This month I have gotten to know so many amazing children who each have their own unique story. Each child amazes me and I wish I could tell you each of their stories, but I will tell you about a girl named Kristy. We met Kristy when she had been with Sarah’s Covenant Homes, SCH, for one month. When I first saw her I thought she was a cancer patient because her color was very pale, her head shaved, and she was skin and bones. I soon learned, however, that she did not have cancer, but that she came to SCH extremely malnourished (even skinnier than she is now, although I don’t know how that is even possible). She is very anemic because of her malnourishment and they had to shave her head because her lice was so bad. In the orphanage they hardly ever touched her and she rarely got fed. Because all she did was lay on the floor of the orphanage for two years, the back of her head is completely flat.
When we first got here to SCH, we tried to pick her up, but all she would do is cry like she was in pain, but we held her anyway. We were told that whenever anyone tries to pick her up or even touch her should cries and she also doesn’t smile. That was the case for the first two weeks we were here. After about the second week, she no longer cried when we picked her up and now, she welcomes it. When she sees someone coming toward her, her face lights up and she starts smiling and kicking. We pick her up and she happily sits in our laps. We were never able to get her to put pressure on her legs, but one day she decided it was time to stand and she stood for over five minutes! Then one day we helped her take her first steps! She does still have a hard time keeping her head up, but we are working on it.
There are so many children who have stories like Kristy. God is doing so much here and His presence is so evident. I pray that God continue to use SCH as a safe place and relief for these children. I pray that the children here and the children who will be coming here will get the medical help they need and that God works in their bodies and perform miracles that medicine cannot explain. I pray that these children can come to know the love of Jesus and that just as SCH is ministering to these children, that these children can go from here and continue spreading the light of Christ.
