Thanks, it's good to be back on.

The only problem is I left it to long and now I can't remember everything that's happened since Sept 7 but I'll try.

Ray

Well here goes the trying.

I last posted about a container to Swaziland on Aug 10th, well it arrived about 3 weeks ago and the distribution is going great.

I've been speaking with Mfana a lot about all the needs and how he is managing the distribution and we felt that it would be nice if he could be able to take pictures and videos and get them over to me some how so I can share them with everyone.

Well about 3 weeks ago I sent him $600 U.S. and he went and bought a new Panasonic 80 gig digital video camera. He says it’s amazing and he can’t wait to send us some video.

This week I decided to send him another $2,000 so he can buy a new Computer and be able to hook up to the internet via a cell phone card. He will be able to make videos and up load them up to youtube for all of us to watch soon:)

I am going to invite him here so we can get the up to date info all the time. I like this idea, I think it’s going to make my job a lot easier.

Ray

Well I’ll start telling some of the stories and let Jackie and Mfana fill in the details later.

Mfana and us have been working towards setting up sustainable businesses for people we have been helping. One of the projects we are starting right now is to help 10 women in a village buy some goats. The project is costing us about $2,000 U.S. Mfana and the women have done a business plan already and set up a repayment plan so our little micro fund hopefully never dries up:)

He has also involved the Ministry of Agriculture in this project and they will be advising the women on all sorts of things like breeding, feeding and helping with sales of the meat. The ministry is also going to take some of the money to go and buy the best kind of Billy goat for meat from South Africa, they will also do the paperwork to bring it into the country for the ladies.

Next on the list are chickens for another group of women.

Ray

Wonderful to see you here Ray. I know you've been missed.

: )

Ok today is the day:)

Meron has managed to orginize another container to Lesotho. She has raising all the funding and the collection of items to send. (which is not an easy thing to do, so hats off to her:)

I am on my way up to Hope B.C. were we will unload the 2 trucks coming from Salt Spring this morning and reload it all into a container and then off to the port of Vancouver.

The container will go thru the the Pacific ocean to Asia then down past Australia, then thru the Indian Ocean to Durban South Africa, then by rail to Lesotho. Only 42 days this way instead of 55 across Canada and the Atlantic ocean.

Well have to run, will tell you how it went tonight.

Ray

Great to see this thread here.

:-))

We "Neded" it !!

Thanks Mark and Michael, great to be here:)

Well one of the uhaul drivers got lost for an hour and the rain was coming down heavy and most of the people who said they would help load didn't show up, but we managed to get it done.

Container arrived at Hope at 12:30pm, by 2pm the uhaul trucks from SaltSpring arrived and we started loading. I must say there was some really nice stuff collected from the people of Salt Spring.

By 5pm I was slowing down alot but I kept thinking of Mamello's smiling face and it kept me going, managed to finish by 6pm. Then I raced to drop off the uhaul drivers for the 7:20pm ferry to SaltSpring, missed it by 4 minutes so they stayed the night and caught the early morning one.

All in all it went well, I know for the next few months it will be like Christmas for Mamello and the kids as they open up bags and boxes.

Thanks to all who helped Meron pull this off.

Ray

Friday morning I was getting ready to head home when I received 3 phone calls. First one was from the truck driver who brought the container to Hope on Thursday. He had 1200 lbs of dried peas for me to pick up, so I raced down to his yard in Richmond and loaded them in my truck.

Then I got a call from Julian Tile who said they have 6 pallets of ceramic tiles (about 10,000lbs) for us to pick up.

Then another call from a paint warehouse in Surrey saying they have 6 pallets of 1 gallon cans of latex paint about 100 gallons per pallet.

Needless to say my truck would not even begin to haul that much weight so I have hired a transport truck to pick it all up this week and bring it to us.

While I was juggling all this this week, I managed to finish my dealers liscence course and recieved my dealers liscence. Then I went to the dealer auction in Vancouver and bought a couple of cars and trucks to sell which will help pay for all the containers going out.

