Since arriving in Nsoko, Swaziland 3 weeks ago, I have been asking God to break my heart for what breaks his. I didn’t expect him to answer me with as much as he has, but Swaziland has a lot of brokenness. There is a desperate need for medical assistance that most of the world takes for granted here and through seeing this God has reaffirmed my desire to serve him through medicine. Here are a few of the stories that God has shown me.
The first is a boy named Sandile. He is 5 years old and lives around the Anchor Center where we are living and working at this month. Sandile suffers from a medical condition that leaves him unable to control his bladder whenever he stands up. I don’t think I have ever seen him walking around without his pants being wet. Thankfully, the other children understand his condition and do not pick on him but his condition makes it difficult to interact with others. The surgery to repair the damage to his bladder would be fairly easy by US standards but Swaziland does not have the means to treat him and it is far too expensive to go to South Africa to get him treated since his family is already struggling to make it by.
Next is a woman named Ntombi, who I have been able to help treat every Monday, Wednesday and Friday. In 1994, she was attacked, possibly raped, by a group of mean and the incident left her mentally distressed to the point that she could not be left alone without supervision. One day, while her family was working in the fields, she fell into a fire and burned her foot very badly.
Since then, the wound has become infected after years of subpar treatment. Two years ago, the infection was the size of a quarter but, today, it covers her entire foot. The wound has progressed to the point where it needs to be amputated but the medical care in Swaziland is unwilling and, for the most part, unable to perform the surgery. Swazi doctors assume that everything is cancer until proven otherwise. A biopsy of her wound was taken 7 months ago, but they do not have any results yet and it could take up to a year to get anything back. No surgery can be performed until the results are back so the only thing that can be done is treating the wound.
Three times a week, we drive 15 minutes up a rundown, dirt road to pick her up. Her father, who is around 65, brings her down the steep hill up to their house on his back. We drive back to the clinic, clean her wound and then redress it. This routine has been going on for about 3 years and only stops when the rain makes the roads unusable.
It pains me that there is hardly anything I can do for Sandile and Ntombi besides love them and assist when I am needed. Through it all, God is good and I continue to pray for his healing on these two.
DISCLAIMER: I have put a picture of the wound at the bottom of this blog. It is very graphic, but it serves as an excellent visual of what this woman is going through.
