It is an exciting day as this evening our team of supporters and travelers for the trip to Ludlati Carepoint in Swaziland are having a planning and packing meeting. But this morning was met with terrible news from Swaziland. One of the children named Mamba at a carepoint called Thulwane (thool-wah-nay) went missing, and was found dead…killed by his step-father. Before you read this terrible and sad news, I want everyone who supports the children and people working at Ludlati Carepoint and beyond to know, I believe what God does through the monthly financial support, letters and visits like our upcoming trip not only brings hope, love and encouragement to Ludlati and Swaziland, it fights against terrible evil. After you read about Mamba, I encourage you to read Romans Chapter 8, and pray with the Holy Spirit’s help. God is already working to turn this situation to good for those who love Him. He is in control, and will get all the glory in the end. Romans 8:18-21 tells us our present sufferings and frustrations are nothing compared to the glory God will reveal in us. It is God’s hope and plan to use these present times to liberate His creation, and deliver us into the glory of His children.
I think it is safe to generalize and say that no one can get too much of God’s word. From the most beautiful scriptures to the hard truths contained within, I believe the bible is alive, and sets us free with truth, hope, life, grace, mercy, love and revelation by the power of Holy Spirit. If you have not known this yet, I encourage you to give it a try for 2-4 weeks. If you seek God in His word and in His creation, He said He would reveal Himself to you. This is my prayer for all at Ludlati Carepoint and the surrounding community.
A few days back I received these pictures from Childrens HopeChest that bring great joy for me too see and share with you. Bibles delivered to our neighbor kids and Bomake at Ludlati Carepoint! These bibles came through God’s people who support the next carepoint down the road called Bheveni. Thanks to God working through Danielle Brower and her team of helpers, they arranged for some of the bibles from their bible drive be delivered to Ludlati Carepoint. A total of 500 bibles were sent, and they were so kind to share. It is an answer to prayer to see more hope and truth delivered and growing at Ludlati Carepoint. To God be the Glory!
Discipleship trainer Bheki is shown here giving a bible to Nikiwe.
Fakazile has received a bible from Discipleship trainer Bheki.
Bhonke holding his new bible!
Sibonosile checks out her new bible.
L to R: Dudu, Phol’sile (a new Bomake), Nonkululeko, and Phindile sit on the open cooking porch of the newly painted kitchen. Enjoy the Word of God!
A direct “THANK YOU FOR YOUR PARTNERSHIP!” to monthly sponsors from the Adventures In Missions (AIM) staff working for Children’s HopeChest in Swaziland is given below. The staff sites the most powerful part of their ministry is the Discipleship Team a.k.a The D-Team. Part of the financial gifts from monthly sponsors of Ludlati Carepoint supports the D-Team and the vision of empowerment for these children. The D-Team members are all local Swazi nationals each of whom are followers of Jesus Christ. They are the mentors and disciplers of the kids at the carepoints, and we have seen the Lord use their work through their regular, consistent visits and spiritual instruction to improve these children’s lives and even reach into the surrounding communities. You can read specific stories posted about this very topic from our Sept 2010 trip to visit Ludlati Carepoint. Post - Journey to Ludlati Carepoint Thread of Sept 2010 Trip Blog Posts The vision of the D-Team is to raise up a generation of kids that are followers of Christ, put their trust in Jesus, find their reason for life and purpose in Him and not their situations, learn to live HIV free, become self sufficient with God’s help, provision and their own faith put into actions like college or local business, and to become disciplers of the following generation.
Thanks again Ludlati Sponsors!!! Pray with us that the Lord use His followers to raise our sponsorship level to 100%! If you will help spread the word to others, please let them know they can START HERE to support Ludlati Carepoint and Children.
Merry Christmas Ludlati Kids, Bomage and Community!!!
Tis the season for Christmas parties at the Carepoints in Swaziland. It is not snowing in Swaziland like it is here today, but the grass is very green from the rainy season rains! The CHC/AIM workers and discipleship trainers have been working hard to bring the parties and presents to kids at each of the carepoints. The party at our Ludlati carepoint occured yesterday on Friday, Dec 3rd!
Funds from monthly donations are used to fund the party and purchase gifts for the kids and Bomage. Thanks again to each of you who have committed to monthly support. Below are some pictures we received from the party for you to enjoy!
