Horrified...

Ok, so the point of this post is for you to understand the reality of life for people in Mozambique just a bit better. I heard this story a few weeks ago, and it has stuck with me. I can't get the horrifying picture out of my head for the life of me. I have been asking the Lord for a wake up call to show me that I have not grown callous in 9 months of developing country life. NO ONE COULD GROW CALLOUS TO THIS STORY...
Another missionary told me this story about one of her boys who's older brother has just started showing up to visit him recently. She thought that we had left the older children in the home to care for their mother who was sick. Her understanding was that she has always "walked" on her hands and knees but was capable of caring for her family before she got sick. And that someday soon her other children would return to live with their mother. The real story was brought to her attention not long ago.
The brother who has shown up is not well dressed, usually dirty, and has asked for food consistently saying he can't go to school because his mom needs help and they have no food in the house. Come to find out "traditional medicine" or witch doctors are actually the cause of this situation. Our little boy's mom was sick. She was brought to a witch doctor in the community. The treatment prescribed was to put both of her legs in boiling water and hold them there.....can you imagine being strapped down and having your legs burned so badly that now that the skin has finally healed you have to "walk" on your hands and knees because all of your muscles and tendons have been shrunk and no longer work properly. Can you imagine? And the part that really got me was that when she was screaming because of the excruciating pain of her flesh being burned off the witch doctor said that was the spirits leaving her so she would no longer be sick. And you was held in the burning water until she stopped screaming...or passed out from the pain more likely.
These are the things that make me angry...babies dying because lack of knowledge, mother's legs being burned to the point of being unrecognizable because of a curable illness, children growing up in a huge center because their parents just don't want them...these things make me angry. These things make me want to love. These things make me want to see change in our broken world. These things make me look to the Lord for His guidance and faithfulness. I pray they do the same for you.