Today we went back to the charcoal factory to feed the children. Once again I was able to love on Stephanie, the girl I met at our first feeding. Unfortunately, it was not as joyous as the last time we met. Of course when she saw me she jumped right into my arms, which had ached for her all day to be there. I stood in line with her holding on to her the whole time. I whispered in her ear how much I had missed her last week and how much she is loved. I'm not sure she understands my words, but I'm sure she understands my hugs!
We found a small rock to sit on so she could eat her soup. For some reason she wouldn't eat. I kept trying to figure out why. Did she want it in a bowl instead of the plastic bag? Did she want me to find her a spoon? I asked a few different people to translate for me and I couldn't get her to say anything. Then I asked them to tell me what the other kids were saying to her. Apparently they were telling her to get off of me because she was embarrassing everyone by getting me dirty. I had someone tell her that it didn't matter to me and to not let them bother her. However, she broke down and went into full tantrum when a woman told her she needed to go home. Her mother walked up then and tried to get her to come home, but since Stephanie is a 6 year old child she sat in the road way crying. I didn't want to make things worse, so I tried telling her to listen to her mother and we would all walk back to her home. She finally complied and walked back with me, her mother and Arnie. Arnie is one of the young church members who's been helping to translate for us. I apologized to her mother and hope she understands that I was not trying to make things worse. That's when I learned there was more to the story.
Stephanie's mother is 23. Her husband is a scavenger and if you read my other blog about her you know that she lives in a one room home that's about 6 feet by 6 feet. They are a family of 6. I'm guessing the siblings are about 4, 2 and almost 1. Stephanie's mother has been gone for the last month staying with her 4 year old sister in the hospital. She recently had her left eye removed because it was cancerous. She's had one chemo treatment and is in need of 5 more. The mother explained to me that she will fill out paperwork to ask the various Congressmen to help them pay for her treatments. However, she doesn't have the 100 Pisos to pay for transportation to turn in the paperwork. I desperately wanted to stay and learn more about her story and how I could help, but our group was leaving. So I asked Stephanie to be good and listen to her mother, told her and the sister that they are loved and that I would be back tomorrow.
After talking with Pastor Ramil, our host, we have planned to go visit our Congressman friend and ask him for an appointment to meet. We will take Stephanie's mother with us to turn in the paperwork and see if there is any way the Congressman can help pay for the girl's treatments, a total of 25,000 Pisos or $625 USD. I'll be sure to post again with an update. Please pray for God's favor in this situation!
