Introducing "Hannah" - this is an assumed name to cover her identity.
She is a tiny woman that is hidden from sight by her kanga and kitengi (fabric shielding her face and over her head) She has seven children and is currently nursing the tiny 2 month old boy who never seems satisfied by her wizened breasts. She disinterestedly feeds him and puts him on her back to carry.
Her 2 yr old daughter, "Doris" seems to be a disappointment. The little girl was not of the gender that has status here in Africa. About 4 months before I met Doris she had some foreign object or dust particle fly into her eye. Her eye became swollen and weeping and eventually, after a few months the parents took her to the doctor only to find that she had a scratch on her retina and was partially blind in that eye. Although it no longer weeps and is swollen it now has the dull sheen of a blind eye.
Some days she is led around by her older sister (4 yrs old) but mostly she shuffles around by herself. She has no expectation of help and does not demand it. Sometimes at Chai time she sits by herself and pours her tea into her mouth and down her front. Her listless mother doesn't even notice.
After spending some time with Hannah and trying to communicate with her that her little girl needed her I realized that Hannah felt like a little lost girl herself. She felt used up and abandoned and unloved.
One day she approached me for prayer. She asked David and I to pray for her. I was glad because I had been praying so much for her and her mother's heart or lack of it.
As we began to pray, I saw a picture of an infected splinter in her heart. This was imagery for a wound that had become infected in her emotions. I asked her what this meant and she initially said she didn't know. After some time of praying however, she began to weep and confessed to us that she had been battling with the temptation to drink poison and end her life. We prayed and she wept and she received God's love and recommitted her life to the Lord. Afterward she commented how weary she was and how peaceful she felt.
Please continue to pray for "Hannah" and "Doris" and their tough situations.
She is a tiny woman that is hidden from sight by her kanga and kitengi (fabric shielding her face and over her head) She has seven children and is currently nursing the tiny 2 month old boy who never seems satisfied by her wizened breasts. She disinterestedly feeds him and puts him on her back to carry.
Her 2 yr old daughter, "Doris" seems to be a disappointment. The little girl was not of the gender that has status here in Africa. About 4 months before I met Doris she had some foreign object or dust particle fly into her eye. Her eye became swollen and weeping and eventually, after a few months the parents took her to the doctor only to find that she had a scratch on her retina and was partially blind in that eye. Although it no longer weeps and is swollen it now has the dull sheen of a blind eye.
Some days she is led around by her older sister (4 yrs old) but mostly she shuffles around by herself. She has no expectation of help and does not demand it. Sometimes at Chai time she sits by herself and pours her tea into her mouth and down her front. Her listless mother doesn't even notice.
After spending some time with Hannah and trying to communicate with her that her little girl needed her I realized that Hannah felt like a little lost girl herself. She felt used up and abandoned and unloved.
One day she approached me for prayer. She asked David and I to pray for her. I was glad because I had been praying so much for her and her mother's heart or lack of it.
As we began to pray, I saw a picture of an infected splinter in her heart. This was imagery for a wound that had become infected in her emotions. I asked her what this meant and she initially said she didn't know. After some time of praying however, she began to weep and confessed to us that she had been battling with the temptation to drink poison and end her life. We prayed and she wept and she received God's love and recommitted her life to the Lord. Afterward she commented how weary she was and how peaceful she felt.
Please continue to pray for "Hannah" and "Doris" and their tough situations.
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