paige in lesotho: winter?

I have been to the hospital 3 times in the last week. That is probably a new record. No, I was not the one getting treated but rather I was taking kids in to see the doctor. I have been going more and more lately and the last two times I went were very interesting experiences so I am just going to tell you about those a little.

Last Thursday around 10AM the nurse found me and asked if I could go to the hospital with my house mother and a couple kids right away. Shortly after I agreed my house mother got a phone call that her daughter at home was sick and not doing well. We had not yet left for the hospital and she was torn on what to do since technically since the other house mother is gone she can't leave. After about a half hour of discussing and trying to figure out scheduling stuff my house mother went home to take care of her daughter and I ended up going to the hospital with Beautiful Gate's nurse instead. We had two kids that were just very sick and needed some medicine. The boy I was holding was in terrible shape. I have honestly never seen a kid so sick. He smelled like a dead animal (not even kidding) and just laid on my chest nearly the whole day. In the car I kept my hand on his chest to be sure I could still feel him breathing, that is how sick he was. He is also HIV positive so his immune system was just having a really hard time fighting off the sickness. In America, this boy probably would have stayed overnight in the hospital for a few days. But, In Lesotho they have so many sick people from HIV/AIDS that they don't have room to offer that option to everybody. We were able to leave with some medicine for him which is good. Today (Monday) I went to go check on him in his bed and when he saw me he smiled at me. It seems he is on the right track to get better which is very encouraging since he has been staying in bed all day for over a week now. I was talking to the nurse and she said that if he did not have the proper medication and care he could have very easily died from the flu he caught just because he was HIV positive. That still just shocks me. That a child could die from the flu because maybe his mother could afford the medicine for the child or the transportation to get him to the hospital. I don't think I will ever take for granted the wonderful doctors and facilities we have in the US again. Please pray for this boy to be able to return to full health soon

Today I met Beautiful Gate's nurse at the hospital with the oldest boy at Beautiful Gate. He has been placed to be adopted along with his brother and now they are just waiting to be picked up. When you ask either one of them about their new home they get so excited they can hardly contain themselves! Its rather adorable. It was just me and him today so I spoiled him a bit with some snacks and I brought a notebook and markers for him to color with. When I took out the notebook he immediately started writing and drawing. First, he wrote the numbers 0-10, and then he wrote his name, then he drew a snake. He surprised me when he gave me the paper and pen and asked me to draw and mother and a father and a baby. I took the paper and drew some pretty sad looking stick people. He then excitedly said, "Now a brother and a sister!!" After I had finished I showed him and he put fists in the air and yelled, "YES!" That moment stuck with me through the rest of my day. That was what a family was supposed to look like in that boy's head. A mother, father, brother, and sister. I was so excited for him and that he would get a mom and dad very soon and seeing his enthusiasm made my heart melt. It also made me think of how rare it is in Lesotho to have both of your parents and all of your siblings alive due to HIV/AIDS. I am not going to spit out statistics at you because it is depressing and until you see the faces of these people and children it won't really become real. The place I have been seeing the Lord the most lately is through these adoptions and the hope and joy that go along with that. Every adoption ceremony I witness is like a little bit of heaven in a world filled with chaos.

Friday night there was a CRAZY hail storm. It only lasted about 15 minutes, but after those 15 minutes it looked like a Michigan winter out my window. The hail was so loud on my metal roof that I could hardly hear myself think. Through my window I could see the Beautiful Gate kids watch the storm through their window. They watched with awe and laughter while I was pretty much freaking out in my house. After the storm there was water everywhere. Most of the campus with flooded with water. There was a little stream out my back door from the water that was draining in from the community. Thankfully there was no major damage. After the storm hit, Bryan came over to make sure I didn't have any flooding or anything. He mentioned that he wondered how many kids that were abandon yesterday and died from the pelting of the hail or from the cold. We decided that we just can't think about things like that but instead be thankful for the 55 kids the Lord brought here that have shelter over their heads and people loving them. When I skype people from home and talk about parents abandoning their children, they often just default into thinking that the Basotho are terrible people. So, I am going to try to help you understand their situations and the choices they are forced to make. ....Let's say you are a young mother. Your husband gave you HIV and he has recently passed away because of it. You recently found out that you are pregnant. You live in a 15ft by 15ft tin shack. You don't have running water or plumbing but sometimes you can get electricity if you have left over money. You have three children that are in school so you are able to work in the factories during the day. You walk two hours to and from the factory everyday since you can't afford to take a taxi. You know you can't work full time and raise a baby, but if you quit your job at the factory you have no income to raise and feed your soon to be 4 children. When this baby is born you have a choice to make. You can quit your job and starve your whole family so you can stay home and care for the baby. You can pull one of your kids out of school to care for the baby. You can take your child to a care center but that means a lot of paperwork, complications, guilt trips, and taking time off of work. Or, you can abandon your baby and keep getting by like you are now. Can you even imagine having to make that choice? The Basotho aren't bad or mean people....they are just forced to make some nasty decisions. I hope this gives you at least a little bit more of an understanding.