Today was a day of lows and highs. We buried the little girl pictured above. She was the 16 month old who died about a week and a half ago. What was particularly sad to me was that the people who came to the funeral (5 of us on staff at Lambano) were people who had only known her for 3 days. How sad to have a little life die needlessly and have no one to mourn her. Sadder is how common that is here and in all of Africa.
Pictured below is the cemetery we buried her in. The children's section is now so large that you can't even fit it in a picture without a wide angle lens. They are still burying over a hundred children a month in this one small cemetery. I would be curious to know how many children are buried a month in a cemetery in the states. Anyone want to do some research?
On a happier note, later that day I was able to return three small children to their mother. The mother was very sick and the children were brought to us to care for. We had them for about two months. After she was released from the hospital, we built her a tin house and got her a coal stove and she was able to once again care for her children. It was a very happy day to be able to do that! We will continue to help to feed them and provide for some of their basic needs. It was nice to have a happy ending to the day!
5 comments:
heart wrenching
sad indeed. I love what you are doing Beth. Miss you.
so. about the header...
to get the picture, you go to layout, and under title it gives you an option to upload a picture. it won't resize it for you, to make it fit, so what you upload is what it'll do.
to get the words to fit right... you play with it a little. when you insert < b r > (but without the spaces) it'll make the words start on the next line. it's like inserting a break in the line. i just counted 6 or seven words, and inserted the BREAK tag, and then checked what it looked like and made adjustments.
hope that made sense...let me know if you need help, i can email you.
talk to you later :)
Beth,
I can't remember now how I stumbled across your blog, but I've been keeping up with you for the past few months. I used to sub for you (and other teachers) fairly regularly at GCS when my husband was in seminary, but that was eight or nine years ago, so doubtless, you wouldn't know me from Adam now.
I spent two years in Kenya before Shane and I got married, so I can readily identify with all those precious images you post here. Of course, your ministry deals hands on with much more poverty than I faced on a day to day basis. I taught in a Kenyan High School, and I'm so grateful for that time.
My husband pastors in the Atlanta area now. Your dad is speaking at a church in our area tomorrow evening, and we are looking forward to hearing him.
I know this post is over a week old, so I'm not sure you'll even see this comment of mine. I just wanted to let you know that I admire the work you're doing there and I'm praying for you.
Tara
I just read this post... it's heart-breaking. Having 2 little girls of my own, the human side of me cries because I couldn't imagine this little girl being so alone.
If Heidi didn't miscarry during Thanksgiving 2005, that little one would have been just a couple of months younger than this little girl.
I know it's up for debate (though I am not interested in debating it at all for I am convinced in my mind and heart, based on my understanding of the Word), I believe this little girl is in heaven, praising the Lord alongside our little one, as well as the rest of the saints that have passed into eternity. And with that knowledge, I am thankful that the loneliness of this life has been replaced with the presence of our Lord.
The other thing I know is that our Chloe would not be here, had the Lord not taken that other child away (Heidi was due June 2006 before she miscarried and Chloe was due/born November 2006). And I couldn't imagine life without Chloe. She is so precious.
Thanks again for this post. Makes me all the more thankful for my children.
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