We have a new site for the preschool!

Big news, everybody!

That's right, we have changed the site for our preschool. In a way, it is a little sad. We wanted to work in Vuvulane and help the children there. Unfortunately, the government officials there were not fully committed to a good partnership with us and were creating a lot of obstacles. This is often a problem when working in developing countries.

We always had a Plan B in mind, knowing that this was a potential outcome. We think it is a strength of our project that we are flexible enough to change course when it is best for the work we are doing. We are also very conscious of being wise with the money which our generous donors have been giving us. It will NOT go to waste!

That's what brings us now to ... Ntjanini!

This is Ntjanini. (The "T" is silent, and the "N" is just a quick sound at the beginning of the word.) It is a village in the Shiselweni Region of Swaziland.

-- Quick geography lesson! Swaziland is divided into 4 regions. Shiselweni is the one in the South. It is the poorest of Swaziland's regions and is mostly very rural. Some parts are mountainous and other parts are low and flat. Ntjanini is between the mountains and the low plains.

OK, back to our village. It has about 3600 people, it is very rural, and they have needed and wanted a preschool for a long time. They are SO excited about this project!

Except for these newborn kittens found in Ntjanini yesterday. They are only excited about milk.

Anyway, we'll be talking a lot about Ntjanini in the coming weeks. They have hopeful and longstanding plans for a preschool and we are happy to be partnering with them. Of course, if something happens during the planning time where we don't feel like our work can be completed effectively in that village, we will move on -- the work being done for the children is too important to get stuck in a situation where the efforts will be wasted.

Speaking of the kids ... here are a few in Ntjanini. See how they are making a toy car out of old wire. That's a common thing to do here; it's often the only toy that kids will have. These boys are all orphans.

Best of all, we have a site for the preschool where the land is already secured. This is a big step in Swaziland, and would save a lot of time. Here it is!

It doesn't look like much now, but imagine seeing a picture of this field in 9-10 months with a newly-finished preschool ... the first one this community will ever have had.

Those are the updates in Swaziland. Meanwhile, back in America, donations are continuing to come in. Thank you for being partners with us in this exciting effort. We hope more people will continue to contribute so we can reach our goal and bring some real goodness to a part of the world with so many needs.

Thanks for reading!

Challenges of working in Africa ...

... come in all shapes and sizes!

Unfortunately, our account with PayPal has been shut down.  They say that they are unable to work with charities that operate in certain countries which they have determined to be "high risk."  And Swaziland is on that list.

We're bummed about their decision and we hope it doesn't slow down our efforts to help vulnerable children and orphans in this country.  This is part of the process of working in Africa; you find yourself in a "high risk" country in more ways than one!  PayPal may be worried about the risk of fraud occurring in this country, but we're mostly concerned with the "high risk" of suffering and even death for the forgotten orphans here.

We hope that all of you will continue to join with us in our cause.  If you are interested in donating, there are still various ways to do it.  One is to send money directly to us via old-fashioned checks in the mail.  For those who would rather go the online route, we are working hard to have a new online payment system in place by early January.  Stay tuned!

And Merry Christmas to everybody!

Eric and Keri Dziuban's Christmas tree in Swaziland.

We're starting to grow!

Project 23.3 is gaining momentum!

- We now have a Facebook page -- go ahead and search for it (and then "like" it)!

- Generous donations keep coming in; one person is even giving a set amount out of each paycheck!

- Fundraising ideas are coming from all around as new partners join together with us to help make an impact for these children, and let them know that we haven't forgotten them at all.

- Our partners on the ground in Swaziland are working with the local community to make arrangements for finishing the preschool. Here is a picture of its current condition. As you can see, it still needs a lot of work. That's where we come in, and it's why your help matters a lot!

And here are some of the playful faces which could be filling the school once it finishes:

We're so excited that things are moving forward and we're working toward our goal in Vuvulane. If you are new to the site, check out the post below for more details about this project. There are real struggles and dangers every day for so many children in this village. We have the chance to give them something really positive that can impact their lives in a big way ... thanks for being a part of that!

A reminder that life in rural Swaziland can be very different than most of us are used to:

Let's keep working; these kids deserve our best effort!

What is Project 23.3?


Have you ever been to Swaziland?  Many people may have never even heard of this tiny African country.  Sitting tucked between Mozambique and South Africa, this small kingdom has an interesting history and faces enormous challenges in the present.

Swaziland has the world's LOWEST life expectancy.  The average lifespan for a Swazi is only 37 years!  A large part of this is due to the crisis of HIV/AIDS.  Swaziland has the world's HIGHEST rate of HIV infection in the world (26% of adults).  All of this leads to another very sad reality.  As of 2010, exactly 23.3% of the children in Swaziland are orphans.  This is where the name of our project comes from.  With so many orphans in a country with so much extreme poverty (60% of people in Swaziland live on less than $2 per day), there must be something that can be done to help.

(A woman in Vuvualne weaving a reed mat -- one of the few sources of income in the village.)

Every idea has to start somewhere.  For Project 23.3, the starting point is the small village of Vuvulane.  Sitting among the vast sugar cane fields in Eastern Swaziland, this village is about as different from life in middle class America as you can imagine.  There is no electricity.  There is no plumbing or running water.  Homes are made of reeds and mud bricks.  Children collect water from the nearby ponds.  Tragically, just in the last year, 2 children were killed by crocodiles while collecting water.  It's hard to imagine children who are more in need of a helping hand.



A Vuvulane girl, carrying water for drinking.



This is where we can come in to make a difference.  The people of Vuvulane have asked for help to build a preschool: a place where the small children can be safe during the day and begin an education -- probably the only thing which offers real hope for escaping this level of extreme poverty.  The building would also be used in the afternoons for other social programs: prenatal support for pregnant women, skill-building workshops, and even HIV testing.  A building was started ... but funding ran out and now for several months the structure has sat unfinished.

The half-completed preschool of Vuvulane.

Our plan is to finish this preschool and help the children of Vuvulane build a future.  This project was started by a 15-year-old in Michigan who was tired of the thought that American teenagers were unmotivated and self-absorbed.  Why not join together to prove that idea wrong?  Why not help make a real difference for children in the world who don't have all the opportunities that we do?

Some of the children, eager to learn.

We are trying to raise $20,000 to complete this preschool and get it running.  We have partnerships on the ground in Swaziland who are commited to providing the operating costs for the school and monitoring the progress.  No money will be wasted, and 100% goes directly to the school for the children.  We can't fix every problem for every orphan and every child in poverty in the world, but we can start here.  Do you want to join us and remind these 23.3% of children in Swaziland that we haven't forgotton about them too?