A Prayer Request

They came to a local church in town this morning, a church known for the presence of Mercy Shippers. We are the white people with the means available to help, she said. She had heard that we were there, and although she doesn’t attend church herself, she didn’t know what else to do. So on the gangway I saw them, brought from the church to the ship. The characteristic picture of the emaciated child with the sunken in eyes, drowning in his little African outfit in his mama’s arms. She cried out in frustration when we tried to get a history of what was going on. “Nothing is working. My milk is drying up, and he is too weak to suck. He throws up what food I can give him and he can no longer walk. My husband has kicked us out because my child is cursed. I have no money to take him elsewhere. Please help me.”

There is a woman downstairs in the ward with bruises on her back; bruises from her husband who beats her and her children because she doesn’t have the means to bring in enough food for the family. She speaks to me so cautiously, and questions why I am asking about the food her malnourished child gets at home, leery of divulging too much information.

Or take Anicette, the poster child for the Mercy Ships feeding program last year in Benin. She traveled over the border with her mama this week to visit us here on the ship. It wasn’t a visit to say hello and tell us how well Ani was doing; she traveled cross country because she didn’t know what else to do. At fourteen months old, Ani has regressed to the weight of a one month old. Mom saw a picture of Anicette plump and happy on the door of the feeding program exam room, a realization of sad irony as she walks in with Ani, now skin and bones and crying in her arms.

I’ll be honest. This was a tough week. Despite all the joys that occur on board and how happy I am to be working in the ward, there are weeks like these where I just want to wrap up these families and take them home with me to the states. I want to take them to a safe place where fathers go to jail for beating their wives and where children get subsidized foods to keep them growing strong; a place where I know help is available for the long term.

 

But here in Africa that is not always the case. The sad reality is that there are only so many feeding programs in the country and more than that, when these kids are only moderately malnourished they may not even qualify for help. Sometimes I feel like my hands are tied when I’m seeing a child for malnutrition, but the only problem is they lack the finances to buy food.  If we can, we keep them here on the ship to fatten them up. Or we give them formula or money and send them on their way, hoping and praying that God will intervene for the long term. Despite the sad circumstance, I still trust that God is in control and He knows what is going on in each and every life here.

With all the resources available at home in the states, it was a lot easier to find the answers myself. But here, where the answers aren’t always obvious, I have to trust in God and have faith that God can and will provide if I ask audacious prayers beyond what I know is capable of happening. So I seek him and trust him and ask for his help every single day. Along with me, please pray for this little baby that came to the ship today with his mama that we couldn’t keep on board. Please pray that they make it to the feeding program in town and we gave them enough money to get situated there and grow. Pray for good care at the local hospital, which I’m learning, is often hard to come by. Also pray for the family with the abusive husband. Pray that this mama would be brave enough to seek help elsewhere and that these kids would gain weight while here. Finally, pray for Ani. Pray that she grows strong here on the ward as we figure out what went wrong and correct this problem now, so when the ship leaves again, she thrives.

Please also pray for me. I truly love the work that I am doing here in Africa and despite these sad events, I know that God has placed me here for a reason. I’ve invited the head of nutrition from the Ministry of Health to the ship tomorrow. I want to show him what we do onboard and collaborate with the local Togolese feeding programs already in place. So far, my contacts at UNICEF haven’t been able to offer much, so I am hoping and praying that he has something more encouraging to say. Please pray that Mercy Ships is able to help with the lack of infrastructure that exists in this regard.  As I’ve seen before, we serve a big God that can provide in really crazy ways. Give me some time, and I’ll tell you what He’s doing here in Togo with us.

“Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we can ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us, to him be the glory.” Ephesians 3: 20-21