| FROM “BUSH BUNNY BRENDA“ DATE: OCTOBER 28, 2023 BABY AFUSA IS HOME WITH US!  Baby Afusa is now in her new home with Foster Mother Gilda of House # 6, the Zebra House Thanks to your wonderful prayers, the little girl in last week’s blog, Afusa, has recovered from her malaria, diarrhea, and sinus infection. It was a miracle for sure, as she was super sick when taken to the hospital. Afusa was released from the hospital on Tuesday, and is adjusting well to her new home. Even though she was neglected, she still cries at times for the family who didn’t treat her well. Afusa’s only remaining problem is anemia, which we are correcting with vitamins and iron supplements. What this little girl needs most is love and good nutrition which she will get plenty of from our staff. Her weight increased in the hospital to 7kg/15.4 lbs., so that tells us that good food and care is her main need. THANK YOU FOR YOUR FAITHFUL LOVE GIFTS AND PRAYERS THAT MAKE THIS PROGRAM POSSIBLE. TOGETHER, WE ARE SAVING LIVES. BUNNY’S CHOMPERS NOT EATING CARROTS TOO WELL THESE DAYS. Sorry this letter must be so short. I am pressed for time if I am to leave this Sunday to see a dentist in South Africa. I developed a nasty tooth ache this week, leaving me no choice but to seek help from my dentist in RSA. I’m only staying 2 days, so will be back in Balama shortly to continue the work. Keep us all in prayer, as Capena, our Office Manager and my right hand man, will be watching over the children and keeping the programs operating in my absence. BLESSINGS, BUSH BUNNY BRENDA LANGE AND THE BALAMA STAFF |
Monthly Archives: October 2023
BUSH BUNNY BRENDA BLOG: OCTOBER 21, 2023
| FROM “BUSH BUNNY BRENDA“ DATE: OCTOBER 21, 2023 PROTEIN PARTY GIVEN BY CIS COMPANY Last Saturday our 55 resident children were treated to a fabulous high protein meal, thanks to the CIS Company of Balama District. CIS representatives visited our office several months ago to ask how they could help our children. Their company provides the meals for the local graphite mine, just 6 miles from our base. We explained that increasing the protein via meat was our biggest concern. We expected a 1 time gift of meat, but instead their leader agreed to providing a high protein meal for the children twice monthly! WHAT A SURPRISE! The CIS people brought a spread of goodies including beef, chicken, rice with veggies, and salad plus tiny cupcakes for dessert. It was a great party and really lifted the spirits of the children!  CIS team preparing to serve food to our children  Our BIG FAMILY singing as they wait for their high protein lunch from CIS https://youtube.com/shorts/cGoEBGIIDkA?feature=share How long this will continue is uncertain. But our great thanks goes out to the CIS Company for making this meal a feast for our children. BABY #26 NOW IN OUR CARE On Thursday, baby girl AFUSA (ah-foo-sah), barely 1‑year-old, was removed by Social Services from her Aunt’s care due to severe neglect. This little girl has consistently lost weight over the last 8 weeks at our baby weigh-in, and developed severe diarrhea 7 days ago. The hospital staff discovered that the Aunt had neglected to buy the medication needed to treat Afusa’s diarrhea after a Balama MD had prescribed it for her at the hospital last week. The Aunt was given the money to pay the 5 meticais (3 cents American) for the medication. After a week of no diarrhea treatment, the little girl presented on the 19th at our INFANT MILK FORMULA PROGRAM in very poor health. She is in the severely malnourished category as she only weighs 6.5 kg/14.3 lbs. at one year of age AND HAS 3 ILLNESSES.  An unhappy Baby Afusa held by Mariamo in hospital Needless to say, I took her directly to the Emergency Room for treatment. A finger stick test showed she had malaria, on top of her severe diarrhea with dehydration, and a sinus infection as well. Social Services placed the infant into our care, and the Aunt was dismissed. IV medications and fluids were immediately given, but this little one is not out of danger yet. Malaria and severe diarrhea together are a lethal combination to an infant. Please pray for her to recover quickly and completely. I will update you next week on her progress. PEMBA INSPECTORS LOVE PLAYING WITH OUR CHILDREN A surprise inspection found us hosting 3 separate teams of wonderful people from the Pemba Social Service office this last week. Talking and playing with the children, it was easy to see that each team enjoyed the children very much.  Provincial (state) Director of Social Services in red and white dress talking with the foster mothers and the children  One of the inspectors interacting with our toddlers The 3 teams came on different days this last week to inspect our orphan homes and to make sure all our orphan records were complete. Each team had a special task to do.  Our visitors really enjoyed the babies Seems a National Team of Inspectors will be coming soon to check our orphan homes and records as well. THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR MAKING THIS PROGRAM POSSIBLE THROUGH YOUR FAITHFUL LOVE GIFTS! BUSH BUNNY BRENDA LANGE AND THE BALAMA TEAM |
