Hello my Rafiki (friend), settling into life here in the beautiful mountain region that is home to the village of Mumba. The missionaries here are incredible, it is so much fun to watch how they approach everyday life. It is a simple life living in a third world country, but one full of many joys. Today we traveled to the nearby town of Sumbawanga to gather supplies and visit the orphanage. Pictures will never capture the way your heart feels when you walk into an orphanage. The children flocked to us the minute we entered the courtyard wanting hugs and their pictures taken, all starving for attention and love. I entered one of the baby rooms, a room full of cribs and babies wet from their own urine. I walked over to one crib and my heart just about tore out. There lay a little girl who looked about 2 years old in size, but she was really 7. Katarina has cerebral palsy and lays in her crib all day. She was reaching through the crib and grabbed my hand and from that moment on I was sold. I scooped her up and just held her for the next hour and a half. Her body randomly spazzes, she can't control it and her legs are so bad that her knees were bent about halfway up her body. I held her like a three month old with her head resting on my chest. Holding her was almost more than my heart could take. As we were walking around the courtyard I started praying for her future (not bright in this country) and as I started crying she bent her neck up and looked me straight in the eyes and gave me the most joyful smiles I think I've ever seen. I held her till they made me put her down because we were leaving. That is a very hard thing to do, to lay a child back down in a damp crib not knowing what lies in her future. I found out later that she is being moved to an orphanage in another town that has a therapy program for children like her.
All day at the orphanage I was reminded of Christ's instruction, "Take care of the widows and orphans." Who is going to do it if it's not us? One of the little girls, Flora, was so neglected that when she came to the village she couldn't walk and had sores all over her neck cause she just sat and laid for tbe first two years of her life. No one ever touched her, no one held her and loved on her, she couldn't walk. Today I got to watch that little girl run. There are so many more stories..... "Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of heaven belongs to such as these".
My Rafiki, thank you for your continued prayers and support. Internet is sketch (no really, in Africa? ha ha ) I will update whenever possible.
Love from Africa
Love this. Wish I was there with you.
ReplyDeleteYou're doing good work, Han.
"Then the King will say to those on his right, 'Come, you who are blessed by my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world. For I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me, I was naked and you clothed me, I was sick and you visited me, I was in prison and you came to me.' Then the righteous will answer him, saying, 'Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you drink? And when did we see you a stranger and welcome you, or naked and clothe you? And when did we see you sick or in prison and visit you?' And the King will answer them, 'Truly, I say to you, as you did it to one of the least of these my brothers, you did it to me.'"
ReplyDeleteMatthew 25:34-40
Heart wrenching stories. Precious hope in Jesus.
ReplyDelete