I had mentioned a little bit about Mantombi in a previous blog entitled “where is the hope??”. Noah and I were able to see her once more before our time had come to an end in Nsoko. She looked even more sickly this time. When we arrived, we found her asleep on her porch step, lying in the sun’s warmth. Her head, which was normally wrapped, was left uncovered. Her eyes were more sunken in, and it seemed like it was difficult for her to keep them open as if her eyelids were too heavy. She was covered in flies. It was a depressing sight. she told us that her leg was hurting again and she couldn’t walk without help. She had made a recent visit to the hospital to restock her HIV medication. Unfortunately, the hospital had given her the wrong meds which made her very sick to the point that she couldn’t eat and she couldn’t sleep at night. To hear that she wasn’t able to eat worried me because she didn’t eat much in the first place. Her body seemed thinner and more frail than our previous visit as well. We had brought her a PB&J sandwich and an orange. She set the sandwich aside, but devoured the orange, which made me feel a little better. She was in and out of consiousness during our time with her. We prayed over her a couple different times. As Noah and I prayed over Mantombi, I lightly placed my hand on her back. There was no meat at all between the skin and the bones. It was really hard for me to leave her that day, knowing that this was probably the last time I would ever see Mantombi again. And to leave her in such a state just tore at my heart.
I just never thought I’d have an experience like this. I never thought that I’d come to know someone personally who is HIV+. I never thought that I would grow to love someone in such a short time. I never thought that I would lose a person I had known for such a short time.
