Gifts come from the most unexpected places.

Home Share Hope Blog Gifts come from the most unexpected places.

Gifts come from the most unexpected places.

October 25, 2025

This has been a very hard season to raise the funds we need to feed our children, pay our staff, put diesel in our vehicles, and do all the other things that need to be done to provide for 456 children and 470 employees.

I understand the global strife that is causing financial insecurity, and I trust that God will provide—but wow, some days are harder than others. And these days are hard. I know that I am stressed when the stye on my eye appears, and I think I’m getting ulcers, but then Ian reminds me to take deep breaths and “leave it at the cross.” That seems too “Christian-eze” to me, but I know that is what I’m supposed to do. It’s all God’s money, and we just pray that hearts, minds, and bank accounts will be opened so that we can continue the mission.

Then gifts arrived from the most unlikely places.

A month ago, Ian and I sat beside a woman in South Africa and started talking about what we do. She quickly looked up our website and watched our overview video. She saw the homes that we are building, and we talked about the high school, and she immediately said she wanted to help. Within minutes, our new friend, Sue Lammas-Hadcroft, had committed to providing all the toilet stalls for the high school and all the toilet and shower stalls for Emseni #11—at cost! This gift was so unexpected and is saving us thousands of dollars (and frankly, a lot of time). Her team has already done the drawings, met with our construction team, and has a plan in place to execute.

LOTS of people come and visit and say that they are going to do things; sadly, very few do what they say they are going to do. Thank you, Sue! We look forward to celebrating your 60th with you in May!

Just before I sat to write this blog, we had a visit from the General Manager of Tex Ray Industrial Company here in Eswatini. He and a couple of his staff arrived with 200 articles of children’s clothing and 50 fleece blankets and wanted to know more about what we do. They need skilled and unskilled labor in their two giant factories, and he would like to start building some of that workforce in our high school.

Sometimes it’s the little things. Our kids want more drums. They love to play them, and we never have enough. The staff know how to make drums out of old cans or containers and cow skins. Unfortunately, none of our dairy cows want to share their skins with us, so we looked for another solution. We contacted our neighbors and friends at Beef Boys and asked if they might donate skins for our kids to start drying to be made into drums. Yesterday, they donated SIX of them—that would have cost us almost $200 USD. Every penny counts in what we do, and we are very thankful for the support we are starting to get locally.