They called him the crocodile skinned boy on TV because his skin was covered with scales you can see from the Front Page. While the article reveals that social welfare has brought him here to Teen Challenge Lighthouse. The scales on his skin and personal hygiene were so frightening that the social welfare workers fear for the their safety and allowed him to sit for 2 days covered in grime without touching him. The lead story of the Swazi Observer (Nationally distributed paper in Swaziland) leads with a front page picture of Sipho and a 3 inch headline cries GRABBED . The boy has been abandoned by his family to live in a pit latrine" (outhouse) 3 Kilometers from his home.

I wish you could see have seen the children and staff of the Ark as they rallied around to shower him with love. As they donned rubber gloves, soap and love, they washed away the filth which the social welfare workers were too fearful to touch. Much of what was thought to be a horrible skin disease turned out to be just a build up of dirt and was lovingly scrubbed away by the staff and children here at Teen Challenge.

As he arrives at Teen Challenge I wish you could see the children and staff of the Ark "love on" him. As they donned rubber gloves, soap and love, they washed away the filth which the social welfare workers were to fearful to touch. With scrubbing, prayer and care the much of horrible skin disease was lovingly removed by the staff and children here at the Ark.

You see, once we peel away the layers of grime, only Jesus can touch the wounds of a child who has lost his mother to AIDS and he wonders whether he carries the virus which could one day take his own life. Only Jesus can heal the wound of the rejection delivered by the father and family members that should be carrying him through this tragic time. Who will teach him that the real heavenly father does still love him and he was not created to hide in a pit latrine.

One of the tragedies of this environment of religious confusion, disease and tradition is the children that are left in its wake. Not just orphans without a family- but children orphaned in a family. Rejected by the emotional support system God created us to find refuge in. The effect of men with multiple wives (saving up cows for the next wife) is that when the mother dies of AIDS, the other mothers and children reject the offspring of that wife so that we are not just dealing with orphans. As AIDS claims the countless thousands of lives, the families left in its wake are an unrelenting reminder that for them death is just the beginning.

In 2003, 14 months later we returned to visit Sipho at The Ark in Mbabne. The good news is that he is, gaining weight, height, stature and confidence. The bad news is that we learned he is infected with the HIV virus. The best news is that he has begun a regimen of loving care and anti-retrovirals covered with prayer, so we are optimistic about his prognosis. Even though he has been diagnosed as HIV positive, he is excited about his future.

When asked would you like to go back home. He answered, "The mothers (lomake) was beating me up and I did not have anything to eat," he said. " I Like it here, They give me love and Jesus."