Hello from Eswatini!
Today I am writing to tell you about a little baby named Liam.
Liam came to us when he was 5 weeks old. He was premature, arriving at only 31 weeks, so technically he was 36 weeks when he came to us. He is a really little guy and has a really huge umbilical hernia. Once he was a few months old we planned to take him to the hospital to see if they could do early surgery on it, but instead he got a bad chest infection and needed immediate hospitalization for his lungs.
A couple of days after he was admitted, our Auntie (who goes and stays with the baby) reported that his toe was turning dark black, and that there were large bubbles of something on his ankle. It was likely caused by a problematic IV, which had been removed. The toe was looking bad (graphic photo below) and we feared the worst – possible toe or foot amputation if it continued.
We prayed, our team prayed and we waited for a change. A week later the toe was starting to “pink up” on the bottom, so we thought we might only lose the top of it, which was clearly dead. He was discharged and came home to heal. A week later I was notified that there was pus coming out of the bottom of the toe in different little pockets.
We rushed him back to the hospital and he continues to be on antibiotics. As I write this, his toe seems to be healing, but we are keeping a really close eye on it. Oh, the things that we have learned!
In other news we had a group of volunteers here for the past month and we are thrilled to share that we now have a proper bike park for our older kids. The rocky roads are REALLY hard on our tires and bikes (and knees and elbows) so this park will do several things. It should help keep our bikes in better shape, it will keep the kids off the busy roads on the farm and will create another area for competition. I have told you before, our kids are VERY competitive! We often speak to our swimmers about how important it is to beat their personal best (not necessarily win). This is an area where we can emphasis this too.
John and Frank Peters are responsible for creating this new and exciting bike park. They have also done a lot of research into what would be the best bikes for us to have for the kids on this terrain. Even with this park, they still need to ride TO the park. If you are a cycling enthusiast, and want to be kept in the loop on this topic, please email me at Janine@heartforafrica.org and I’ll add you to my communication list.
Last, but certainly not least, our kids competed in the Eswatini National Swim Gala last weekend and we are proud to announce our winners! The results from the end of year National Swim Gala are…
- Leah – 3 Gold, 2 Silver & 1 Bronze. She placed 3rd overall for Junior Girls in final points!
- Rachel – 3 Gold & 1 Silver
- Portia – 2 Gold & 2 Silver
- Joy – 2 Gold & 1 Silver
- Esther – 1 Gold & 3 Bronze. Esther just turned 13 so is not competing against older girls!
- Emmanuel – 1 Gold
Congratulations everyone!! We are so proud of these kids! 
Janine