Anyone looking for a good car, call Meron:) she bought a nice 2005 Pontiac SunFire:)

On the drive home I called Mfana in Swaziland to see how things were going, he and the boys were actually out in a rural area down by the eastern border distributing clothes and stuff when I called. They were so happy I could hear all the people in the back ground laughing and shouting and Mfana said he was so happy.

He said, thank you for sending us these things so I can help my people, I have never been so happy doing anything else in my life, helping people gives me a joy that I can't even find words for.

He said they were taking video and as soon as the new computer and internet were up and going they would start to put it on youtube:):):):)

Ray

Wow time is flying by, sorry I’ve been neglecting to post but I’ll try and remember everything that has happened and fill you in.

I finished clearing and leveling all the land on our farm for the new charity warehouse. I went and bought an excavator and bulldozer to get it all done before the snow fell. I cleared an area about 110 m x 60 m (340ft x 190ft) I plan on starting to build around the first of May when all the snow is gone. I am estimating that the new building will cost about $65,000 to finish, and will take about 3 months to build.

Clothes have been coming in at such an incredible rate that we hired Jackie’s mom to come and help us run the warehouse. She has sorted, folded and baled over 600 bales (40,000lbs) since she arrived.

So much stuff is coming in that we will be shipping 3 containers in Jan to clear it all out. Clothes, Soup mix, 2000 gal of latex paint, 26,000 lbs of ceramic tile, shoes, purses, belts, computers, medical equipment and supplies, 6 tons of fruit bars, school books, fabric, welders, generators, chainsaws and grass cutters and much more.

Ray

I am currently in Swaziland because Jackie and I got an email from a Canadian lady who was in Swaziland in Nov, she said she went through the Mbabane hospital (ward 8 the children’s ward) and she said, she saw a little baby girl who had been abandoned at birth, found then dropped of at the hospital back on Sept 11. As soon as we read the email Jackie and I really felt something about this little girl, so I made some call to see if we could help her in anyway. After talking to a few people who we know there, we were told that when babies are abandoned at the hospital they usually end up there for a very long time because there is no room at any other place.

So Jackie and I talked and we decided that I should fly over right away and see what I could do for the baby, it just broke our hearts too think that she would spend years in the hospital without someone to really love her.

I arrived in Swaziland on the 10th of Dec and went straight to the director of Social Welfare to explain to her why I was there and to ask her if we could help this little girl. She listened carefully and then said “well we already know you from Kieara’s adoption and from all the work you are doing for our orphans here in Swaziland so if you want, you can adopt this little one too” Jackie and I had discussed this option and could only wish that it may be possible but here I was and the lady was saying just what we so wanted to hear:):):):)

I asked her, how soon could we have her and she said “just a minute I will make a call”, she called the Social Welfare lady who handled the adopting of Kieara for us. And when she hung up the phone she said “you can go to the hospital right now and get her if you want”:):):):)

I drove right up to ward 8 and asked for the head nurse, when she saw me, she said, “I don’t know who you are but no one comes into my ward without any papers and gets one of my babies. I swallowed hard and said, didn’t Mrs. S call you and let you know I was coming over, she looked at me for a minute and said “yes she did and I don’t know what you did to be able to get her so quickly but come with me”.

She took me down the hall of ward 8 to the very end and asked me to write down all my particulars in a hospital logbook and to sign it. After I did this, I saw one of the other nurses in the corner starting to change a baby. My mind was racing, wondering if she was the one? Then the head nurse said, “Where is the mother”? I said she is in Canada and will be coming soon, she looked me over again and said “so who will look after the baby till she comes” I nervously said, I will along with some maids at my home in Manzini, she frowned a bit and I assured her that I have 4 other kids and was able to do this. She looked at me again and said, “Ok where is your baby carrier and all the things you will need to look after her”?

I said in the car, she said, “ok go and get it and show me. I ran back to the car and grabbed everything and brought it in, she pulled everything out of the dipper bag and then smiled and said” ok it looks like you have everything” At that moment I was whispering Thank you Jackie, as she was the one who put the diaper bag together for me before I left:)

Two of the nurses came over and took the bag and started pulling out all the stuff again, I could see that they liked everything they saw. They picked out an out fit and started to dress the baby, then I knew at that moment that she was the little one, so I went over and waited till they were done and then one of the nurses picked her up and handed her to me. I can’t tell you all the emotions that I went thru at that moment, I immediately called Jackie while I was just standing there to tell her I was holding her baby girl:) she started weeping for joy. I tried to hang on to it in front of the nurses but with little success.

