I saw her from across the room. Londelwa walked as stiff as a board, slowly, and looking very sickly. The poor thing I thought she must be about 6 years old and already I could tell she has been sick for a very long time.
When I first saw here I was holding a 6-month old baby in the children’s ward of the hospital in Swaziland. I had my hands full so I gave her my biggest, warmest smile to say hello with my eyes from across the open ward full of beds and sick children.
While travelling I have learned that even if I can’t speak someone’s language a smile and a hug are universal ways to say hello and to tell someone that they are loved.
I decided that this little girl would probably like a friend, so away I went. After I returned the baby to his mother I went over to her and said hello. She was so beautiful and had warmth in her eyes. As I bent down though I could tell that the eyes I was looking into were aged well beyond her years. I asked how old she was a big shocked when she said 11. It just about broke my heart to realize she is so sick and malnourished that she is 11 and looks like the 6 year olds that I work with at the preschool for impoverished children.
She is in a lot of pain that much is obvious by the way she walks like an old woman. I thought, well maybe I can show her love by treating her like a normal person and a friend when most people treat her like a patient.
I thought well who doesn’t like a good story, right. Turns out she loves them. I found a storybook and began to read to her. She sat on the edge of her bed the entire time. She was beaming from ear to ear with smiles. I loved reading on and on because I got to look into those big, beautiful, joyful, warm eyes. She is a gift to those around her. It can clearly be seen by the proud look on her mother’s face as she sits next to me.
Her mom who brings blankets to her daughter because the hospital has none. Her mom who sleeps on a makeshift pallet on the cold, hard, cement floor under her daughter’s hospital bed in a room filled 24 hours a day with family members of the many other sick children around the room. Her mom who now proudly sits next to me reclining on the wooden bench looking loving at her daughter as she listens intently my story.
As I was sitting there I thought wow. I could do this all day. I love being with children and I love being there for someone to help them pass the long, hard, uncomfortable hours of being incredibly sick.
When I come back to America one day I want to find a children’s ward and make friends. It is hard to open your heart to someone who you know may not make it, but then again this was one of the things I put on my bucket list years ago to be there for someone as they die who otherwise would have been alone. I want to be a friend to people who others have a hard time treating as normal just because they are sick.
Please help me to be able to find more little girls out there like Londelwa who need someone to come say hello and tell them about a hope that is greater than their pain. I need $3,000 dollars by June 30th to reach my final fundraising deadline for the World Race. If I don’t reach that I will have to go home. If I do then I will be fully funded for the rest of my World Race. Please help me by clicking the support link on the left here at www.rachelwilliams.theworldrace.org .
Please share my goal with those you think would like to help me and who have a heart for this.
