The room echoed with the noise of so
much joy and happiness that it was impossible not to smile and laugh.
Mapile(our ministry partner and translator) was walking around trying
to tag the children with a blindfold on. While some children ran
around enjoying every second of the game, some were a little more
cautious and looked on unsure if they wanted to join the fun. Rachel
and I had been to this care point the day before but they were much
quieter then and still shy. This time they were bouncing off the
walls from the time we arrived until leaving.
As I watched them run around, I tried
to interact with the few I had sitting on my lap and crowding around
me. I noticed a some new faces that hadn’t been there the day before.
One little girl had an ear to ear grin as she was running but stood
out from the others because of how tiny her arms and legs were. She
was so thin and I guessed that she was 5 or 6. After the game was
over she came over to me. I lifted her up into my arms and she seemed
a little nervous. This instantly made me wonder what her situation
is. Most of the children will instantly cuddle with us because of the
way they are carried for so long and love being held. After a few
minutes, she warmed up to me and sat on my lap for a while not
wanting to let go of my hand even when it came time to wash their
hands and eat.
Around this time Patrice came. She was
looking for specific children that she had met and played with when
she was here two years ago. It turns out the little girl I was
holding was one of them. She told me that her name is Baby and that
when her team had been here they had prayed for her because she was
really sick. Now, Patrice said she hadn’t changed much and appeared
to still be as sick. She ate only a little bit of her pap and beans
and her breathing was very congested.
Patrice wanted to go see her parents to
ask them how her health had been. So the four of us, Mapile, Patrice,
Emily and I walked with Baby in my arms to her home. Her mom wasn’t
home but her dad, brother and a friend were. When we came to her
house I expected to see her acknowledge her family but instead she
seemed really scared and had tears in her eyes when we sat down with
them. Patrice asked her dad some questions about her but he didn’t
really know the answers. We did learn that she has been sick for a
long time. Patrice then explained to the dad how we wanted to pray
for her and how it is important for him to pray for her too! Her dad
didn’t seem to really want to but he agreed to hold hands and pray
with us. While all this was going on I was trying not to cry. Its
hard to put into words everything I felt and saw. There was obviously
so much indifference between the father and daughter. Here his little
girl was so sick that she was weak and hardly able to eat because her
throat was so swollen yet it didn’t seem to matter. I couldn’t
help but thinking how hard that would be for my father to see if it
were me.
Memories instantly flashed into my mind
of times when I was little and would cuddle with my dad or when I
couldn’t wait to show him a pretty dress I was wearing. Here this
little girl seemed to be scared oh hers. I was glad that Patrice was
doing all the talking because I couldn’t get any words out.
After praying we explained to Baby
what we were doing and why. Patrice asked Mapile to ask her if she
knew who Jesus was, she said no. That’s when my heart really broke.
Mapile explained to her who Jesus is. We prayed for her again and
then said goodbye to her family. I held her as we walked back to the
care point. She was breathing hard and crying a little bit. When we
got back it was time for us to go so I put her down. I expected her
to be sad but instead she had the biggest smile on her face. I waved
to her and said goodbye.
On the van ride back I cried, unable to
make sense of what I saw. Here was a little girl who was so sick yet
can’t receive treatment and father who needs Jesus to know that He
is loved so he can show love to his daughter. Its hard to see the
these kind of situations and not be able to fix all of their
problems.
After sharing this story the next
morning with the team Meredith felt that God was telling her to go
back with a few of us and pray for her. It turned out to be hours of
praying and acting out in obedience the things God called us to do.
That could be a whole other story.
In the end we went back to her house
and told her father we had come back to pray for her again. She
seemed to be breathing better when we left and her throat wasn’t as
swollen so praise God for that. Please pray for Baby and her family.
Pray that they would come to know Jesus and that Baby would be
healthy and able to play like the other children.
