A Timbali Purse for My Birthday

Last month I celebrated yet another birthday.  My husband usually showers me with lots of gifts...you know, all the things you wouldn't necessarily buy for yourself and then some.  I never know what to expect.  May is a biggie for me because it's Mother's Day, my Birthday and also mine and Todd's anniversary.  So I pretty much get the royal treatment over a period of a couple of weeks!

Recently we were at a big craft show with lots of vendors and what a wonderful surprise to find out that Timbali had a booth there!  We were busy selling our Chloe's Closet stuff but unknown to me, my daughter Hannah snuck over there and bought me this beautiful purse!  She knew how much I loved all of the purses from Timbali crafts....we have been on their website many times dreaming of which purses we would buy if we had the extra money and we also spent time reading about the many women in Swaziland that are being helped by this program.

My purse was made by a woman named Jabulile

"Jabulile Gamedze is 46 years old, the mother of 11 children, and was widowed in 1998. Jabulile cares for all 5 of her grandchildren, one who is an orphan and the others who have been abandoned by their parents. Jabulile has one son that is employed and lives in her home". 

"Jabulile has volunteered at her neighborhood care point since 2002, and says she wants to help stop poverty, and offer education to the children at the care point who can’t go to school. In 2008 she lost most of her possesions in a house fire. Jabulile Nkambule is 42 years old. She is married, but her husband has left her to take another wife. She has no children and lives by herself. Jabulile has volunteered at her neighborhood care point for orphans and vulnerable children since 2002. Jabulile takes care of a nephew who has been very sick and is HIV positive. She started volunteering because she loves children and has never had any of her own". 


Here is a video that will show you a bit about the program:

"In a country where 2/3 of the population lives on less an a dollar a day, many of the Timbali women earn between $70 and $100 a month. Money earned by the Timbali women goes to help with the basic needs of their families such as school fees, medical care, food, and housing. The women are also assisted in saving throughout the year, in preparation for school fees due each January".


"The women themselves face many hardships: most are either widowed or abandoned, many are single mothers, or grandmothers raising their orphaned grandchildren. Timbali Crafts was started in 2006 to help reach out to the physical and spiritual needs of these hard-working women and their families who would otherwise have little or none".


I absolutely LOVE my Timbali purse!  Check out their website....you can see all of the different kinds of bags and purses these ladies make and you can read about each of them and see how Timbali has helped them to provide for their family and to have a better life!  I would much rather buy a purse from one of these women than buy one off the shelf at a local store....they make great gifts too!


May you be blessed by these ladies and by the Timbali organization.....isn't about time you got a new purse?!  =)


Have a great day.....
Wendy

The Lazarus Effect

(Red) The Lazarus Effect

In the Bible, in the Gospel of John, Jesus raises a man named Lazarus from the dead, in in essence that's what ARV drugs are doing for people with AIDS.  These survivors are examples of what is being hailed as "The Lazarus Effect".

~Dedicated to providing life saving drugs to Africans with AIDS~

This program would not be possible without the efforts of foundations such as the "Global Fund" who gets most of its financing from world governments....but a growing portion is now coming from Western retailers.

The idea behind (Red) is simple: Participating companies which currently include American Express, Apple, Armani, Gap, Motorola and Converse (a subsidiary of Nike), sell (Red)-branded products. Forty percent of the gross profits from those sales to go providing free ARVs to Africans with AIDS.

Buy a $170 pair of sunglasses and save the world?  What a concept.

From the website Joinred.com:

Red is not a charity.  It is simply a business model. You buy (Red) stuff, we get the money, buy the pills and distribute them. They take the pills, continue to stay alive and take care of their families and contribute socially and economically to their communities.  If they don't get the pills, they die. We don't want them to die. We want to give them the pills and we can. And you can. It's easy. 

"As first-world consumers, we have tremendous power. What we collectively choose to buy, or not to buy, can change the course of life and history on the planet."

Approximately 30 million people in Sub-Saharan Africa are HIV positive but widespread poverty prevents the majority of them from receiving the anti-retroviral drugs that have improved life for millions who are living with the disease.  On Monday, May 24th HBO premiered "The Lazarus Effect", a documentary by Lance Bangs, that follows four HIV-positive Zambia residents and shows how treatment has changed their lives.

Thanks to the efforts of non-profit organizations, ARVs have become much cheaper to obtain, dropping from $27 day in 2002 to about 40 cents per day today.

I realize that this program is over a half an hour long and you might not have time to watch it. I think they did a great job on it, so if you do happen to have some spare time, I encourage you to check it out.  

