Little Angels on Earth

June 22, 2013

Well, I finally feel like my mission has begun. This week has given me purpose, fulfillment, joy and laughter. It has truly shown me what it means to serve the least of God’s people. This has been the most rewarding week of my life. This week, my home here in SA has become a temporary home for 3 angels. We have been calling them angels on earth.

Sandile is our 7 year old boy and Bongile and Sebongile are 2 year old twin girls. On Tuesday while at preschool, Bongile begun having terrible bladder problems (I wrote of if in my previous blog). We phoned her parents but got no response and we even went to her home to find her parents. They were nowhere to be found. Later that day, the parents showed up to preschool drunk. The mom was so drunk that she passed out on the ground in front of the school. We knew they weren’t going to take Bongile to the clinic to get checked out so we called the social worker to get involved. The next day the social worker visited the family’s shack to find the parents inside, drunk, and the little boy wondering outside. He had just come back from walking Bongile and Sebongile to school. He didn’t go to school, though. He was filthy dirty and had a terrible cough (come to find out he has TB). The condition of the shack we unbearable the social worker said. She said the smell was so bad that she couldn’t walk inside. She spoke with Sandile a bit and he shared some disturbing details about their lives. The most disturbing thing, she told us, was when he explained that the twins had to eat out of the same food bowl as their rabid dog. She took Sandile with her and told the parents that the children would not be coming home again.

My roommates and I were asked to take these children in for the night. The night turned into a week. They are having trouble finding a foster home. They will never be given back to their parents, ever.

These children had not been bathed in weeks. Sandile took his first shower and the girls took their first bath with us this week. When they eat, they eat every bite plus 2 and 3 more helpings of food. They slept on a mattress in our spare bedroom, for the first time in their lives with blankets and socks on their feet. The scares on their bodies say a lot. They began laughing and showing emotion about 3 days in. Now, they can’t stop laughing and talking and playing and smiling.

It’s hard to put into words how incredible it has been taking care of these angels. They have taught us what it means to be thankful for the countless blessings in our own lives. They have taught us how fortunate we are, where we come from. It has never been so easy to love complete strangers. They have been treated like animals for their short lives. And now, hopefully, they will be placed in a home where they can eat at a table, sleep on a mattress, take warm baths and have clothes on their bodies during the winter.

Tomorrow our little family, all 7 of us, are going to 9:30 mass together. I am looking forward to spending another day with these little angels on earth.