This
month, we have a World Race Squad in Swaziland, a country that has been
devastated by HIV/AIDS. Two weeks ago, a team found a nearly-dead baby
and started nursing him back to health. Here’s the rest of the story…
From Megan Dunegan:
I climbed into the backseat of our kombi after a long
morning at the care point, expecting a semi-normal answer to the question, “How
was your day today?” When I turned to our ministry contact Pastor Gift, he
replied, “We got a baby today.”
“We got a baby today?!” I said
back to him a bit confused. He proceeded to tell me a story that ended with my
team caring for the tiniest baby boy. Mcolisi (or Moses as we call him)
is four weeks old, and his mother Pelile is suffering from AIDS. She has not
been able to feed him because she is no longer producing milk. She has four
other children, and now is teaching her eight year-old how to “mother” her
siblings.
From Traci VanSumeren:
Krystle and I took Moses to the hospital. After some blood-work and
x-rays, the doctors decided to treat him for pneumonia and malnutrition.
Krystle volunteered to stay at the hospital. This morning around
quarter to six, Gary came in to tell me that Moses had passed away. Apparently,
he just stopped breathing.
[We] rode down to Nsoko to tell Pelile. She was crying, but
consolable. I have been a mess all day. Back and forth—sometimes laughing
while we play cards, and other times breaking down. I know that this was all a
part of God’s plan…and that awareness has been raised about situations like
this.
My question is: what will you do? I want to know what you will do
to prevent this. What will you do to encourage me to never be the same; to never
take life for granted; to never waste a second thinking about what I can do for
someone else’s life?
***
I
see this kind of tragedy every day: young girls who can no longer “hold
it” to go to the bathroom because they have been so severely raped by
men who are their relatives, babies dying from the choices their
mothers have made, and a generation of children being raised by other
children because their parents have died from AIDS.
Stories like this one happen every day; it can be overwhelming.
Over 130,00 AIDS orphans are struggling to survive in Swaziland now.
Statistically, most will die without ever being noticed, but I’m not
interested in statistics. I’m interested in you and I making a
difference. I believe that this death can bring life to other orphans. Will you believe with me?!
In answer to Traci’s question, what will you do?
You can help us by giving a gift in memory of Moses (choose “Nsoko
Project” from the drop-down menu). Just click here to donate. Or, you can fill out a one-minute app for the World Race and see if you
have what it takes to stand in the gap for children like Moses.
