Though She May Forget, I Will Not Forget You…

The past few days in our home have been full of emotional drama.  Tuesday morning, our houseworker Aimee asked if she could show me something.  To my horror she displayed approximately 2 meters of blue nylon cord that had been cut off the hands, feet, and necks of two girls down the street who had been tied to chairs inside a house.  As she left work around 6 pm on Monday she heard moaning and crying from a house just a two minute walk from ours.  After investigating she found a 7 year old deaf girl and her 6 year old sister tied up and groaning from the bruises and lesions on their skin from having strained against the cords since early that morning.  After searching for someone to help her rescue the girls and having two or three neighbors refuse to get involved, she finally found someone who would risk the consequences of freeing these children.  They told her their 15 year old brother had tied them up.  After talking to their 13 year old brother who appeared they found out that their mother had threatened their older brother if he did not tie the girls up then she would tie him up.  Aimee also discovered that their mother had abandoned them over a month ago and that their father had died a few months back. 

Every day over the past few weeks as Aimee walked home after work the children sat out under the tree and asked her for a snack.  She continually asked where their mother was, and they replied she had gone to the market.  (Their mother had said she was going to the market over a month ago and had never returned)  Aimee had been giving them our leftovers for over a month on her way home from work, thinking she was just tying them over with a snack until their mother would return in the evening.  I was horrified to know that our leftovers had been the bulk of their diet for at least the last month.  I asked her to go and find the children and bring them into our yard.  We fed them, gave them baths, (they hadn’t seen soap for weeks), and some clean clothes.  The 13 year old boy’s ear was bleeding because the mother had returned earlier that morning (Tuesday) and beat him for allowing the girls to have been set free.  She ranted and raved that she had wanted them to die and disappear so that she would not have to care for them any longer.  (Their recently deceased father was her 3rd husband.  The 15 and 13 year old boys were from her second husband and when she abandoned these 4 children, she went back to live with her first husband and other children.) 

We decided to go and report the crime to the police and there was a trial on Wednesday morning.  The mother didn’t either deny or admit to asking the 15 year old to tie up her daughters.  The judge gave a bit of a confusing verdict.  He ruled that the mother was responsible for the children for the next few days, but other family members were to be found who wanted the children and he would give them custody, or if not he would recommend them to be sent to the orphanage.  David asked the judge to please not give the children to just any relative who would consent to take them if they didn’t truly want to welcome them into their family.  Sadly, the case here with many families is that the children are treated little better than dogs.  They get the leftovers of food, clothes, etc.  The logic many hold is that many children die anyhow and it seems foolish to waste the good food and medicine and money on children who may likely die from disease or malaria before they reach adulthood.

These 3 children have awakened a deep well of compassion within me.  They have had to listen to all of the adults around them explaining how they don’t want them and can’t take care of them.  They just want to be loved and need basic needs met like food, drink, clothing, and safety.  It’s been both a blessing and challenge to understand how God wants to continue to use us each day to minister to these three children.  They’ve eaten every meal with us since Tuesday.  They’ve enjoyed playing and especially riding our children’s bikes.  They’ve also used the bathroom in the front yard, despite our efforts to show them other options.  Trash goes straight to the floor and hitting and yelling are frequent.  David visited with the mother and her first husband today and has also talked with the man living in the other side of their house, who seems to be a very kind person.  He’s been somewhat watching the children since their mother left.  Because of the many cultural barriers we are working hard to find a way to continue to provide what we can for these children without stripping them from the life that is normal to them.  We’re praying for God to show us what to do each day and respond always with love.  Our children are reacting to this change in our family life in different ways.  Overall, the differences have been easily incorporated.  We have 4 wonderful intern girls staying with us right now, which is also a big help with having extra hands around to help out! 

Please pray for these three young children who have been abandoned by their mother but preserved until now by the hand of God.  I am amazed that they are all healthy at the moment and have managed to survive, much like the boxcar children.  The 13 year old boy’s name is Kamalao.  His 7 year old deaf sister is named MenteEsso (which means in Kabiye that God is everything to me) and their 6 year old sister is named Piyapele (Which means “A girl born on Tuesday”).  Please pray for their mother, too, and the other adults in their extended family and in our neighborhood whom we have had contact with through this ordeal.  All of them need Jesus.  How different He makes our outlook on everything!!  I can’t help but think of one of my favorite verses in Isaiah   49:15-16

“Can a mother forget the baby at her breast
       and have no compassion on the child she has borne?
       Though she may forget,
       I will not forget you!

 16 See, I have engraved you on the palms of my hands

 

The Lord sees them and He knows.  May they come to know His love.