Knowing the Faces

We have spent almost everyday soaking up the different opportunities to hang out and start forming relationships with the children around us. They are so precious. When looking at the situations most of them are in, it is hard to imagine that there is still joy inside those deep brown eyes, but it is definitely there and it comes out with every smile that overtakes their entire face. Better than their smiles is a laugh like I have never heard before. It melts my heart every time.

Among all the beautiful faces, I have been given the chance to meet and love, the one that has stolen my heart the most is a little girl named Tanzili. Her story is hard to hear and brings tears every time I think about it.

She is one of seven children that live in a hut made only of mud and stones. They have been orphaned by their father and mother who decided they did not want to take care of them and then their gogo (grandmother) was nearly beaten to death and is now living in a different home to die. All seven children are living on their own in the little hut fighting for food and warmth. The oldest child is 12, and is be default now left to care for six younger siblings all under the age of nine. To make the situation worse, Tanzili is a very sick little girl. She is 4 years old but looks like a 2 year old and just learned to walk about a month ago.

I met little Tanzili through the AIM coordinator here in Swaziland. He found out about their situation and is trying to help them as much as he can. He was taking Tanzili to an American doctor to get her some help and a couple of us tagged along. We drove out to her homestead to pick her up, but she was not there. This was very unusual because the older kids should be at school, leaving Tanzili and the other younger ones home alone. When they were not at the homestead, we started out on what ended up being a three-hour hunt to find her. When we finally found her, the reality of the situation was unbearable. We found her sitting in the dirt digging for old nuts to crack against a rock and eat. She was caked in dirt and had on only a worn red shirt. She was covered in scabs and a rash all over her face and the upper part of her body. Her right eye was swollen and red; she had a deep cough and smelled awful. 

We immediately took her in our arms and held her close on the drive to the doctor. We fed her our lunch, peanut butter and jelly, and watched her scarf it down, reiterating the fact that that was probably her first meal in a while. At the doctor, she bathed up and given new clothes. He examined her and diagnosed her with scabies, worms, and an eye infection. He said she was so small for her age because she was probably born premature and then being malnourished it caused injury to the brain, making her slower. Tanzili was given medicine and we were sent on our way. I was dreading this part from the moment we found her: taking her right back to the same condition we found her in. Even though she was given medicine, there was no one at home old enough to understand how to give it to her and with the food we sent home with her, there was no way of being sure that it would not be stolen from them since they were just kids.

It was awful trying to say goodbye to Tanzili knowing that I was sending her off without really being able to do too much for her physically besides spend a day holding and loving on her. It was one of the hardest things I have done, but knowing that El Roi, the God who sees, is always watching over her and keeping her and her siblings protected helped ease the pain. Even though Tanzili is back in the hut digging for food, I have to keep my hope in the fact that the Almighty one is watching over and protecting her. My continued prayers are the best way I can help her right now.