faces of hunger

they were the last patients of the day… a young little teenage mama and a little bundle wrapped up in her lap which i assumed to be her baby. and to be honest, i look one look at them and thought, “this should be an easy one… another tired new mama with a baby that cries…” however, as sally unwrapped the little one, i was unprepared for what i saw. before us lay a tiny little two week old baby, skin and bones, very dehydrated, that barely had the strength to move, let alone cry or eat. diagnosing their child with diarrhea, these two young parents had done the only thing they could think of and gone to the local pharmacy and bought up some commonly used adult cold and cough medicine, and another medicine commonly used here for diarrhea. further aggravating the situation, this poor little baby now oozed from all the trauma done to her young stomach. as we searched for a car to take them to the hospital where they would hopefully get the help needed to get their baby better (if the equipment to do so is there) and further exams and labs done, i watched the baby as she lay in sally’s arms, her face twisting in pain and hunger, praying that she would not take her last breath in our clinic. and i looked at these two so very young parents, scared and just as seemingly lost as their little baby as to what was going on.

saturday another little bundle was brought to us… this one with a cleft lip and palate. at three weeks old, sherwood brought him over to be weighed and examined before we started all the teaching that goes along with a cleft palate and lip baby. as the story unfolded, we learned that gramma and grampa had brought this baby in (as the mom was still in her 40 day postpartum period where they do not leave the house), and as the baby had not been able to suckle, the mom has no milk, and they had been bringing the baby to breastfeeding neighbors to “borrow” milk, allowing it to be squeezed into the baby’s mouth. and as we taught gramma how to feed the baby with the cleft palate bottle, and as baby sucked down the two ounces in five minutes flat, I looked into the face of this little fighter and into the faces of these loving, caring grandparents… neither of them complained about the injustice done to them by god or how hard it had been to feed this little baby or how he cried all the time, his little belly full of hunger… they simply accepted the gift that god has given them and patiently learned how best to care for him. and now we too will be able to share in this little gift’s life as we will continue to monitor this baby’s weight and health every two weeks until we are able to get him in for a surgery to have his lip and palate repaired…

and each week we continue to see mothers and fathers asking for food and/or corn to feed their families... still several months away from the september harvest that the rains from this year will hopefully bring, the pleas for help continue... and our pleas and prayers for a spirit-led ability to discern true need from lies continue as well...

i find myself now seeing anna’s face in so many of the babies that come through our door. and i confront time and time again what it must be like to be a guatemalan parent here in this country… the constant struggle for food, diseases, illnesses that are so curable in other countries, the accidents and injuries, drunken fathers and husbands and the beatings that are sure to follow, and mostly the lack of resources available to those who do not have the money to find and fund them…

such a need for education, such a need for discipleship, for care, for love… for god’s grace, mercy, and justice to rain down.

such a need for prayer…

"then if my people who are called by my name will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, i will hear from heaven and will forgive their sins and heal their land. (italics mine) 2 chronicles 7:14