A 3 year old girl is axed on the head by her mother for no apparent reason. She stays in hospital for about 2 months where no one changes her until her great grand father comes once every week. She sits in her own filth and all the nurses do is wrap her in blankets despited the weather. The huge laceration on the side of her head has not been stitched because apparently it's still "septic." She cannot speak and yet she is 3 years old; my guess is it's because she's so traumatised.
The hospital tells the great grand father that they are going to discharge her because they also need the bed for more severe cases. This is clearly an abuse case and you think Social Welfare would not allow her to go back to her rural home.. but they do. The great grand father is given custody of her and he's going back to the very home where the incident happened! The mother of the child is still alive and could well try and take the child back because goodness knows the great grand father can't take care of her because he couldn't even carry her up the stairs.
And again, all I can do is pray for little Sindisiwe. Her name means "We have been saved." And I pray that the Lord would save her from further harm and protect her and that her life will always be a testimony of the Lord's protection and love for His little children.
Thursday, 3 February 2011
My heart breaks...
Over the past few weeks I have been exposed to many injustices. They have made me angry and emotional but above all they have helped to take my place in the Spirit by upholding these people in prayer and truly crying out for their lives from the depths of my heart. And one thing that comforts my heart is knowing that God is just and He will see that justice is done in the end. And I am oh so thankful that He is the father to the fatherless and He indeed heals the broken-hearted.
Injustice #1
A 2 year old child's head was burnt by a 12 year old girl relative. The girl relative just decided to fill and a can with paraffin and newspaper, light it and stick the baby's head inside. The baby suffered severe burns but they were able to stop the fire before the damage worsened. The little girl was rushed to hospital which was some 50 km from where she was. They did what they could to patch up her scalp including taking some skin from her inner thigh to graft into her scalp.
It's been 2 months now since the ordeal. I met the baby and mother whilst doing hospital visits in the children's ward of a government hospital. My heart immediately went out to this child. I couldn't bare to imagine the pain she was in. She was constantly moaning and due to a lack of appropriate materials in government hospitals, there were flies roaming all over her head which is still covered in puss and blood. The father of the baby had tragically died the day that all of this happened too. Needless to say, the mother was finished. She had no one to help her. So I began visiting her and helping her in anyway I could but over the course of a few days I realised that the matter needed to be dealt with by Social Welfare and the Police. The mother had not reported the matter to the police as she was afraid that the family of the girl that did this horrible thing would "loya"(put a curse on) her.
Anyway Social Welfare came on the scene and declared it safe for the child to return to her family home. How ridiculous. The police did nothing except tell the lady to go and report it at a police station closest to where she stays. The hospital told the mother and baby they had to leave the hospital because her child was no longer serious and they needed that bed for more serious cases as they were short of beds on the ward!
Once Social Welfare, the Police and the hospital have made a decision we cannot do anything about it. We watched the mother and baby walk away. One doesn't even know if the story the mother told was true because the police didn't bother to investigate!
Anyway, it's out of my hands now; I can only pray for this precious baby that the Lord would guard and protect her and someday use her life as a testimony of His goodness and faithfulness. Please pray for her too. Her name is Sithembinkosi which means "We put our trust in the Lord." And for this baby I am putting my trust in the Lord.
Injustice #1
A 2 year old child's head was burnt by a 12 year old girl relative. The girl relative just decided to fill and a can with paraffin and newspaper, light it and stick the baby's head inside. The baby suffered severe burns but they were able to stop the fire before the damage worsened. The little girl was rushed to hospital which was some 50 km from where she was. They did what they could to patch up her scalp including taking some skin from her inner thigh to graft into her scalp.
It's been 2 months now since the ordeal. I met the baby and mother whilst doing hospital visits in the children's ward of a government hospital. My heart immediately went out to this child. I couldn't bare to imagine the pain she was in. She was constantly moaning and due to a lack of appropriate materials in government hospitals, there were flies roaming all over her head which is still covered in puss and blood. The father of the baby had tragically died the day that all of this happened too. Needless to say, the mother was finished. She had no one to help her. So I began visiting her and helping her in anyway I could but over the course of a few days I realised that the matter needed to be dealt with by Social Welfare and the Police. The mother had not reported the matter to the police as she was afraid that the family of the girl that did this horrible thing would "loya"(put a curse on) her.
Anyway Social Welfare came on the scene and declared it safe for the child to return to her family home. How ridiculous. The police did nothing except tell the lady to go and report it at a police station closest to where she stays. The hospital told the mother and baby they had to leave the hospital because her child was no longer serious and they needed that bed for more serious cases as they were short of beds on the ward!
Once Social Welfare, the Police and the hospital have made a decision we cannot do anything about it. We watched the mother and baby walk away. One doesn't even know if the story the mother told was true because the police didn't bother to investigate!
Anyway, it's out of my hands now; I can only pray for this precious baby that the Lord would guard and protect her and someday use her life as a testimony of His goodness and faithfulness. Please pray for her too. Her name is Sithembinkosi which means "We put our trust in the Lord." And for this baby I am putting my trust in the Lord.
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