BUSH BUNNY BRENDA BLOG: OCTOBER 14, 2023
| FROM “BUSH BUNNY BRENDA“ DATE: OCTOBER 14, 2023 BBC MOTORBIKE TEAM GIVES A HELPING HAND Granny Ruddie (Roo-dy) and her 2 orphaned grandsons, ages 6 and 7, live in a remote village that is a 1‑hour motorbike ride from our mission. No other family members exist, and Granny Ruddie is not strong in her legs (the reason she is sitting in the photo). The BBC routinely takes food to her and 2 other orphan families in this village. When the BBC team saw the condition of Granny Ruddie’s roof, Carlitos took photos to include in his request for funds to repair it.  Granny and 2 orphaned grandsons in front of their mud hut Only the BBC goes to this area via their motorbikes, so that team of 4 men will repair the roof. They have organized to buy the needed grass and bamboo materials from local villagers in that area. Total cost to buy the materials is only $90/R1,620. So little can do so much to help others in need. THANK YOU, FOR YOUR LOVE GIFTS WILL MAKE IT POSSIBLE FOR US TO HELP THOSE WHO TRULY NEED IT. WEDNESDAY WAS VOTING DAY! The ever-growing Balama town will be designated a “city” in January, 2024, so the local residents will determine who will be Mayor of Balama. Since our foster mothers are essential workers, they cannot leave their children unless someone takes their place. Several staff and reserve mothers stepped in for a few hours while the mothers were taken by our 3 drivers to vote in their designated locations. Photo ID’s are required for all voters, so our Drivers checked that everyone had theirs before leaving our mission base. Once the first group of mothers were back, then those who stayed behind went to vote. My appreciation goes out to our 3 drivers who shuffled the mothers back and forth to the voting centers. A perk for the Drivers is that they were assigned to take mothers to the voting location where they were supposed to vote. All our staff were able to vote, so it went well. Since our 19 toddlers in Houses 6 and 7 know our staff and the reserve mothers, they stayed calm and played as usual, PTL! Not an easy thing to accomplish with that many little ones! Featured in the photo is Fatima, Assistant Children’s Director, holding Madelina, and Reserve Mother Mariamo holding wide eyed Orlencia.  Substitute mothers step in to love on our babies while the Foster Mothers went to vote Everyone dresses up to go vote! It is a big thing to vote here, as that privilege has only been available to the public for about 20 years. It will be a week or 2 before the paper ballots are tallied and the results are known. DINO TAKES A DIVE Tuesday, while playing ball in his physical education class, dorm student Dino slipped while trying to block a ball, injuring his left wrist. The school took him to the hospital for treatment, which is just a short distance from where the accident happened. Turns out it is a bad sprain of his wrist, so the hospital staff splinted it for comfort and protection for 15 days. No more soccer for a few weeks, but Dino still managed a smile when I took his photo.  Dino gives me a grin, even though he has to sit on the sidelines for a few weeks PLEASE KEEP US IN YOUR PRAYERS AS WE KEEP YOU AND ISRAEL IN OURS. BLESSINGS, BUSH BUNNY BRENDA LANGE AND THE BALAMA STAFF |
BUSH BUNNY BRENDA BLOG: OCTOBER 7, 2023
| FROM “BUSH BUNNY BRENDA“ DATE: OCTOBER 7, 2023 JUMAIDA MAKES MIRACULOUS RECOVERY! Thank you so much for your prayers! Jumaida totally turned the corner with all symptoms gone on Sunday, Oct. 1st. She was allowed to come home and is now eating well with no gastric upset. I was amazed that she only lost 100 gm after 5 days of IV fluids and very little by mouth. GOD IS GREAT! HIS MERCIES ARE NEW EVERY MORNING!  A very happy Jumaida after her bout with severe gastroenteritis SURPRISE VISITORS ON MONDAY AFTERNOON Due to missed communications, an inspection team from Social Services in Pemba surprised us at 12:30pm on Monday. Seems they sent a notice that we never received. This team first visited our Children’s Learning Center where our 4th and 5th graders were studying Portuguese with teacher Pedro.  Capena (far L) explains the purpose of our after school program Then it was off to visit 2 of our children’s homes. This team has been here before, and truly enjoys meeting with our Foster Mothers and the younger children as you can tell from the photo.  