Pastor Gift opens the video below by introducing a woman he is going to visit in the Nsoko region of Swaziland who is dieing of AIDS and Tuberculosis. As this woman honestly shares about her suffering and her thoughts in the video, I am filled with compassion for her and her daughter. It is evident that she is a victim of being unaware of AIDS and how it can be contracted. Unless the Lord miraculously heals her, she is going to die soon. In the face of death, she also shares that she has decided to put her hope in God, because without Him there is no hope. She wants to be in God’s hands.
Along with Pastor Gift, we are participating in a small way in the work and fight to turn the tide of AIDS deaths in Swaziland. The monthly support for Ludlati Carepoint in part supports the Discipleship trainers who are educating our Ludlati kids about AIDS. They teach them how it is spread, how to avoid getting AIDS, and they teach them God’s healthy and wonderful plan for sex and marriage. This is an important part of the whole development plan that is giving our Ludlati Kids life and hope, and lets them know we love them and God loves them.
In the context of God’s word and gospel, this woman’s condition is not a question of what she deserves or mere consequences. If we all got what we deserve, no one would receive anything good. Christ suffered and died for this woman and you and me. For followers of Christ, God’s word is clear. We are all called to share in Christ’s suffering, but also His glory (Rom 8:17). We are all called to share with the poor and needy (2 Cor 8:13-15). Are you answering the call? If you were the needy one, how would you want someone with abundance to share with you?
Pastor Gift is sacrificially giving his time and life everyday to share God’s compassion and love to many Swazi people like the woman in this video. Those already sending monthly support to Ludlati are giving sacrificially at some level through grace and compassion. Together, God is using Pastor Gift’s work and our support to reduce and stop the AIDS epidemic in Swaziland. The question is not whether you are called. The question…Is He leading you to compassionate action to Ludlati or some other place in His Kingdom work? Is He calling you to new level of giving? I encourage you to know God’s heart and compassion for the poor, and obey His leading. Yes, it may be uncomfortable and sacrificial, but this is where we find His joy. Whether lead to Ludlati or some other place, don’t let the opportunities He has for you pass you by.
Each of us is only ONE person. I thank God for each ONE of you who has joined in support of Ludlati Carepoint. Whether through carepoint sponsorship, donated time, donated clothing, writing the children, visiting the carepoint, or participation in fund raising events, together our relatively small group has made a noticable difference in our 83+ Ludlati Neighbor Kids. These positive changes have been reaped in less than 10 months.
This young lady’s name is Dumsile. It is pronounced, Doom-see-lay. She is a wonderful, sweet and thoughtful person with a heart full of kindness. 12 months prior to our visit we can see she was noticeably thin. When we met her during our visit in September, and we saw that she is healthier and happier. She is ONE of 83 children sustained by the monthly support for Ludlati Carepoint. Dumsile is already matched with a sponsor for letter writing. But we have about 42 more children still to be matched with ONE monthly carepoint sponsor at $34/mo. Please help us put faith and compassion into action, and let others know about this opportunity to offer some personal sacrifice that reaps joyful rewards like the ONEs you will see in this video…
We sincerely thank God and everyone who gave time, energy, skills, supplies and finances to make the trip possible to visit our neighbor kids and people in and around Ludlati Carepoint. KnownToMe started on the journey with Ludlati in November 2009 with a long term development plan to raise support and provide resources for the Swazi ladies (Bomake) who faithfully work at the carepoint, and build infrastructure and relationships. All these things help to meet true needs, but relationships are the only way to deliver encouragement, love, hope and life.
Everything we did during this first visit is part of the overall objective to build long term relationships at Ludlati. Here is a concise list of highlights from the trip:
Several if not all the Bomake are true believers doing the daily work at Ludlati. Now we see that they feel our love and support, and make excellent use of the resources received. They are very thankful to God for His abundant provision, and look forward to continued growth in areas of remaining need.
Extra funds raised for the trip provided two (very much needed) large iron pots, two large wooden cooking utensils, net ball hoops, net balls, daily fruit for the kids, meat for the fun day meal, towels for foot washing, batteries for a talking bible in Siswati, and home visit gift packs heavy with food and things considered luxuries in Swaziland (e.g. sugar, coffee).
