Mountains and Valleys

I find it hard to write on most nights, one because of pure exhaustion and another because our days are so full of emotion. Some moments there is so much joy in seeing a child walk that no one imagined they ever would, and the beaming smiles of kids who are so full of life- something I recognize very fondly as being the same look my sister Mindy often has. There are families who love their children so dearly that they carry them to school (sometimes miles away) on their backs even when the child might weigh 60+ pounds. A father who looks on with pride as his son is now able to play a stacking game that before wasn’t able to coordinate his hand movement. These are families who amidst struggling to survive find the time to do a few exercises or spend a few moments teaching their child every day. They are the families who have decided to keep their disabled child despite the overwhelming stigma that these children are demons, a curse. It is a very sad reality that many of these children are abandoned or sacrificed. Yet we have over 200 beautiful kids in our program whose parents, aunts or granny’s decided that these children are worth giving a chance to. And Oh! What an opportunity these families have to show their culture how valuable children with disabilities are and to see what purpose God will make known through them and their testimonies.

I’ve really struggled to not take some of the less fortunate of our patients and run away with them in my arms. A sweet little boy we have seen twice since I have come has been found lying, dirty, on the cement both times with no one immediately around him to care for him. The back of his head there is no hair because he is left lying most of the day. We fixed him up a nice little chair for him to sit in this last time and placed him in it before leaving. We did our best to encourage the sister to give him toys and help to sit and lie alternatively throughout the day. Yet even this child beams from ear to ear- just to be touched to be a part of something for a moment seems to make his life joy-filled. There is also sweet little Grace who is probably around 2 years old who was abandoned at the children’s hospital here in Freetown because she is a floppy Cerebral Palsy- unable to move herself independently. I have seen little Grace 3 times and she is about the size of an infant and left often hungry, thirsty, and dirty. The nurses sit at their station with no idea of how this little life suffers. I try to spur on the patient’s moms who are in the bed next to her to try to see that she is cared for. I sit and hold her little body and just pray for her to one day not have to suffer like this whether on this earth or in God’s kingdom- I know that she is promised that and that God does in fact see her suffering.

I enjoy the work we have been called to do here in Sierra Leone and yet I feel like a messy wreck daily- so full of emotions. God is my constant, he understands, he sees, he knows better than I and he reminds me that he is in control. That I am to just remain in him.

It is really special that with each family we end our session with them in prayer- bringing our petetions and thanksgiving to him-it is a time of peace and surrender.

Philippians 4:6-7 Do not be anxious about anything but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.