Tuesday, March 13, 2007

Today was a good day; such a simple statement, but the truth. The guys (Dan, Titus, Brandon, Evan and Chris) left at 7:00 a.m. to go work on the house for orphan Antonino and his sick grandmother. Us girls (Lenna, Liana, Regina, Jordan and I) left for work with the kids at the church at 8:30ish (African time, they say be ready at 8, but it could be 9). When we got to the church we left shortly to visit a family. This family consists of a mom and 5 kids. Four of them are mentally challenged and/or handicapped. All of the kids have a different dad and the mom is not married. How do I describe our visit…? It was heartbreaking. The neediest of the kids is Oswaldo (spelling??). He is 14 years old, but he looks like he is 6, and he weighs about 45 pounds. He has a gaping sore on his neck that constantly oozes puss; flies never leave that sore alone. He cannot walk so he crawls in the sand to get around. The oldest girl Dulce is 19. She is mentally not with it. The mother leaves a lot to take the baby to the hospital, so when the mom leaves a man comes around the house and rapes the oldest daughter. Because of this abuse Dulce receives, she in turn molests her younger sister, Arminda who is 16. They don’t know any better and both have great disabilities and a huge lack of understanding. The 6 or 7 year old Bentu, is the only one without disabilities. The baby is 1 ½ and all he can do is cry, his limbs are limp.
So we went to see them and we brought toys. As soon as we got there we felt ridiculous. Toys??? Toys cannot make their hunger pains go away. Toys cannot cure their illnesses. These kids only get one meal a day, only IF someone remembers to brings them food. We soon left, with the promise that we would return later with food.
After the kids program in the morning we brought them some food. It was so sad to see them eat it so fast, not pausing to swallow or chew, but just cramming it in. All 5 of the kids and the mom sleep in a tiny, one room stick house, with sand floors. I really don’t know what else to say about them… except pray as God leads. Pray the mom can find some work so her kids can eat. Pray the man will stop coming around for Dulce. Pray God heals those kids.
Tonight we got the chance to go to a home group at one of the church members homes. It was awesome to worship, pray and fellowship with our Mozambican brothers and sisters. They would pray in Portuguese and we would pray in English. They would sing a song in Portuguese and then sing a verse in English. We got the chance to pray for the family with the 5 kids that we visited today. One of the main things prayed for was protection over those kids. They are fatherless and we asked God to be the Father for them and to send angels to protect them from harm. There is definitely some spiritual warfare happening with that family.
I could say more, but I am tired and maybe you are tired of reading this… if you made it this far. : )
So goodnight, whatever time it is back at home (it’s probably morning there). Oh, a few minutes ago I was super-gluing an earring back together and I got some glue on my finger, so I got the earring stuck to my finger. Why do things like that only happen to me?? : )

Peace,
katie