Now that we have her, the next part of the process has begun. I changed my return ticket home from Dec 23rd to Jan 13th, this is when Jackie and Kieara will fly down to Swaziland and the older 3 kids will stay home with Jackie's mom until I fly home on the 13th to ship 3 containers and then return to Swaziland with the rest of the kids on the first of Feb. We will stay in Swaziland until the first week or so of April when the adoption process will be completed and Caela Theresia Temhlanga (pronounced Temshlangya) Brosseuk is all ours and we can go home with our newest addition to the family.

Ray

On Christmas eve I was sitting at Mfana’s house (the young man who we are working with here to help with all the distribution) a container that we shipped at the end on Oct arrived, it drove in and the driver jumped out and said you got 4 hrs to unload it. We made a few quick calls and in a matter of minutes 12 young men from the community were there to help. It took us 3 hrs to unload it, we put everything into the two containers we had on the ground there and now we are ready for some more distribution.

We put together our first micro financing project last week:) 15 ladies from one of the near by community came together with a plan to help the orphans of their community. The plan was to raise goats and sell them, They said they would come up with 3 goats each and all they needed was the money to buy some more goats, plus a large breeding male goat, a special kind from South Africa which is better for meat. The money needed was also for constructing a building and an enclosure for the goats and medicines.

We read the business plan and it sounded really good so we started asking around to see if we could get some people back home to fund it, We had a few people say they were interested but they never came through so Jackie decided to supply the $2,700 cnd her self to get it started (I am still trying to figure out were she got the money from????) We purchase 36 more goats and all the fencing posts and the wire to build the enclosure and all the timber, roofing tin and wire mesh to build the building for the goats. It is all set up now and the 15 ladies of the community are herding goats, will fill you in on the success of this micro project as we await baby goats:) The ladies say because we bought them so many more goats they will have no problem pay back the loan Jackie gave them.

We are working on another plan and I will share it with shortly.

Ray

Ray and Jackie -

You are my heroes. You bring so much light and hope to the world that I am sure the sun doesn't set when you are in town. Your faith blows my mind and the minds of everyone I tell about you.

Thank you for being. Thank you for showing all of us how it is done.

All of my love and respect... Linda

Miracles of miracles, I bought a new cell phone and managed to hook it up to my computer and I'm stting in our house in Swaziland right now on the internet. :):):):)

Only 2 rand per Megabit (25 cents) and it's real fast.

Ray

I drove Heather and Eswen over to Lesotho on Sat the 29th and met up with Memello and Ben again.

One of the containers we sent in Nov had arrived for ADRA Lesotho and the other will be landing at Memellos in 2 weeks. I only stayed one night and then drove back to Joberg to return the rental car, then flew back to Swaziland.

I purchased 2 vehicles last week, one for the charity to use full time and one for us. The charity one is a Volkswagen Van, seats 10 for 30,000 rand ($5,000 U.S.) and ours is a Volkswagen Fox car, don’t know what it is about Volkswagens, just got a great deal on both of them:)

Well I was gone; Mfana and the boys went out and put a new roof on a small mud hut for an old lady in their village. They said it was so bad, that there were only a few sq feet in one corner were she could sit and hide from the rain and as many of you know, when it rains here, it rains.

Ray

We went and did a distribution on New Year’s Day to about 180 People in an area about a half hour from our property. Over a hundred of them were children who were either orphans or from single parent homes. I was so impressed with Mfana and the boys they had a real system going that was so organized and efficient.

I quickly new by watching them that they truly care for their people and that we had joined up with the right guys. They quickly identified 4 young girls in the village that were between the ages of 13 and 17. These girls were left to raise their younger brothers and sisters because their parents had died of Aids, one of them was looking after 5 siblings, the others had 3 to look after and one of them had just had a baby of her own.

