Merry Christmas!
I am still raising support to continue on this race. I need $3207 by DEC. 28th. I am only halfway through this journey and I don’t plan to stop before I have run it all. Would you support me? Donations are tax deductable.
This month we partnered with AIM in Swaziland. Three teams stayed in Manzini and the other three, Kon Srey, Anomaly, and Argonauts served in Nsoko(In-so-go).
Swaziland has the highest AIDS rate in the world. Nsoko has one of the highest rates in Swaziland. We were living in the epicenter of the AIDS epidemic. Many people don’t get tested because of the shame cast upon them if they test positive. Sex outside of marriage is extremely common and many women are unmarried single mothers. Alcohol is abused. Women are abused. Children are abused.
BROKEN FAMILIES
It’s really a lot like America. There’s just more resources in the United States. There is more physical poverty but we have a lot of the same issues. The same needs. The same God.
During this past month of November our team served at carepoints, pre-school, Christmas Parties, gardening and digging trenches alongside the D-Team.
D-Team
They are the hands and feet of this ministry. They travel to carepoints to give devotionals to the kids, drive people to the clinic, and whatever else is needed.They like singing action songs, especially
Pilo. Here is one of them:
She take the ball,
she put it here,
she be better
she be better.
CAREPOINTS
AIM has partnered with the local communities in Swaziland to create carepoints. A carepoint is a place where kids can come and get a meal, quite possibly the only meal they will get that day. The Gogos(Grandmothers in Saswati) prepare the meals. Some carepoints have stoves but a lot of them cook over wood fires in giant cauldrons. This means that on rainy days they don’t cook and children don’t eat. Many of the carepoints are not fully funded. If you would like to help, you can give to Nsogo on the Adventures in Missions website.
PRE-SCHOOL
We worked with teacher Nelly this month to prepare the children for graduation. Nelly is an amazing woman of God who has had a rough past but is now making a huge impact for the kingdom. She is a wise , youthful, and joyful 56-year-old. We taught the ABC’ s, body parts, counting to 20, and coloring, but mostly we learned a lot about love and life from Nelly and those little rascals. Keep them all in your prayers.
Christmas Parties
We got to celebrate Christmas early with the kids and Gogos at the carepoints. We prepared the gifts, food, and some of the games. We worked alongside the Gogos chopping beets, cabbage, onions and potatoes. They made potato salad, salad, coleslaw, beet salad, and beef stew. These are some tough ladies. They don’t use any oven mitts or rags to protect their hands. They just grab the hot stuff and start to work! Catherine had the great idea to create Christmas notes for the kids. A lot of us got together and made over a hundred of them. Consider what gifts you have to give this Christmas season; time, money, artistic abilities, musical abilities, etc. Will you volunteer to help the homeless, forgotten, aged, and widowed a day this month?
Timbali Crafts
Another cool ministry is Timbali Crafts. The Gogos handmake these beautiful fabric bags, wallets, aprons and more. They use manual singer sewing machines(I’ve seen them myself) and they are very nicely done. I have met the Gogos, seen the workspace, and visited the store. They would make great gifts and help the people of Swaziland. There is also a need for people to help sell the bags. The website is timbalicrafts.org
The Trench
This month we got to dig a water pipe trench! Shovels and pickaxes were digging out the rusty colored dirt to make way for new water pipes to be laid down for the team house.
The American Families
We had the privelage of working with the Spraggs and the Malloys this month. They have just moved here a few months ago to be full-time AIM staff. They were amazing to work with. We got to celebrate Thanksgiving with them eating great food and playing football. They raise their own support too.
This is a lot of what happened this month, but I will be writing more later.
MUCH LOVE,
SARAYA 
