Precious Children {Monday, Feb 23}

Today we did presentations at 3 schools. Every morning they start school with singing and clapping. It is so cool to watch. Classes start and end with what I think is the equivalent of Fort Wayne tornado sirens. It is a bit dramatic and overwhelming if you ask me. They are fascinated with white people. Groups of kids crowd around you just to touch your skin. Their faces light up when you smile and wave. As we were leaving the last school, we glanced behind us to see hundreds of children running down the hill chasing after our car. It was hilarious. They caught up to our car and only stopped when adults started yelling.

This afternoon we spent time at one of the orphan care centers. Sitting in the yard outside were 4 young orphans…. Here is a glimpse of the children I met.

Rhulisa is 4 years old. She is a beautiful little girl. Red turtleneck and a precious blue dress…even with the ridiculous heat, she is not hot. She stares blankly at me, with no expression. Her eyes are cloudy, and it is quite obvious she is sick. I look at her legs and see sores. Her head has scabs where flies are gathering. She looks…exhausted. I take her in my arms and sit in the shade. She is unusually small for a 4 year old. Within minutes, she is fast asleep snoring in my lap. Having gone to visit her home earlier that day I know she has a 20 year old brother looking after her. He doesn’t seem like the kind of guy that can care for a 4 year old sister with AIDS. There are at least 7 other brothers and sisters, and I wonder if she has a bed to sleep in at night.

I look over at two children sitting on the ground across from me. They look to be about 2 years old. At first glance I think they are boys. I later learn they are twins, one boy and one girl. I ask what their names are. The volunteers are unsure, it is their first day here. They explain that just two days ago their mother overdosed on poison because the suffering of her life was so great. No wonder these children do not smile. No wonder they are zombies consumed by a world I cannot see. I look down to see the start of sores on the little girl’s leg. Probably the first signs of HIV.

I sit silently lost in my own thoughts. These precious children, never knowing their own mother…already knowing what it feels like to be dying. I cradle Rhulisa in my arms wanting to take away the cruel virus in her little body. I imagine God looking down on this precious girl. I remember how much God mentions his love for orphans and widows in His Word. I think how much he loves her and how much it hurts Him to see her pain. Jesus loves this little girl.

“Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world.” James 1:27