The first day I met Olivia (Eleanor) my heart immediately hurt for her. From what I saw, this little girl of about 4 or 5 spent her whole day lying on her back in the heat of India sweating under a fleece blanket that hid a cast that covered her entire left leg, her waist, and the top of her right leg. Her hair was filled with lice and dirt, her back and shoulders looked raw and had various sores from lying down all day, and the creases in her next were covered in dirt and dead skin. I didn’t know what to do and I found myself frustrated with God.
When I first arrived in India and our team was told that our ministry would be working with Sarah’s Covenant Home I was ecstatic. Sarah’s Covenant Home is an organization that seeks to provide abandoned children of India with a foster home and family model that is able to care and nurture them until one day they are hopefully adopted.
We were presented with a list of roughly 20 names of children that were often overlooked at the foster home we would be volunteering at called Victory Home. Our group of 15 prayed and decided on the child we thought God was placing on our hearts. For me I had already felt God telling me I would be working with a little girl with cerebral palsy so as I scanned the list for a name that stuck out and as soon as I reached the name Olivia/Eleanor I knew she was my girl.
On our first day at Victory I saw a little girl lying on her back underneath a fleece blanket. This surprised me because it had to be at least 85 degrees, if not hotter outside, and a blanket nevertheless a fleece blanket did not sound comfortable. As I was introduced to this little girl I came to find out that she was indeed my focus child for the month, Olivia.
Within a few minutes I discovered that the blanket was an effort to hide the cast and the diaper that was partially dirty underneath. I could see that this little girl was uncomfortable and probably had been for a while.
My heart broke.
When I sat down to play with Olivia her main nanny came over and gestured at me to show me how to grab her attention. Soon enough we were clapping and she was trying to learn how to snap but the sweat on her upper lip and the grease in her hair were still bothering me. Even though it didn’t feel like my place, I fumbled to ask for a way to rinse off her face and neck. Her nanny grabbed some cotton and a little container of water and we washed off her face and the upper part of her back. Olivia’s smile told me she was pleased and as we left that day my heart still felt burdened for that dear little girl.
After that first day I started praying for Olivia everyday. I continued to sometimes (un)successfully interact with the Telegu nannies in an attempt to get Olivia’s hair washed and body cleaned and over the first week of being with her where most of the day was spent sitting on her bedside I saw a small change in Olivia. She started getting excited when I entered the room, her face started shining brighter and in my heart I knew that my prayers were being answered and her leg was being healed.
Then one Friday I showed up to Victory home and found out that Olivia wasn’t there.