The boys took them aside first and gave them soup mix and clothes. They talked to them about their situation and asked them so many questions about their families, how far along in school did they get, before they had to drop out. They asked if their homes were safe and weather proof, did their parents leave them any gardens, chickens or goats? I stood there with tears in my eyes as they each told their story and it was the same for all of them, their houses are falling down and leaking and they had to sell everything their parents left, to try and survive. They were all very concerned about trying to send their brothers and sisters to school but didn’t know how they could do it.

I was so proud of the boys when they told the girls that we are their family now and we will be there for them and if they need help or are in trouble, they must call. Mfana found one of the grandmothers of the village and told her that she must watch over these girls from now on and report back to us if they need anything. Then he asked which one of the women in the village does sewing and would be willing to teach these girls how to so, when a lady stepped forward he instructed her to come to his place to pick up lots of fabric and to return to the village and teach these girls how to sew and to sell the garments, so they will have a means of income.

He turned to me and said this is what Community Conextions will be; we will find the most vulnerable of a community and help them first. He said these girls need the hope and security of knowing someone care for them and will help them through the terrible struggle life has put upon them, they need to know that they don’t have to give away their bodies to survive they need to know they can hold there heads up high and be proud young women of the community.

Next they called the grandmothers forward who are looking after orphans and distributed goods to them and then to the others in the village who were struggling. The whole day was so amazing and I am proud to be apart of such a dedicated group of young men.

Ray

i somehow missed this thread until today. Ray and Jackie, you are angels on Earth....i wish you all a blessed New Year and thank you so much for sharing your spirit with us here.

and great job Meron on container!!! Do you think you could teach me how to do such a thing here in Franklin?

3 weeks ago the boys and I were talking again about the real need for our own piece of land to be able to build a distribution warehouse on.

The area of Swaziland we are interested in is so beautiful, it’s situated at the base of the mountains in the Ezelwini valley where a large river is running by, making it a very green and fertile area. We decided to go to the Chief of Mahlanya village (pronounced Mashlangya), we asked if he would give us some land, he said lots of foreign groups have asked him for land and he has watched many of them over the years and they never stay very long, so why should I give them land? I was starting to feel a little down as I listened to him but I decided that if we were supposed to have a piece of land here, it would work out somehow?

Then he said that he has watched us for almost 2 years now and he can see that all the people of Swaziland are benefiting from our work, not just his people, so yes he will give us a large piece of land :) and it will be close to the road so our containers can easily reach it. He took us down and showed us the land, which also included a fresh water spring. This spring was the original source of water for the village years ago. The land is absolutely perfect and the spring is quite big, I will need to try and find a water purification system to install at the spring and then all the people nearby will have clean drinking water. The land is situated right next to the very first group of orphans Jackie and I helped when we first came to Swaziland. It’s the place were we bought the water tank for the orphans.

Ray

Our new Daughter!!!

That's Heather's hand in the pic :)

I can't wait to kiss this baby!!!

Congratulations to all of you - what a stunningly gorgeous and "meant to be" story. WOW. :)

It.s 10:26am Sunday morning and the little angel is napping on the floor beside me:)

26 minutes after midnight at home, just finished talking to Jackie as she needed to get some sleep. She is coming over to Swaziland with Keiara next week to switch places with me:) I will head home for two weeks, ship a few containers and then come back with the rest of the kids for a 2 to 3 month stay, we want to make sure the whole plan with the charity work is well under way before we head home.

Ray

The boys started at 6am yesterday morning sorting clothes and then we went to a rural area in the southern part of Swaziland and did a distrubution to over 700 people

It was one of the biggest distrubutions we have ever done and it had a few challenges but it went well. It took over 40 bales of clothes to make sure everyone got at least 4 garments each and two barrels of soup mix in order to make sure all the people looking after orphans and the elderly got some.

We blew the water pump on the volkswagen on the way there and left it on the side of the road, everyone climbed into the back of the 4 ton truck on top of all the clothes. After the distrubution we went and loaded the van onto the back of the truck and carried it home, reached home and fixed it, all done by 7:30pm.

All in a long days work in Swaziland:)

Ray