Mukelo, a precious, 15 month old baby girl lies in a bed in the far right corner, lifted by a simple pillow wrap and covered in a quilt. Her hands are cold from a lack of blood circulation. She’s often found wearing the diaper we left her in two days prior and remnants of food from a previous meal. She doesn’t move. She sees life from the right side only. She has Cerebral Palsy. She’s been in this same bed, same position since November 20th when she was admitted to the hospital as an abandoned child. In this life, she’s seen as inadequate, worthless, and unwanted. She’s undesirable, because her legs don’t function. She’s unable to work therefore she’s useless. She can’t hold her own spit in her mouth and her body is formed in a backwards C therefore she’s ugly. Every time we visit the hospital, the nurses see us at her bed and come up to us and say, “You take her with you today”.
The first day I met Mukelo my heart sank to my toes because she stole it at first glance. She’s gorgeous. She has huge brown eyes and the cutest four or five little teeth that poke out. I find her drooling adorable because it allows me to wipe her cute little chubby cheeks, which elicits a precious grin across her face. She’s perfect.
Love – that’s all Mukelo needs. She needs a family that can love her like she’s never had the opportunity to experience. She needs to be cuddled and kissed and told how beautiful she is. She needs a Mommy and Daddy to provide for her. She needs a chance at life. The bible says in Psalm 127 that “children are a heritage from the Lord, the fruit of the womb a reward”. Mukelo is a gift from the Lord. He created her for a purpose and He has a plan for her life. Please pray for Mukelo. Swaziland believes that there are no orphans here because they say that every child has at least one family member that will take care of them. Because of this, adoption is almost impossible.
Pray for a change within this government, that the gates will be opened to adoption. Pray that we can love her as much as possible while we have the chance and that our care for her will become contagious within the hospital and they were see her as the beautiful angel that we see. Pray for Mukelo, there's more for her!
Me and Mukelo
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Praise Report: I went to the hospital on Wednesday with two other girls from the team we’re partnered with this month. There were barely any patients, which sent my mind into a wandering state. I immediately went to Sojourner’s bed to see if he was still there. Upon arrival, this is what I saw:
As feelings and thoughts of fear started to creep into my mind of what I thought was the inevitable, I hustled to the Head Nurses’ office. I opened the door to a warm smile as she responded, “Yes Cici” to my knock. I immediately blurted out, “Where is he?” In her confusion, she asked me, “who?” I gave her a few more details, as an even brighter smile then when I opened the door started to form on her face. She looked up at me and said, “He went home. He’s healed”. Here, her smile became contagious. As my lips turned up, I threw my hands up in the air and said, “Praise the Lord”. She responded, “Amen”. I ran to the girls that were with me full of joy in response to the Lord’s answer to my prayer.
God is incredible. Not only was Sojourner alive, well, and finally home, so many of the other patients that we’ve been ministering to have also gone home. Healing is happening in this hospital! Praise the Lord! He’s hearing our prayers and answering them! There's still more.
