Ziada's Story

About a week ago our friend Zachariah came to us to tell us of a mother in our neighboring village, Narikapet, who had a child that was not doing well. Kristi and I went that same day to pay her a visit.  Upon arriving we found a 1 1/2 month old baby girl named Ziada.  As we looked on Ziada's skin and bones, the mother told us that she did not have any milk and had been trying to feed the  baby soya porridge.  Suyana (the mother) is about 18 yrs. old, Ziada is her first child and she doesn't know the first thing about taking care of a baby.  She is alone is Karamoja from a district about 6 hrs. away and is the cause of constant ridicule from her neighbors for her lack of motherly instincts and skills. Suyana shares the profession of one of Jesus' ancestors, Rahab, so she leaves the baby at home every night and returns in the morning.  After spending some time with Suyana, Kristi gave her some motherly advice about how to take care of the baby and that same day we brought her a bottle and some formula.  

A couple of days later Suyana was sick as a result of an infection from her C-section.  Kristi took her and Ziada to the health center to be treated, Suyana for her infection and Ziada to get on a high calorie milk treatment and to have her lungs checked for pneumonia.  After taking her to the hospital, Kristi came back the following day only to find that no one, no doctors, no nurses, no medical staff had attended to Suyana or Ziada at all.  They lay there on the hospital bed exactly the same way as Kristi had left them, 24 hrs. earlier!  As Kristi was sitting with Suyana, the nurses came around and began to berate her about being a bad mother (she had cut the tops off the bottles because she didn't know how to use them).  While this is happening, Kristi notices that the baby is not breathing very well.  She lets the nurses know and they respond that the doctor will be in at some point.  Obviously no one is holding their breath since the doctor hasn't been to see Suyana since she arrived 24 hrs. ago.  The baby's breathing gets worse, and there is no one at the health center there to run the breathing machine.  Kristi decides to take the baby to Michaela's house for a breathing treatment, and it was there that Ziada took her last breath just minutes after arrival.  

How do we make sense of this?  How do you continue to look after the Suyanas and Ziadas when the health center won't care or pay attention to the people who are dying daily in front of them? While we know that death is a result of sin and a very unnatural thing sometimes you just have to thank God for sparing Ziada from a very difficult life and bringing her home to be with him.  We thank God that he has allowed us to be a part of Suyana's life to show her the love of Christ.  She comes from a Muslim family.  

Be praying for Suyana.  She has disappeared from the health center even though she needs treatment for a potentially serious infection known as Sepsis. Pray that Kristi will have more time with her to really relate to her the love that Jesus has for her, the love that sent him to the cross.