCREASING IN SIZE, AND WE THANK YOU FOR MAKING THESE SPECIAL MOMENTS POSSIBLE. BLESSINGS, BUSH BUNNY BRENDA LANGE AND THE BALAMA STAFF |
BUSH BUNNY BRENDA BLOG: MARCH 25, 2023
| FROM “BUSH BUNNY BRENDA“ DATE: MARCH 25, 2023 IT’S ALL ABOUT BABIES TODAY It’s a BIG happy family that lives in House 6 (the Zebra House) and House 7 (the Leopard House). The many infants and toddlers are flourishing and growing rapidly as they learn how to relate to one another through play. The local visitors who were supposed to come today had to cancel, so I quickly snapped a group shot of this big family in their colorful clothing at the spontaneous mother’s meeting we had this morning.  Eleven foster mothers and our Children’s Assistant Director under the covered playground by the infant homes. Any meeting with the mothers must be done at their home, as they now have 17 children from ages 2 months to 4 years to care for. You may ask “Why 11 mothers?” In order to give each of the mothers a break from caretaking, we need enough mothers to care for the children plus continue the clothes washing, meal preparation, and going to the market. It’s a bit easier now that the children are growing up and can play independently. It was a fun time this morning with Capena catching me holding Susanna, who decided she must sit on my lap.  Brenda with little Susanna in her lap. Fatima, Children’s Assistant Director in the background. I am sharing a few snapshots of our fun time with them on Friday. Thanks to our visitors’ cancellation, Capena and I could just relax and join in the fun with the children. It was wonderful!  Baby Joao sleeping, with Fatima, far left, and Little Gilda in the middle, along with 3 of the Foster Mothers.  I received a phone call while there, so Ambrosio took his Foster Mother’s phone and imitated me. FROM OUR FAMILY TO YOURS, THANK YOU, THANK YOU, FOR HELPING THESE CHILDREN HAVE A FUTURE. BLESSINGS, BUSH BUNNY BRENDA LANGE AND THE BALAMA STAFF |