I am starting to spend more time in Muzoka and the need is so intense there. When I am there I can see, this is why I came. I know a lot of you have been waiting for blogs and pictures like this, but it is a sensitive thing for me. If you know me, you know that I hold these things very close to my heart and feel them deeply. It’s not always easy to express it. I also want to be careful, because these are real people and although I want you all to see and hear the reality of the situation here, I don’t want to toss their stories and faces around without care. I didn’t even start carrying my camera until a couple weeks ago, because I don’t want people to see me as just another white visitor and I want to respect their lives.
Here’s one day in Muzoka about two weeks ago:
Today I visited some of the children and families that we would like to start supporting.
There was one little girl(in the picture above) that totally made my life...not just my day. She is five, HIV+, and an orphan. She attends the preschool that we run there, so she had seen me earlier in the day at the center. When she saw that i had come to her place to see her, she came running from across the road with the biggest smile on her face and jumped into my arms. This little girl was dying before the couple that work for us there, found her and got her tested. Muzoka is a deserted rail town with 37 surrounding villages, over 1000 orphans, and very little opportunity for work. These families are all maxed out trying to care for children and many of the guardians are in bad health themselves. Most of them try to survive on somewhere between 50 cents and a dollar a day for up to ten people.
We visited a very sick baby, who they are sure is positive. The mother is positive and the baby is basically dying. She went to the health clinic last week and they told her to take him to the hospital about 20km away to get him tested. That place only tests for HIV on Wednesdays and she didn't have the money for transport, so they are just waiting. Getting him tested would get him the medication he needs and all of that is free. So I arranged for transport for them to a town that can do the testing on Monday, it cost me $5. At that same place there is a little boy, four years old, who is deaf. He had cerebral malaria and was in a coma for 3 months. When he woke up, his hearing was gone. He was precious, just holding onto me and pointing at my camera the whole time. The stories go on and on. Sitting with these people, I feel God's grace all over me and have an incredible sense that He has prepared me for this. It takes something only He can give to be able to face these needs and do what you are able to without completely losing composure. I have to trust that He will lead me in these things and with His help we will care for as many as we can.
