A closer Look

A closer look...
Before I sign off, let me give you a quick snapshot of one of the children in our hospital. Yesterday a mother came from Kampala (5 hour drive) with her 1.5-year-old baby girl. She virtually spent all day on the bus to come see the doctors at CURE because her daughter has Cerebral Palsy and she was hoping Dr. John could do something to help. Derek asked if Apollo (the head Physical Therapist) and I would check the baby out. She is a beautiful little girl and Apollo and I evaluated her. While working with her, her mother told me the story of her daughter.
At the end of her pregnancy. after her water broke, she went to the hospital and waited six hours before she was seen. By that time, her baby was nearly delivered. The doctor completed the delivery, but when the baby didn’t cry, she was thrown in the trash and called “stillborn.” The mother’s sister kept telling the doctor, “No , the baby is alive” but the doctor disregarded her and went back to tending to the mother. 5-10 min later there was a small sneeze that came from the trash bin. Denise was alive. Denise has C.P. and we are unsure of how far behind she will be developmentally. She is already quite delayed for her young age.
This is a snap shot into the lives of the babies, women and families here. Their lives have challenges that I have never encountered; yet they have strength that I have never seen.
Today as a team we read in 2 Timothy about being poured out like a drink offering. It was so impacting to think about the implications of that verse in a land where water is scarce and valued. To think about being poured out completely as an offering, with no remains, is a staggering picture when you are surrounded by poverty. And yet, I feel that is what I see all around me: people giving all of themselves to serve the God they love and call “Abba.”

May I have that courage!