Pemba visitors with our family at House #6 REPAIRING WATER WELLS IN MELUCO DISTRICT Our water well team was requested by Meluco officials to help them repair 15 water wells in as many villages. Our truck was about to make its monthly supply trip to the Meluco’s orphans. Our driver Manuel who is also head of the water well repair team, just added the water well parts he thought they might need. Manual and assistant Monsur, along with their “guide”, a Meluco official wearing a Cowboy hat, managed to repair 5 water wells in 6 hours the day they arrived. The other wells will be serviced later this month, as they require additional parts that our team didn’t have with them.  Meluco official puts finishing touches on a village well that they just repaired https://youtube.com/shorts/ZnL9axeM0HU  Village kids gather round the well, as clean water keeps them healthy THANK YOU TO THOSE WHO CONTRIBUTE TO THIS FUND SO THAT THESE VILLAGES CAN HAVE CLEAN WATER. BLESSINGS, BUSH BUNNY BRENDA LANGE AND THE BALAMA STAFF |
BUSH BUNNY BRENDA BLOG: SEPTEMBER 30, 2023
| FROM “BUSH BUNNY BRENDA“ DATE: SEPTEMBER 30, 2023 BABY ANCHA WITH POST MALARIA BLAHS DUE TO ANEMIA After completing the 3‑day course of malaria medications last week, Baby Ancha’s strength didn’t spring back as is usual with toddlers. Instead, she remains tired, lacks an appetite, and is running a low-grade fever in the late afternoons. We took her to the hospital for a post malaria lab test which came back negative. That tells us that her symptoms are coming from her low blood count. Malaria’s biggest tool for killing little ones is the post malaria anemia it can cause. Ancha is receiving the maximum protein and vitamin supplements that are available, so now we must wait.  18-month-old Ancha is not a happy camper. Anemia is slow to correct itself. Thirty days is a normal recovery time for this type of anemia when taking supplements. Please keep her in your prayers. BABY JUMAIDA GIVES US A SCARE It is always a time to celebrate when our very vulnerable infants make it to the 5 kg./11 lb. mark! That means they are usually strong enough to handle being out of their mosquito net and thus outside with her foster family.  Jumaida dearly loves being outside under the huge mango tree at House # 7. Thursday, 2 pm, Jumaida presented with a little diarrhea. She was given the normal oral treatment and seemed to be fine since she was taking a bottle. At 6 pm, I received a panicked call from Head House Mother Gilda. Jumaida had just filled her diaper and taken a turn for the worse. “Come quickly!” Gilda said. Racing to House # 7, I knew Jumaida needed IV fluids and medications immediately as she was almost non-responsive. Thankfully, the Emergency Room Director was working, as he is excellent with starting infant IV’s. With IV fluids, electrolytes, and IV treatment for the diarrhea, he had Jumaida awake within 45 minutes of our arrival! Thank you, JESUS! What a relief it was to see her looking around as if asking, “Where am I?” PRAYERS REALLY DO MAKE A DIFFERENCE! There is no doubt in my mind that God’s Angels were watching over our little Jumaida, making sure that she was well taken care of. Dysentery is so easy to contract. As adults, we deal with the inconvenience, take the medicine to stop it, and don’t think much about it. To a 3‑month-old infant, 1 microscopic bacteria from a sucked finger is all it takes to start the process. Jumaida is an overcomer, as this is her 2nd illness needing hospitalization. She is one tough little girl for sure! PLEASE KEEP JUMAIDA IN YOUR PRAYERS, and I will keep you updated. WIDOWS AND THEIR FAMILIES POUND THE RICE FOR ORPHAN GIVE-OUT  Our church widows working hard so others can eat. https://youtube.com/shorts/db5Jpyxcq7I  These young ladies make rhythmic pounding of rice look so easy! https://youtube.com/shorts/e0BmL6vwKQ8 These precious widows and their grandkids from our church worked very hard for 4 straight hours to de-hull 10 sacks of rice for the elderly orphan caretakers whose “pillaring” days are over. Pillaring is hard work, as those poles weigh around 10 kg./22 lbs. each! That’s why the video of the little girls shows them using short poles that aren’t so heavy. TO PILLAR or pound the rice, is to remove its hull so the seed (rice as you know it), can be cooked and eaten. This week we had our first rice give-out. It went fairly smoothly even though we had to make many changes in our distribution methods. LIFE IS ALWAYS CHANGING. ONLY THOSE WHO FLEX WITH IT WILL SURVIVE. NOTE TO “LOVE GIFT” GIVERS: The August financial report blessed me to tears! THANK YOU ALL SO MUCH FOR CONTINING TO GIVE SO THAT OUR LITTLE ONES CAN HAVE A JESUS FUTURE. BLESSINGS, BUSH BUNNY BRENDA LANGE AND THE BALAMA STAFF |