Every sunrise finds Mary, 32 and a mother of four children, fearful. Mary is a widow who lives with HIV along with two of her children. A glance around her small plot in Mutomo, Kenya, tells it all. Stunted, wilted, devoid of rain the hardened soil testifies to Mary’s fears.
Kate and I were first invited to visit Mutomo in 2008. We knew very little of that area in East Africa. We do remember our host’s warnings…."please bring water and cabbages…..dress lightly and be prepared to eat dust"! Quickly we discovered Mutomo was a five hour drive, by a four wheel drive vehicle, from Nairobi. Did I say…..a bumpy and dusty road?
In the midst of crippling poverty and a four year famine stands Mutomo Mission Hospital. The hospital serves a population of 50,000 people within a 15 mile radius. Because of the lack of transportation and poverty most folks are extremely ill on arrival to the hospital. Mortality rates are high.
Yet, Mary is a “Poster Patient” for the hospital. We have visited Mary for several years and find that her and her children’s health have improved. She loves to greet us with a dance and many hugs. Something about that human touch draws us together and validates our relationship as God’s family. Tree of Lives has been able to supply her children with nutritious supplemental food and we were able to help with tuition to allow her daughter to remain in school.
When we think about seeing Mary in a few weeks we are reminded we cannot cure her of her disease. We cannot guarantee it will rain this season. But, we can offer her the one thing we have the power to offer, the gift of our very self.
