We walk into a yard and there sits a lady under a tree sitting on a chair.
Shirt on. No pants. No underwear.
We begin to talk to her. Every time she speaks you can hear the pain in her voice as she attempts to get words out. We pray and then leave.
A week later we stop by her house to check in on her.
There she lies in her bed on the front porch.
She begins coughing and we find her water near her bed. Water full of ants.
Her bed, the smell of pee and as we sit her up we see the pee all down the back of her and all over the bed.
We get her to the wheel chair and ask for a new sheet, new clothes and water to bathe her.
Her daughter explains they have no water.
Some of the girls head back to our mission house to get a plastic bed covering, nail clippers, nail polish and a bucket of water with soap and a towel.
I start asking the questions. Where is her family? Who is taking care of her? Why is she not in the Matthew 25 house?
What is the Matthew 25 house you ask? The Matthew 25 house is an elderly home for those around that need to be taken care of. They are able to stay there for free and it is a part of the ministry I am working at for the month.
Pastor Res answers “Her family won’t let her go. There is a lot of pride.”
Wait what? Pride? How about the fact that their grandmother is lying in urine, has ingrown nails and does not have fresh water to drink. She looks like she has not been taken care of for days.
We bathe her. We clip her nails. Give her fresh clothes. Feed her. Fill up her water cup from our water bottles.
She says thank you and we leave.
As a social worker, I could not understand how there were resources that were not being used and desperately needed to be.
As a granddaughter and daughter I could not imagine seeing my grandmother, grandfather, mother, or father that way.
As a human and lover of people I thought about the vulnerability this lady had to have to survive and live each day. Letting an American young girl undress her, feed her and bathe her.
We saw tears fall down her face and a smile slowly emerge. Through it all though, I saw Jesus sitting right next to her. Protecting and providing her needs through us and the organization that so graciously checks up on her. Her family might not want her to get service but we will continue to bring them anyway.
