In the midst of some 300 plus inmates, there are seven women
(in a separate cell of course). I
typically let the girls that come with us sit with them because a few of them
speak excellent English and can help with translating, and plus the women are
so inviting so it’s a nice place to start for some people. I went to check on them the other day
because even though I’ve never really sat with them, I have been able to build
relationships by just passing by and greeting them each day. I checked on them the other day to make
sure they were stocked with laundry soap and bath soap and just to check in on
them. When I asked if they needed
anything, they were a little embarrassed to ask me for shampoo. Even though they can use their bath
soap to wash their hair, every girl wants her hair to look nice. They were so excited when the shampoo
arrived and all went to the back to wash their hair so I could see before I
left for the day.
There was one other request that nearly brought me to tears
from one of the women I’ve built a pretty decent friendship with. Her name is Rosario and she’s been
locked up for a while now. Like
many of the other inmates, her case has come up a few times, but has just been
pushed back months at a time the day of.
For these women, it’s tough to be locked up because many of them have
children. Rosario has a couple of
daughters that are in a pretty bad situation. One of her daughters, Kim who is 14 years old, has bone
cancer and is bed ridden. Kim was
in the hospital for a little while, but due to a lack of financial care, is at
her grandparents’ home. This would
normally be a good place to be, but her grandparents steal from her and care
nothing for her. We had a group
take fruits and other items to Kim back in June, but when they left, they
received a call from Rosario’s other daughter, Axel, telling them that the
grandparents took everything from Kim and told her they didn’t need to waste
good food on her.
Rosario told me how bad Kim was getting now that she’s not
in the hospital and just lying on a bamboo flat with no sheets or pillow. She doesn’t really have the ability to
eat anymore, so her diet has been reduced to milk. She asked me if there was anyway I could get some milk to
her. I told her that we could take
care of that and would even go out for another visit since it’s been nearly six
weeks since we’ve checked on her.
Sometimes I just don’t know what I can do.
I couldn’t imagine a more helpless situation. On top of that, I don’t know what I can
even do. I know people tell me,
“You can’t do everything, or save everyone,” but that just doesn’t sit well
with me. I know I can’t but I
don’t need to be reminded of it.
Kim and her mother, even though she’s a guilty prisoner, need help and
it will truly be a miracle if they’re taken care of, because I feel powerless
on this one. This is one of those
God moments, because that’s the only way Kim is even still alive at this
point. In places like this with
high poverty, we see a lot of miracles because these people literally have no
other option. Kim needs one now…
