Hospital Visit and Prayer Walk

Today is Saturday January 19, 2008, today we went to the hospital in Mbabane to visit the children. There were several mothers with their infants, many were very sick. We prayed with them and sang children’s bible songs to them. I spoke with a young mother with a very sick little boy, she said, he was 10 months old. He was so tiny; as small as a one month old baby. There was a small room at the end of the hall that abandoned children were kept. Some were abandoned because their parents had died, some because they were mentally challenged, one little girl about three years old was abandoned because their were too many girls in her family, her name had meant too many girls. There was a baby that was about 2 or 3, it was hard to tell his age as he was quite ill. He was in a crib and he was frightened of us. Cathy spent some time with him and he cam around a bit and she was able to touch his hand. It is so sad, he was so sick, so afraid and so alone. It is hard to write this as the memory of it haunts me. I picked up a baby boy about 6 months old. The back side of him was wet with urine and so was the bedding he was lying in. He smiled right away when I picked him up. The nurse was giving the children bathes so I thought better of the situation. He was next and she did bathe him. We stayed and held the other children. The nurse finished bathing the little baby and put him back in the same clothes, only a different towel wrapped around him for a diaper. She then laid him in the crib with the same wet bedding. It broke my heart. I picked him up and held him for awhile. When it was time to leave, I had to put him back in his crib. He cried when I did, it was very hard to leave. I wanted so much to take him with me.

We went on a prayer walk later in Manzini. It was very crowded and didn’t appear to be too safe. The people of Manzini seem so lost. I prayed for them to know and love God, I prayed for employment so they wouldn’t be hungry and I prayed for wisdom, to keep them and their children safe from AIDS.



We went back to the church in Manzini and went on a walk through the village and met the families of the children we met on the first day. Many of the children didn’t have sponsors to attend school. I met a young girl that needed a sponsor, she is 16 and her name is Ntombifuthi. My heart went out to her as she is quite shy; we talked as we walked through the village. She loves to read. I asked her what kind of books she likes to read and she said novels and the bible. I asked her if she had a bible and she said she didn’t but she read the bible at church. I have pledged to sponsor Ntombifuthi so that she can attend school. She was so excited, the smile that crossed her face was one of not only great joy, but I also saw such relief. She is a very intelligent young lady and it would be a shame for her to not have the opportunity to attend school. She had stood by her friends excited for them as they had each received a sponsor, all the while waiting for someone to sponsor her.