Anyway, so I'm going to celebrate Easter here with new life. New life...that's what we're about here. God sent His son to walk this earth and DIE for each one of us and ALL of our sins so we could have NEW life. I'm here living in Mozambique so I can give new life to these kids. To the ones that haven't been given a chance, who have been discarded, rejected, abandoned. They may not have a voice, but I have one. And God has blessed me abundantly with knowledge and skills and training and daily helps me to save these children from despair. We are giving them new life! A new life spiritually, physically, emotionally, and health status.
We are giving new life. Yesterday we had a new admit to the Bercario (nursery). Meet Adelaide! (Pronounce: Ah-deh-lie-dee).
She's sweet and oh so little at 10 weeks. I'm going to call her Addie for short, though I don't know how the Portuguese spelling will be...but I'm going to make it stick. Adelaide is way too long a name for such a small little tyke! Anyway, I was in the Bercario yesterday waiting for her and her dad to arrive. She was so tiny and beautiful all wrapped up in bundles with a woolen hat on.....it was way too hot for that, but definately not the point. So I sat and talked with her father regarding why they were here. The mother died, he thinks of Tuberculosis and quite possibly HIV. The father was unsure. We are going to be investigating her health really closely in the following months as we have other tidbits I gathered from him that need to be followed up on. She has a 4 yr old sister, and 9 and 12 year old brothers at home. The father doesn't have the means to look after a baby so small at the present time. Then I took her from him, cut off the witchcraft cord and button from around her wrist and prayed over her with another missionary. We are giving her new life! Pray with her to break any bonds that have been placed over her by witchcraft as well as for health. She has already spiked a high fever and tested negative for malaria. Pray for wisdom and knowledge in how to best care for her and her family. Pray that she settles into the Bercario and that her fiesty new big brothers and sisters welcome her with open arms (but maybe not open hands....they tend to get a little rough with each other and they like babies). We are giving new life.We are giving new life. Today as I was in the Bercario, Latifo's mother walked in. I've been waiting to have the chance to speak with her. I have yet to meet her since his arrival and want to discuss his HIV status, the severity of it, and the medications that he is now taking for it. She was overcome with joy and happiness and kept saying thank you over and over in Shygunna (their tribal language) because he looked so good and healthy compared to the last time she saw him. He has really come alive. He has started to mimic speach, wave goodbye, and always laughing, and smiling. He's even standing while holding onto you or a chair. Look at the difference just 3 weeks makes!
So Latifo and his mother, myself, and Aurora (our Mozambican nurse) went outside to chat about how he's doing. Aurora had to translate for me as I only speak Portuguese and well, I'm not even attempting Shygunna. I had to tell her that her son was in fact HIV positive, that he was very, very sick even though we were making progress with his malnourishment and he looked much better, and that we were starting him on treatment. I wanted to get more information from her as well as know if she had been tested. We already knew that his father had died of AIDs. She shared that she had no idea he could be hiv +. She had been tested 2x during her pregnancy with Latifo and tested negative. The she wanted to know if he got it while she was pregnant with him or afterwards. I explained that he could have gotten while she was pregnant, while she was delivering him, or even from breastfeeding afterwards, but that she needed to be tested again for HIV. It is possible that she had just been infected before or even during the pregnancy. It takes months and months at times to show up on the rapid tests we use here. She grew very sad and worried when I told her about Latifo and how he probably got HIV. She then said that she thought it was best for her to get tested again. At this point there was lots of other questions I had for her and I also wanted to know more about her other children, but I really felt the Holy Spirit prompting me to invite her to participate more in Latifo's care. Before I knew what I was saying, I asked her if she would like to come with us to Latifo's next consult at the HIV clinic so that she could be tested as well as to talk with the doctors about Latifo and understand more about this. She immediately said yes and we arranged everything. She really seems that she is interested in taking care of him and really loves him. Afterwards, she said admitted that she hasn't been feeling great over the past year and started listing off a bunch of symptoms. It is possibly that she has HIV as well as TB. But whatever the outcome, she has given Latifo a new life. Look at the changed little boy he is. We are really praying for this little guy. That with each passing day he will grow stronger and stronger and more healthy. That his body will wage an all out war on the viruses within it. That his body will adjust quickly to all the new medications he has to take and that they will work! We are praying for his family, for a continual bond with his mother. We pray that she will continue to take part in his care and remain close to him as we help him get stronger and healthier. We declare new life for this little tyke and his family.
No comments:
Post a Comment