Eva

This is Eva.  She is an AIDS orphan.

She is 10-years-old. But weighs so little.

Brooke and Simone help Eva to walk to use the bathroom.
Notice her swollen feet and slight frame.

Brooke is amazed at how carefully Eva
is coloring in the lines. She was imitating
Brooke's artistic abilities. :-)  Story below.

This is how we know what love is: Jesus Christ laid down his life for us. And we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers and sisters. If anyone has material possessions and sees a brother or sister in need but has no pity on them, how can the love of God be in that person? Dear children, let us not love with words or speech but with actions and in truth. I John 3: 16-18

She was by herself sitting on the hard cement in front of the hospital. Dirty and frail, her somber and sad eyes followed us as we shared the book of John with several mothers and sick children that were sitting and standing among the trees in the late morning sun.  Normally we were inside the corridor but the floor was being washed and the water trickling non-stop from the hospital opening blocked our entrance. Brooke caught this little girl's eyes and I could see her determination to find out more.  One of the mothers acknowledged that this little girl had been abandoned at the hospital and had not been talking, eating, or taking her medicine. Her lifeless eyes were a window into a heart that had lost all hope. As if on cue, Brooke, an adoptee herself,  was by her side communicating in the language of compassion and love. Almost instantly this little 10 year-old Mozambican black girl with arms the size of a broomstick, swollen feet and bandaged legs latched on to blonde and blue-eyed Brooke who by this time was unashamedly crying at the sight of this forlorn AIDS orphan in Africa. Laying her head in Brooke's lap, she held her hand with all the strength she had.  Her fasting of silence was over as she quietly asked Brooke if she could come live with her. As her trust grew, Brooke managed to coax her into two cups of soup though her mouth was filled with open sores. 

We bought her some juice and yogurt. Leaving Brooke and the activistas to bathe her, I carefully looked through a pile of used clothing heaped up in the open market. She had soiled her tattered clothes because she was too weak to get herself to the toilet in the hospital. I found a used coat for her since she had been shivering in the sun. Then lastly I bought some flexible flip-flops as her bloated feet were twice the size of a normal ten-year-old. 

Meanwhile, Brooke and activistas Pascao and Josefa carefully removed her soiled clothes and washed her from a bucket of cold water. She was nothing more than leathery skin and bones. Brooke cut her fingernails and toenails, scrubbed them and added some hot pink polish. They carried little Eva back to her hospital bed and propped her up against the wall for support. Brooke took out some bubbles she had brought with her and was coaxing this child that had been lost in her dissipating world to begin playing again. Weakly she started batting at the bubbles and a slight smile emerged on her gaunt face like the sun peaking through an ominous cloud after a calamitous cyclone. Having spent the better part of the afternoon and early evening with her, we finally announced we had to leave with a promise to return the next day.  Poor Eva. She cried out pitifully that she didn't want Brooke to leave; she didn't want to be alone in the hospital. She clung to Brooke with what little strength she had. 

How did you get here little one? What is your painful story that you try to hide so well in your heart but your eyes are screaming to share? We can't undo the first chapters of your life...but God has the last word dear little Eva. He will write your epilogue. Loving an AIDS orphan is part of His story and it has a happy ending.

Deb, from the Wyoming team, is teaching how to make
tortillas at the bakery.  Tortillas have few ingredients
and they are an excellent introduction into the Moz diet.

Taunya and Deb also taught how to make American biscuits.
These Mozambican men learned quickly that jam tastes pretty
good in the biscuits they made. :-)

These students will teach other Mozambicans how to make
biscuits and tortillas.

Our team from Wyoming did a great
job painting another Green Door house.

We had four teens on our team
and they were amazing! What
great kids they were to have
help these last two weeks.

Of course the children have to hang out
with us and find out what we are doing.
We played a lot of games and did some
singing on the job.

Taylor is telling Winston how to do it. :-)

Taunya joined the team from Powell, but she is from a church in
Pavillion. She was quite the worker and I think she left her
heart here in Moz.

Pastor Jon and Dave smile while they work!  Jon held a
seminar for the church plant pastors.  There is a huge need
here to mentor the pastors out in the African bush.

Even the little guys babysit.

Brooke had a lot of help.  Of course, how much help is it
when a hundred little fingers try and get into your paint?

Part of our team was doing ministry elsewhere the day they
painted - we had 9 team members in all. This house was
built for a widow who had her mud house destroyed by her
mentally ill son.