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Shoebox Stories
Bane's Story
With a population of about 1.1 million, the small nation of Swaziland in southern Africa has the highest prevalence of HIV than any other country in the world with 26% of the adult population HIV positive. Eleven year old Bane couldn’t come to the shoebox distribution taking place in the nearby school as she is crippled and lives too far away. The distribution team decided to visit her in her home, taking the chance to both pray with her and also give her a shoebox gift.
When she saw all of the gifts inside, she was so happy she began shouting and jumping up and down, praising God and expressing such joy in spite of her disability. Her mum just stood there crying, explaining that she had never seen Bane so happy nor expressing joy in this way.It was a special moment in Bane’s life – for both her and the team who were able to witness her remarkable reaction and spend time with her whole family.
Our work in the region Samaritan’s Purse doesn’t just send shoeboxes to Swaziland. Working through local churches in mostly rural locations, we have spent the past 4 years caring for AIDS orphans, providing vulnerable women with a livelihood and have recently started a project providing clean water to one of the country’s poorest communities.
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