Monday morning, March 2nd

We toured Love Botswana Outreach Mission compound on Monday morning and were so thrilled to see all that God has done for the last 21 years that Jana and Jerry have been in Botswana, and to see all that He is doing. We are so thrilled that Victory Church and VC.TV support this wonderful ministry. Here are a few of the things we saw:

• 5 raised dwellings on stilts with beautiful thatch roofs where the Love Botswana Executive staff live

• 1 of the dwellings is empty now in preparation for the new Baby House. In Botswana, most of the orphans are cared for by tribal families, but in recent years with the advancement of the AIDS virus, there is more of a problem with orphan children. Currently there is not one foster care option for abandoned babies in the whole country. Right now, the only option for an abandoned baby is to live in the hospital. Jana and Jerry Lackey have adopted one abandoned baby as their legal daughter, Mapula (which means ‘treasure’) who is now 5 years old, and they are the guardians of another girl, Semakaleng (whose name means, ‘you will be surprised’) who is now around 16 years old. She has battled illness, has been deaf since birth and lived in the local hospital until she was 9 years old. She attends school and now lives with a caretaker in a house on their compound.

• Okavango International School which is a K-12 grade private Christian boarding school for children of business leaders, politicians, missionaries, etc. which teaches a solid educational curriculum and builds the next generation of leaders and influencers.

• Beautiful dormitories for the boarding students (the boy’s dorm is currently being built—boys are in portable buildings).

• A radio station where relevant Christian programming is reaching the young generations of Basotho.

• An initiative program, curriculum and plan that encourages abstinence before marriage in the teens of Botswana communities.

• A women’s initiative which teaches the Batswana women skills such as knitting which they can do at home to create handcrafted items to be sold for a profit so the women can have income.

• An Olympic sized swimming pool which will be used for sports in the school. All the funds for this were given by a donor.

• We viewed the master plans for the full expansion of the organization which will house all of these programs and more, some of which are currently in temporary portable buildings.

Then, of course there is All Nations Village church which is in Maun pastored by Jana and Jerry which is also going to be building a new auditorium and classrooms to house all the many people who attend weekly from the community. Jerry and Jana have given their lives for 21 years to this community and this country. We thank God for them and pray His blessing on them as they continue.