We have been blessed as a team to be involved in many activities involving the women of the community. There are many lessons to be learned from the women of Mozambique, and we are challenged on many levels. This past week we had the opportunity to join a woman’s class and teach about child nutrition and then run a well baby clinic. As the little church building started to fill with women, I was taken aback as I recognized some familiar faces from last year. I saw three young women who had been at the school last year when we had visited, who now were carrying newborn babies. It was such a pull at my heart because these girls are still girls themselves, but now have the job of caring and raising a precious gift from heaven…..I wondered if they were ready, if they had really wanted to get married, or if they ever wished they could still be kids. I wondered how often they laughed, how hard they worked throughout the day, and if they were happy. It was amazing to me to think of 15 year old girls becoming wives and mothers, and not only that, but in Africa, where the struggles are so much more raw. I wondered as they held those little babies in front of them, whether they knew how to love the babes, or if they were just slipping into a customary role?
It blessed my heart though, as the church filled, to see so many women come with their little ones to learn. The women of Mozambique are not given many opportunities to learn even the basics of reading or writing, and so these classes that happen every Thursday as so valued. It has struck me over and over again how mothers are mothers no matter where you are, and these women are no different. As we started the weighing for the well baby clinic, the women lined up and brought their children one by one to get weighed. Controlled chaos is what I called it, as the babies started wailing their complaints, and the women laughed and talked. It was a bit overwhelming at times. After the weighing the women joined another line and waited to hear what the status of their children was.
It saddened me at the end of the day to hear that only a few children were at a good weight, and the majority was underweight. Looking around, I saw many worried faces as the mothers waited, concerned for their children and also for their friends. One woman caught my arm as I walked through the line and thanked me in her language and I humbly accepted and reached out and touched the head of her little one. I wish the solution to the starving and struggling could be found, I wish that I could offer that Mom the answer that she was looking for, I wish I had endless money so that I could offer the food and nutrients that these children needed. I did stop and pray at that moment though, because I am more and more aware of God’s listening ear to our prayers. He knows the number of hairs on each of our heads, he knew all of those babies when they were in the safety of the womb, He knows the suffering and the pain, and so we pray.
The strength of the people we have the pleasure of working with was highlighted for me this week as I worked in the clinic. Saturday morning a few of us started the walk to the clinic from camp which is 2km and at times can seem a bit of a long distance. Once getting to the clinic and starting to see people that had been waiting there, I learned that many of them had walked from the community that we had been in the previous Thursday for the well baby clinic… a distance of 15 km. There was a heavy cloud hanging over me as I started hearing the problems that had brought these people such a far way…. Chronic drainage from their children’s ears and hearing loss, malaria for which we had no medication, asthma, malnutrition, fever of unknown reasons…… it just went on and on. I sat there listening, praying for wisdom knowing that the supply of medication that we had would only last a little while and knowing that most of the problems would not require medication. But the struggle was so difficult as I looked into their eyes knowing that they had walked such a long way for me to offer them some advice, a prayer, and then send them back down the road.
Just when I thought that I had seen the most challenging cases, a woman whom I had met at the well baby clinic walked in and my jaw dropped. This woman was in her late 40’s, had 6 children, and her year old twins were in her arms. I quickly inquired as to how she had come, and she explained that she had walked the long distance…..with two babies. Her face told me of years of hardship and worry, her thin body told me of her hard work, her hands on her babies’ heads told me of the deep love that she had for her children. I asked her how she was feeling and she just started telling about her children, their weight was too low, they had ear and chest infections, they weren’t eating as well, etc, etc. Her eyes spoke of the desperation that she was feeling and without even asking, I knew that she had seen the result of this harsh environment before and she was willing to anything, even walk for 15km with two children, to ensure that her babies wouldn’t die. I talked with her a while, looked at her children’s ears and listened to their chests, and found that they were doing quite well. I offered her advice of what she could feed her children, and she replied gently by telling me she didn’t have money to buy the food her children needed.
Then it made sense in my mind as I looked at her almost wasted body. She was breastfeeding these children, because she had nothing else. Imagine that for a minute….imagine knowing that if the milk stopped, if your body quit, that your children would starve to death….. After our short time together, she thanked me for my help, and then went outside to sit under a tree with her children to rest before the journey home.
Strength and love were the only words that came to mind when I thought of her. How could you measure that amount of strength, I knew that it was impossible to measure the depth of love for her children. As I continued to think about that, the next little face came in the clinic and the day continued, but my thoughts have never been far from that mother……..and the things that she taught me. I am honored many times over to have little moments like that one while in Africa, honored by the examples of strength, honored by the relationships that I have been blessed to find, and humbled beyond words…………
Much love from Africa to you all
Suzanne
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