At the hospital

Chris and Lucky

Sultana and Sophi

Entrance to children's ward

Today, I had the opportunity to go with Chris on one of his hospital visits. One of the major aspects of Chris’s ministry here in Malindi is to encourage and promote the palliative care program at the public hospital. There is only one public hospital in the whole town, so this facility filters anyone and everyone here and from the villages around that need medical attention which goes beyond what a small community clinic can handle. There are a few private hospitals around but very few people can afford services there. Palliative care is a service that is not offered at many public hospitals in Kenya, but it so happens that Malindi General has one of these programs. This is a hospice program for patients near the end of life either because their condition has progressed beyond what medical intervention can cater to or because the medical intervention needed isn’t available for financial or logistical reasons. As you can imagine, working with these patients can be very emotionally taxing.

Today I visited two children. One was a little boy named Lucky. He is 11 years old and is in the final stages of a full blown AIDS infections. He was born HIV+ and, to our knowledge, was never given any medication, which is offered free to anyone who needs it. He loves to hold your hand. When Chris greets him with a handshake, he doesn’t let go of his hand until I offer mine, which he then holds until we leave. His body cannot handle any kind of food but he wants ugali and kuku (polenta and chicken) so badly. The sweet nurse, Sofi, who works with these patients every day sent us with some hard boiled eggs to give him and a pen and paper to write with. When he heard his siblings had been assisted to go back to school (through the efforts of Chris, Sofi, and our coworker Mike) he longed to do the same, but pen and paper will have to do for now. I wrote down my name, Chris’s name, and his own name, Lucky. He tried to copy what I had written so neatly, even copying the style of my handwriting. As he reached the “h” in “Sarah” I thought he maybe had fallen asleep because his pen was moving so slowly. He finally finished and we applauded his efforts. Without passing judgement on his mother, whom I know absolutely nothing about, I will say that this boy has not been given the food, shelter, and medical care that a human being needs to survive, much less education, love, and emotional support that every child deserves as a son or daughter of God, which, I believe, are also essential to our survival. Speaking with Sofi after our visit, she simply ended our conversation saying, “he just needs to rest.” Yes, he needs the rest that only comes from Jesus Christ. As long as he is here on this earth, we will try with our feeble efforts to give him rest. We will cherish him, honor him, and love him, though we can never make up for all the love and cherishing and honoring he has missed out on.

Is it worth it? Would our time better be used building a school or a well or a business? I think these other things are very important and we do spend some of our time on these things. But we continue to spend some of our time at the hospital with children like Lucky who may not see tomorrow. Maybe we can make today just a little bit sweeter for them. Does it rip my heart out to see child after child suffering in ways that I thought were reserved for the fires of hell? yes it does. Does it wear on Chris to face these cases several times in a week, doing what he can to help, but often not knowing what to do? yes it does. Does it wear on Sofi, who works with these patients every day and doesn’t allow herself the luxury of hardening her heart towards them? yes it does. Would Jesus endure these hardships and sacrifices to sit at the bed of a little boy who might die any day and hold his hand so that he knew he wasn’t forgotten? 100 times yes. So I will, and we will. May God grant us the strength we need to take advantage of the opportunity that God has given us: one last chance on earth to show these children what love looks like before they meet love face to face in heaven.