Ask almost any Motswana and they will tell you that in the past, people with disabilities were regarded with suspicion and fear (the disability itself was looked at as a curse – literally), and that they were kept hidden away at cattle posts and distant villages. Fortunately, this attitude is changing. It is changing, thanks to people like Mma Seema, a teacher of disabled preschoolers at the Tshimologo Stimulation Centre (TSC) in Francistown.

I met Mma Seema last week at a Little Seeds (see Planting Little Seeds) preschool teacher training course sponsored by Flying Mission. When I greeted her, she was cordial but slow to smile. It wasn't until I asked her about the children in her preschool that her face broke into a proud and beaming smile. I could tell that she wanted to tell me success stories about her children, but first I coaxed her to tell me about the Stimulation Centre itself.

It was 1930h and we were late. Not only was traffic heavy, it was downright slow - much like my day! Two simple tasks had consumed the spare time I'd hoped for. My husband spent his day lying on the cement hangar floor, removing a landing gear strut. Just 10 simple bolts, but this too took all day. As we parked the car and hurried in, the melody and words, "I worship You, Amighty God, there is none like You..." welcomed us and soothed our spirits. Participants at the Flying Mission (FM) Thursday Night Prayer Meeting are being skillfully led in worship of our Awesome God.

I live in the village of Kumakwane and one day I visited the family of Mr M because he was sick.  I knew that the family would benefit from an egg each, so I brought them and explained why to the father whilst the children were standing there.  

They were very happy and hopeful to have an egg each but the father turned to them and said, “Eggs are not good for you, they will make you sick.”  However it seems they were perfectly good for he who was sick! 

During the frosty, dark hours of a winter morning in the Kalahari Desert, a baby boy was born to a young San (Bushman) woman. The birth of a baby in Botswana is a welcome and celebrated event, a triumph for the mother. This mother's joy, however, was mixed with worry and fear. Her tiny son, weighing only one kilogram, had arrived prematurely, 30 days before he was due.

A typical day for the pilots here at Flying Mission Zambia...

It's ...Wednesday... and the schedule in the Flying Mission Office reads: FLCG-ABFA-FLCH-ABFA-FLCH-ABFA. Rick Rempel is assigned to do the flight from Chilongolo (FLCG), Flying Mission’s base near Lusaka, to Macha (ABFA) which is home to the 'Brethren in Christ' Mission Hospital. Macha is located in the bush a 5 hour drive from Lusaka and is a regular destination for Flying Mission planes.

One of the Flying Mission Zambia (FMZ) ministries which is popular in the community is soccer. For some while now, a group of young guys has been practising here on our ‘rough and ready’ pitch at Chilongolo, the FMZ Mission base near to Lusaka. When Roger and Sally Green went home to UK one time, they were able to collect football boots, team jerseys and a number of balls for the lads and so it was that FM United Black Stars soccer team was born! Now they regularly play games against other local teams and are generally quite successful!

Located on the banks of a river, The Woodpecker is a popular venue for church and mission events in Gaborone. With green leafy trees lining the river, and buildings scattered through a garden-like setting, it offers an escape from the dust and concrete of the city. At least it used to. As I drove onto The Woodpecker property today, I was astonished and distressed by the lack of vegetation. Drought has taken a terrible toll, and the riverbanks are now barren.

Kgakgamatso (“KG”) was ejected from a vehicle when she was ten days old. All of the adults in the vehicle, including her birth mom, were killed in the accident, and KG spent the entire night lying on the ground until the accident was discovered some time the next morning. We brought her home from the hospital when she was two months old, and almost immediately we took her to South Africa for medical evaluations. The pediatric neurologist who examined KG gave a bleak prognosis. “You are looking at school for the blind and every kind of therapy known to man,” she said, “and even then, there is a good chance that she will never walk, talk, or see.”

The Botswana government kindly expedited KG's adoption so that we could take her back to the United States and pursue “every kind of therapy known to man.”

For being homeless, Chips has a pretty nice place. He camps on a vacant residential plot on the southeast side of Gaborone. This area was developed back when the plots were very large, and the brush hides him from view of the nice homes on either side. There is a water tap on the plot, but Chips doesn't have any way of bathing. When you're homeless, you pretty much have to wear everything you own, and you can't very well wear a tub and a towel.

When James and Dingane got there, Chips was sitting on a log. He seemed very happy to see them. "Should I get a log for you?" asked Chips. "No, we're okay," they said. They exchanged greetings and then James said, "We came to give you a bath." "I don't have a tub," said Chips. "We brought everything you need," said James. "Dingane brought you his tub, and we brought a towel, warm water, soap . . ." That really made Chips happy. The three of them walked across the plot to where our car was parked outside the gate. James reached inside the car and

Dust and noise; children shouting to each other as they leave their classrooms. School is out for the day!! Remember the freedom you felt in those days back when?!

But some of the girls-and one boy!-remain and gather around Victoria. She is ready to hand each of the kids their colorful bags containing needles, wool and works in progress. Some are making scarves, some slippers.

Are your eyebrows now "knitting" together, as you try to bring your mind around the idea of scarves and slippers in Africa?