“It’s just a little prick it won’t hurt” was the resounding Siswati words from the nurses at the local clinic in Backdoor today. In the last few weeks there has been an outbreak of the measles here in our local community. In the west most people are vaccinated and so when one gets it then there is not a big scare but here in Backdoor it is being passed around very quickly. The underlying issue is that you are contagious up to 4 days before you actually break out with spots and approx 3 days after many people have it and do not know.

Last week one of our long term Missionaries from the US spent the week in the hospital and as she said there was a time she cried “Jesus take me home.” Since it was so bad. She broke out in a fever, was vomiting horribly and was in bed for a week. She is luckly out of hospital now but will take some time to regain her strength.


KIDS IN LANDROVER

So we decided the children needed to get their vaccinations. We went to Michael’s Children’s Village packed 3 adults and ALL the children in the Land Rover and went to the local clinic. As we drove there the children were laughing and chatting and signing along. We started to see small bodies walking away from the clinic rubbing their arms and the mood got a bit more serious…



THE ANTICIPATION LINE-UP

All the children were lined up along the wall youngest to oldest. The nurse then came by and put a black marker on two of their finger nails on their left hand(don’t really know why) and then three children were ushered in at once. The first were the youngest whom my self and Tryphina held and they cried just a bit so the older children were not too afraid but very alert. Then a little 5 year old girl goes in and in fact pulls her arm away from the nurse and needs to be held close and then she whales…oh the mood got so much more serious... One after another the once happy children filed in for their doomed fate of a small prick. The oldest boys came out with a “that did not hurt” while the girls seemed to have been taken out by the whole situation.



SIYABONGA THE YOUNGEST

Before you knew it we were piling back in the vehicle and each child received a sweetie and we were off. They were all rubbing their arms and talking and laughing once again. Tryphina decided to drive past the children’s village into the wooded area to, as one of the kids said, “We are going for a cruise!” as a bit of a treat to reward them for their hard day. Once at the children’s village it was life as usual; the boys went for a rugby match, the younger children got some bubbles, and I went around giving out gold star stickers to them all.

A day in the life of these little children is so similar and yet so different to those in the West. We ask you to pray for their little lives- for hope for a future filled with joy. For the experience of the love of Jesus today and peace as they come and go to the place they now call home!