Got to know personal situations and struggles of many kids, the Bomake, and Disciplers, and we were able to share compassion and pray with them.
Letters written to the kids are very well received. They feel love and friendship communicated through your letters. It is another effective way to build relationships that give hope. We also received a response letter from one of my family’s matched kids to bring home.
Two American men (myself and Dennis Brock) and two Swazi men (Bheki and Pastor Walter) visited a home of abusive parents to show our concern for their children, and invite them to join the carepoint festivities for the week. When men show this kind of loving concern for a family, and gently confront their situation, it is a significant event in Swaziland where men are generally not involved. The Lord used our presence and concern to influence the mother to let her kids come and share in the fun at Ludlati. Please pray for abuse in this family to stop, and this family finds freedom and peace in Christ.
We visited a mourning family where an Aunt of two kids had died. While we were following the kids to their homestead down the rough paths, Bheki asked me to share scriptures of encouragement with the family. Our whole team, both disciplers and many of the Bomake attended. Discipler Bheki started with a couple worship songs, followed by interpretations of the scriptures and words of encouragement shared. Two men of the family responded with gracious, genuine words of acceptance of the songs and scriptures, and thanked everyone on our team for coming so far to visit their family. They also thanked us for the work being done at Ludlati Carepoint. They told us the whole community finds hope and appreciates the work being done with the children at Ludlati Carepoint. It was humbling to receive their thanks on behalf of the community in the face of their personal loss. We thanked them for welcoming us into their home to share in their families time of loss and hope in Christ. We gave them two large home visit packs as gifts.
We got about 10-12 home visits completed during the trip. Having visitors come to a home is an exciting event in Swaziland. Some visits were easy and pleasant. Others revealed challenging living conditions and situations. One of the more common prayer requests was for fathers to leave new wives or girl friends, return home, spend time with their children, and at least send money home to support their family. In either case, we were able to pray with each family, and leave a nice home visit gift pack.
Shoes, foot washing, dresses, shorts, hats, school supplies, toiletry bags, fun day activities and fruit and candy treats were all well received by the kids. We were glad these things were accomplished, and there was a lot of physical work involved. The team did a great job, but the week was almost too busy. We saw the benefits and need for more interaction time with the kids, and thought we will build more time for relating this way into the next trip.
One month after we returned from the trip, we received messages from Bheki and Londiwe, the Discpileship Trainers.
“Everytime I go there now it feels like there’s more life…the kids are such an encouragement…I really am enjoying my time with them, so thanks a lot for all y’all did to impact the kids while you were here! Keep blessed then!” - Bheki
“Your trip had a great impact in our lives. It gives us hope to know that we are not alone, and it encourages us to know that you are praying for us. Be blessed in your families” -Londiwe
Many thanks were expressed by the children, Bomake, Discipleship Trainers, one man working at the carepoint, and people in the surrounding community for coming to visit and for bringing hope. Many requests were offered for us to stay and not leave. Everyone on the travel team expressed much thanks for the blessing we felt from each person we met during the trip. As we left in the van after giving our final goodbyes and hugs, we all felt a load of compassion and saddness for the kids and their circumstances as well as the joy of getting to know them and sharing a great week together. There were not many dry eyes in the van as we departed down the rough gravel road.
Above is a video of the trip titled “Journey to Ludlati Carepoint”. From it’s earliest beginning as “The Tree Carepoint”, much transformation has taken place over the last few years at Ludlati Carepoint. Because of God’s blessings of provision, infrastructure that we can see with our eyes has been built. Because of God’s blessings of community and relationship, friendship, encouragement, love and hope has been shared and continues to grow between our communities.
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Ludlati Carepoint Support Level 54 Kids Funded; 29 Kids To Go
About - KnownToMe
We have begun to ask ourselves...What would we do if our neighbor was starving right before our eyes? Would we not help? Today, their plight is not hidden from us. It is known. We believe there is a clear mandate that we must care for societies most vulnerable members, the widow, the orphan, those in extreme poverty. If you are stirred to a similar belief, if you know there is more that you must do, Known To Me will make you aware of specific needs and opportunities to help.
