Three Visits

These were three of many patients we saw at the hospital today when we served soup:

Isabel...It is ironic that you not only bear the name of a famous queen that championed Christianity but also a witchdoctor's charm secured around your fragile neck.  It pains me to see your large fearful eyes on an emaciated body that divulges the disease taking you away.  When you don't even know your left from your right, how can you navigate the complexity of AIDS? Dear little Isabel.....help me understand...why did life fail you?

No Name...Doesn't everyone have the right to a name and at least one set of clothes to cover their nakedness?  That is how you were abandoned at the Dondo hospital a month ago.   A bed sheet is your new finery but you don't complain.  You have never spoken a word in 13 years because mental disability sequesters the stories somewhere in your mind.  You are as vulnerable as a fragment of glass on a train track.  Why did life fail you?

The Widow...Following the piercing scream from the corridors, I found you on the floor next to your husband's body.  This morning he carried your sick child to the hospital until he suddenly passed out on the road.   Tonight you are frantic to find what kind of contagion took him away and left you with five small children.  Why did life fail you?

We explained the Truth to Isabel's mother and she cut off the charms from her daughter's neck. We found the perfect dress for No Name at the market and she laughed a long time when we hugged her.  We provided the funds for a funeral and food for the widow and comforted her in her sorrow.   Lastly, we committed them to the One who accepts the sick, abandoned and dying. For there is one thing we have come to understand...that love never fails.