of Timbali Crafts since the beginning. She was abandoned 6 years ago
when her husband decided to take a 2nd wife and she now lives by herself
on a small piece of land in the rural area where AIM works. When
Jabulile first started living on the land (technically owned by her
husband but culturally he has to allow the 1st wife to live
on his land) it was still overgrown with trees, brush, etc. Jabulile
cleared the land herself, and was able to piece together a small house
made from sticks, mud, cardboard and some scraps of corrugated metal.
It is literally falling down. Jabulile can’t even sleep in her house at
night for fear of what might happen if a strong wind came up or if
someone broke in. Every night she sleeps at her friend Juliet’s house
(another Timbali woman) down the road.
start making plans to build her a new house. She’s told me before that
she has purchased some supplies for the house, but I was so surprised to
see the piles of concrete blocks stacked around her house. For
three years Jabulile has been saving money from what she receives from
her sewing for Timbali Crafts and she has been able to purchase 600
blocks-half of what is needed to build a small two room home
(w/out water or electric). What a picture of patience and perseverance.
We’re hoping that now we can come alongside Jabulile and provide the
rest of what she needs to get a new home. Pastor Walter (the main Pastor
AIM works with in that area of Swaziland) was with us and said that the
men from their church could volunteer their time to build, if we could
help finish buying the supplies. Just that morning in his sermon he had
said, “If you see something that needs to be done, do it.” “Now we will
put it into practice,” he said. I just talked to Walter again today, and
he said the men of the church have already started digging the
foundation of the house.
Jabulile’s house is $1500. If
you’d like to donate toward the cost of building a house for Jabulile,
follow this link: https://www.adventures.org/give/donate.asp?giveto=swazi&multi=
(Choose Swazi Craft Co-op in the drop down menu, and put Jabulile’s
house in the comment section)
Juliet was also with us during our visit. What was so beautiful to me
was seeing how excited Juliet was for Jabulile. Juliet has her own
struggles. Her husband, who had also abandoned her several years ago for
another woman, died and left her to pay for all of the burial and
funeral expenses. There was a legal battle over which woman would
receive the husband’s death benefit from his employer. Juliet was
homebound for several months for the obligatory “time or mourning” until
the matter was settled and the husband could be buried. Finally, Juliet
received the death benefit and was able to pay for the burial and
funeral, and build herself a new house! Juliet has seen the
Lord sustain her and provide, and now she is rejoicing in hope with her
friend.
So many of the Timbali women have stories similar to Jabulile’s and
Juliet’s. Another woman has had 4 family members pass away since the
beginning of the year. Another talked with me about the anger she
struggles with because her husband has at least 7 children with other
women, two of which have been abandoned by their mother and are now
living in her home and she is now their care giver. These situations are
almost unimaginable to me, but pretty much the norm for women here.
These ladies are of course, notperfect, but I’m always amazed at the way
these ladies persevere, even smile in the midst of hardships, and serve
others everyday. Please keep praying that God would be their source of
strength and encouragement!!
