{"id":116561,"date":"2016-04-22T15:34:54","date_gmt":"2016-04-22T15:34:54","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/alp-wp.lndo.site\/?p=116561"},"modified":"2016-04-22T15:34:54","modified_gmt":"2016-04-22T15:34:54","slug":"april-2016","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/alp-wp.lndo.site\/2016\/04\/22\/april-2016\/","title":{"rendered":"April 2016"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"\u201cWhat do you do with the money we send?\u201d<\/em><\/h3>\n

Good question!\u00a0 And\u00a0rightfully asked.\u00a0 Here\u2019s some Q&A\u00a0that may guide your prayers.<\/p>\n

Last November, 6-year old Vusi was climbing a tree one afternoon\u00a0in search of a mango (or 12) to eat.\u00a0 (Would you scale a tree, chancing an\u00a0encounter with wasps or snakes, and come down with only one?)\u00a0 Not sure how it happened, but Vusi fell from\u00a0the tree and jammed his left arm in a bad way.\u00a0We determined it was serious enough to take him to the local\u00a0(government) clinic, who referred him on to the hospital which is a half-hour\u2019s\u00a0drive away.\u00a0 His caregiver took him, in a\u00a0vehicle we own and not on public transport.\u00a0They took an Xray, wrapped his elbow in one roll of gauze, plus a sling,\u00a0and told his caregiver it was bruised.\u00a0Two weeks later, the swelling and pain were unabated, with\u00a0range-of-motion still at zero.<\/p>\n

So here\u2019s the philosophical question:\u00a0 What should we do?\u00a0 We are not here to do a \u201cmedical\/health-care\u00a0work.\u201d\u00a0 We\u2019ve seen our calling to provide\u00a0a safe, nurturing, and self-supporting residence for children orphaned or\u00a0abandoned at a young age.\u00a0 And to\u00a0integrate that piece into a community of institutions (schools, churches,\u00a0health care, etc.) that will be there for the long term.\u00a0 However, as in all developing countries,\u00a0there is another layer of health care available, – – the private clinics,\u00a0doctors, and hospitals.\u00a0 This extends\u00a0across the border to South Africa with its top class health care for those who\u00a0can afford it.\u00a0 (We\u2019ve benefited from the\u00a0latter, as have most all missionaries across Southern Africa, i.e., making it\u00a0unnecessary for us to fly to our 1st-world home countries for\u00a0specialised care.).\u00a0 So what should we\u00a0do?<\/p>\n

After two weeks we chose to opt up a level for Vusi.\u00a0 It\u2019s not the first time we\u2019ve done so, – -for children or our staff.\u00a0 Plus we\u2019d\u00a0seen several permanently disfigured elbows in the community that apparently\u00a0failed to get proper diagnosis and treatment.<\/p>\n

Proper diagnosis at Mbabane Private Clinic, by a Nigerian\u00a0GP, established that there was indeed a fracture close to the end of one bone\u00a0in the elbow.\u00a0 The orthopaedic surgeon, a\u00a0Zambian trained in the UK, prescribed an open reduction procedure with\u00a0fixation.\u00a0 A month later Peter took him\u00a0for the removal of the pins.\u00a0 Now Vusi is\u00a0back to his usual high-energy, scatter-shot, movements all over the farm, and\u00a0the range of motion is returning to his elbow.\u00a0Though much cheaper than a similar procedure in the USA, it cost a pile\u00a0of money.\u00a0 On New Life Home\u2019s income\u00a0stream, we\u2019re still paying it off four months later.<\/p>\n

So what should we have done?<\/p>\n

In the affluent world, the ultimate in modern health care is considered\u00a0\u201ca basic right.\u201d\u00a0 It\u2019s not here!! \u00a0But have we now established an expectation\u00a0that won\u2019t be sustainable after the missionaries are gone?\u00a0 An example of why your prayers for wisdom on\u00a0our behalf are needed!<\/p>\n

Are you still growing, i.e., receiving new placements?<\/em><\/h3>\n

Another good question!<\/p>\n

In early March, a social worker from one of the cities\u00a0called to request placement for three girls, aged nearly-two, four years, and six, – – all siblings. \u00a0We have been\u00a0full.\u00a0 But now some of older youth are in\u00a0the process of \u2018launching\u2019 their independent lives, creating space here.<\/p>\n

Which brings up another question we struggle with. \u00a0How much should be share of the backstory of\u00a0these children\u2019s lives?\u00a0 Some children\u00a0we\u2019re not free to publish any information as their particular situation is too\u00a0sensitive for legal or cultural reasons.\u00a0For the others, are we \u201cmarketing\u201d the stories of children and their\u00a0various traumas for the sake of fund-raising and organisational survival (or\u00a0profit).\u00a0 Some facts are perhaps\u00a0impossible to explain from this cultural situation.\u00a0 Some may cause anger, cultural arrogance,\u00a0revulsion, affluence guilt, etc.\u00a0 Some of\u00a0our neighbors resent the outsiders who appear to have made a career of bringing\u00a0shame to their cultures and families through the retelling of various\u00a0tragedies.\u00a0 And the photos, do they\u00a0always have to be so pathetic?<\/p>\n

These concerns are legitimate and we also squirm with what\u00a0we sometimes see going out for public consumption.\u00a0 But how to avoid \u201cthe excesses of charity\u201d is\u00a0not a line that is easy to discern.\u00a0 Feel\u00a0free to share your ideas, cautions, or questions back to us as a way of keeping\u00a0our perspective and practices in the best possible format.<\/p>\n

This photo will also introduce you to our newest\u00a0house-mother, Phumzile (POOM-ZEE-LEH) Nhlabatsi.\u00a0 She started with us back in September.\u00a0 She\u2019s quickly gaining understanding of the\u00a0business side of New Life Homes, and at home she\u2019s a star!!\u00a0 The girls in her house have blossomed under\u00a0her loving input.\u00a0 And she really wanted\u00a0a \u201cnew little one.\u201d\u00a0 She had to take\u00a0three, but is doing a super job with these three that do have a sad story and\u00a0need lots of loving attention.<\/p>\n

Please pray for wisdom for Phumzile, restoration for the\u00a0souls of these three girls, and God\u2019s continued provision for this ministry.<\/p>\n

Thanks for all you do to make this possible.\u00a0 It\u2019s an honor to be here.<\/p>\n

In His grace,
\nPeter & Mary Jean Kopp
\nCo-Founders\u00a0New Life Children\u2019s\u00a0Homes<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u201cWhat do you do with the money we send?\u201d Good question!\u00a0 And\u00a0rightfully asked.\u00a0 Here\u2019s some Q&A\u00a0that may guide your prayers. Last November, 6-year old Vusi was climbing a tree one afternoon\u00a0in search of a mango (or 12) to eat.\u00a0 (Would you scale a tree, chancing an\u00a0encounter with wasps or snakes, and come down with only […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[2],"tags":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/alp-wp.lndo.site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/116561"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/alp-wp.lndo.site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/alp-wp.lndo.site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/alp-wp.lndo.site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/alp-wp.lndo.site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=116561"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/alp-wp.lndo.site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/116561\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/alp-wp.lndo.site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=116561"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/alp-wp.lndo.site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=116561"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/alp-wp.lndo.site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=116561"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}