I just have to say that this program is amazing considering my post from a few days ago and the growing concern that the funding is running out for all of the many programs in Africa that are helping those with HIV.  

I'm going to start thinking more about where my money is going....

Maybe I could be helping to save a life!

Where is your money going?

Have a great day....

Wendy

Sad News About the HIV/AIDS Crisis In Africa

For the last 10 years or so treatment for HIV/AIDS has become more and more accessible to those that needed it the most.  Drugs that once cost $12,000 a year are now less than $100, and people from all over the world were willing to donate money to help build medical centers and to fund the supply of medication that would go to help countless victims of the dreaded disease.

Sadly the tide is changing......

In Uganda, only about 200,000 people are receiving treatment out of 500,000 that are HIV positive, and each year an additional 110,000 are infected..  Even with these staggering statistics, Uganda was the first country where major clinics started routinely turning people away.

Also.....

*In Kenya, grants to keep 200,000 people on drugs will expire soon with no promise of renewal

*An American-run program in Mozambique has been told to stop opening clinics. 

*There have been drug shortages in Nigeria and Swaziland. 

*Tanzania and Botswana are lowering the amount of people they are treating

The global recession has had a huge effect on donors.  There is a growing sense that more lives would be saved by fighting cheaper diseases like pneumonia, diarrhea, malaria, measles and tetanus. Cures for those killers, like antibiotics, mosquito nets, rehydration salts, water filters, shots and deworming pills, cost only 1 to 10 dollars.  Obama's new Global Health Initiative plan demonstrates this shift in focus to mother-and-child health care programs. The U.S. AIDS budget was only increased by 2 percent.  

Unfortunately the number of people infected by AIDS grows by a million a year but the money for treatment has stopped growing. According to the United Nations, for every 100 people put on treatment, 250 are newly infected.

I was floored by this information!  I mean, I knew it was bad....but really, I thought things were supposed to be getting better!  Are you kidding me?!  What do you do about a situation like this?  If someone doesn't do something.....will there be any people left in Africa in a few years?  Things aren't getting better....they're getting worse!


Along with this very sad HIV/AIDS news comes the fact that worldwide more than 15 million children have been orphaned due to AIDS.  One every 15 seconds, to be exact....

Over 5,500 each and every day.


AND...

Children are being left to take care of children.

Here is a short YouTube video documentary about some of Africa's children that are trying to carry on after their parents have died.

My heart was changed in November of 2008 when for the first time I actually saw, heard and acknowledged the situation in Africa....and have I ever mentioned Haiti?  Oh, I had heard it all before, but did I really?  It was so easy to just let it go and easily put it out of my mind.....it's not for me to worry about, I thought.  What can I do?  I'm just one person. 


 Something happened that day in Nov. 08 and now there is no turning back.  Here are the words to one of the songs that really hits home for me:


I saw what I saw and I can't forget it
I heard what I heard and I can't go back
I know what I know and I can't deny it

We've done what we've done and we can't erase it
We are what we are and it's more than enough
We have what we have but it's no substitution 

I say what I say with no hesitation
I have what I have and I'm giving it up
I do what I do with deep conviction 

   

Something on the road
Cut me to the soul 

Your pain has changed me
Your dream inspires
Your face a memory
Your hope a fire

Your courage asks me what I'm made of
And what I know of love....

~Sara Groves

Have you been changed yet?

Wendy

We Are Number Four!!!

Yesterday afternoon we found out that the family that had been sitting at the #1 spot for quite a few months and had been on the waiting list for 16 months......finally got "The Call"!  Yep....they are now parents-in-waiting to a precious 1 month old baby girl!  So this bumps us up to the #4 spot.  Since this is the second referral that I've heard of in the last couple of days I am hoping that there will be more to come.  Another waiting family mentioned last night that they were told by our agency that there are currently 8 babies with paperwork pending....but only 2 of them are girls  =(    So I am not holding out any hope that our referral will come within this batch of referrals but at least we are moving up closer to the top of the list!

Another development in the Ethiopian adoption realm is the policy change of PAP's (prospective adoptive parents) to have to make two trips to Ethiopia!  This is huge because your talking something like this adding anywhere from $2,500-$5,000, or more, added to your list of adoption expenses!  Rumors started trickling in a few weeks ago on this but everyone was holding out hope that it wouldn't really go into effect.  What has happened to cause this is that there have been parents that have traveled over there to bring their child home and when they arrived they found themselves in a situation that they didn't expect.  Their child (that is legally theirs at this point) turns out to be in a totally different state of health than what their agency or orphanage proclaimed them to be.  I read stories about a couple of families that this happened to, one family didn't bring their child back home and one actually did but ended up finding another home for the child later.  These kids were found to have many undisclosed problems, a few were severe, and the families weren't approved for (by their homestudy social worker) or equipped to handle a child with special needs.  

