He Will Deliver the Needy…

This past Friday Hannah and I drove out to Lassa Tchou to help bring a baby who Christianne (one of the Christian ladies in the village) said needed to be brought into town to the hospital.  When we arrived the grandmother brought out the skinniest, weakest, most emmaciated baby I have ever seen.  I choked back an immediate reaction of tears at our first glimpse of this malnourished little human being.  Little 9 month old Jacque’s mother had died a week and a half before from unknown causes and he had eaten and drunk little over the last week.  It was obvious to me, however, that his malnourishment had begun long before her death.  Amazingly, he could still weakly grip with his fingers and his deep, needy eyes could focus on mine.

We drove the 15 or so minutes to the SOS hospital here in Kara.  A frustrating next few hours evolved as the lady in charge of admitting patients was busy for 20 minutes handing out cleaning supplies to the staff.  After I had to be pushy and force her to see his serious condition she began the process of checking him in.  After a very long time of asking a lot of questions about his past and history, directed at his grandmother and other male family member who had accompanied us, they tried to take blood in the laboratory.  He was so dehydrated that they couldn’t get any blood out, even from squeezing a prick on his finger.  They then proceeded to give him a concoction of vitamins and antibiotics.  3 1/2 hours after our arrival it was approaching lunch time and Hannah and I returned to the house to finish lunch preparations for our household and visitors, along with our houseworker and to bring some food up to the hospital for Christianne and Jacque’s grandmother and uncle.  As we were about to leave a little after 12:15pm Christianne arrived at our door to tell us that the little baby boy had died.  Our return to the hospital was to retrieve his body and take him back to the village.  Two of our summer interns, Dustin and Ben came with me along with our house helper, Aimme, and we drove back to the family’s compound where we had picked the baby up only a few hours earlier.  Neighbors were quiet and came into the courtyard area to give brief condolences to the grandmother and thank us for the effort in taking the baby to the hospital.  I asked Christianne if we could pray.  We asked the grandmother to come into the room with us and Aimee and I both prayed for the grandmother and for the older siblings of Jacque (who were at school) and for God to bring comfort in our sadness.  I cried all through my prayer in Kabiye, which is very counter-cultural, but instead of stuffing my emotions I felt as though they were a better witness to God’s love as Jesus wept at the death of his friend, Lazarus. 

The sadness and compassion that I felt that morning sent shudders and burning sensations through my body as I was near him.  I will not soon forget the eyes of this small baby boy.  He probably was HIV positive, he had been neglected at least in the last week if not for weeks or months before, he was completely helpless and so very in need of someone to save him.  All of this was present in his gaze that could only focus for seconds at a time.  I know without a doubt that I will see him someday at the end of time, and I look forward with much hope to hearing him testify to the words about Jesus in Psalm 72:12-14

“For he will deliver the needy when he cries for help, the afflicted also and him who has no helper.  He will have compassion on the poor and needy, and the lives of the needy he will save.  He will rescue their life from oppression and violence; and their blood will be precious in his sight…” 

Please pray for the Christians in the village of Lassa Tchou as they seek ways to bless the family of this little boy and his mother who have died.  May they find that Jesus is the answer to all of the unanswered questions of their hearts and may they find life in Him.