At the beginning of this I was thinking "Why would just a few families make this big of a change in Ethiopian policy"?  Then I talked to my social worker and she told me that it was actually about 45 families in a 6 month period!!  Unbelievable!  So my immediate thought is that this must have been because of just one dishonest agency....but it wasn't!  There were a few agencies and several orphanages being investigated and the end result was that 9 orphanages had their licenses suspended and all of the children were relocated to other facilities.  

So the way it stands now, until further notice, if you don't have a court date before May 9, 2010 you will have to travel to Ethiopia to meet your child and attend the court hearing where your child becomes legally yours.  Usually you give your agency's lawyer power of attorney and he/she stands in for you so that you don't have to be there.  But it looks like we will be traveling twice and the worst thing of all is the fact that we will have to leave our child there and come back home for 1-3 months while the rest of the paperwork is being done.  Ugh.  THAT'S gonna be tough.  I don't mind having to go over there twice....that just gives us more time to spend in Ethiopia....and I really love traveling.....what I do mind is the added cost, having to leave my other kiddos here at home, and also having to leave Amayah after being able to finally hold her and kiss her......

Guess I'll just make like Scarlett O' Hara and "I'll think about this, tomorrow".......

Have a good day.....

Wendy

Drawn From water

"My team and I faced an incredible dilemma; 

do we take action and become responsible for a life, or do we do nothing and let a child die? It didn’t take us very long to make our choice, and ultimately not just 

one life was saved but six". 

Drawn from Water from Drawn From Water on Vimeo.

To read the first-hand account from Kristen, a member of Youth With a Mission, about the rescue of Bale—a girl the tribe considered "Mingi" or cursed—in February of 2009, click on title and/or use link below:

http://www.drawnfromwater.org/the-story

Madonna Update--Denied Adoption

Taken from Comcast news:

Madonna will not be allowed to adopt a second child from Malawi, a 4-year-old girl named Mercy James, the African country's High Court ruled on Friday. The ruling will please campaigners who say authorities have given the singer special treatment. Malawi's government, which came under fire after Madonna adopted a 13-month-old Malawian boy, had said on Thursday it would support a second adoption. Court registrar Ken Manda told reporters Madonna's bid to adopt Mercy had been rejected because the star was not a resident of Malawi.

An AIDS epidemic in the impoverished southern African country has orphaned more than one million children. In her ruling, Judge Esimie Chombo warned against celebrity adoptions, saying they could lead to child trafficking. "Anyone could come to Malawi and quickly arrange for an adoption that might have grave consequences on the very children that the law seeks to protect," she said.

Madonna's lawyer, Alan Chinula, said she would lodge an appeal with the Supreme Court on Friday. Her London spokeswoman was not immediately available for comment.

Malawian rights groups, who accused the government of skirting residency laws when Madonna adopted David Banda in 2006, also opposed the latest adoption attempt. Prominent rights activist Mavuto Bamusi defined said the decision was a "defining moment for child protection" but urged the pop star to continue her charity work."We finally appeal to Madonna to take this positively and continue to help the children of this country," he told Reuters. Malawian Information Minister Patricia Kaliati said on Thursday that Madonna had helped in the country and was a worthy mother who was supporting over 25,000 orphans here. Madonna's charity, Raising Malawi, plans to build a multi-million dollar school for girls in Chikhota village, about 12 km (7 miles) outside Lilongwe.

Madonna, accompanied by David, arrived in Malawi on Sunday ahead of the court examination of her application. The star, who was divorced last year from British film director Guy Ritchie, is one of the most successful singers of all time, with album sales of more than 200 million.

(Reporting by Mabvuto Banda; Writing by Michael Georgy; Editing by Louise Ireland)

I Am Because We Are

Madonna, 50 and now single, is causing quite a stir because she is heading to Malawi where she is planning to adopt another child.  She started a charity in Malawi called Raising Malawi. Through this charity she had filed adoption papers for a baby girl, whose identity has not been revealed.  All is set for the adoption; all the paperwork is ready.

Madonna recently told Malawi's Nation newspaper that she wants a sister for her son David, 3, whom she adopted from the country. "Many people – especially our Malawian friends – say that David should have a Malawian brother or sister," she told the paper in a rare interview. "It's something I have been considering, but would only do if I had the support of the Malawian people and government."

For more information on the charity Madonna started and also the documentary she made, click on the title above. This is the trailer for her documentary: