February 14, 2012

          On a day most people are celebrating their love for their significant other I was woken up early by a call informing me that the burial for little Mercy was going to be taking place. She was a student at our school and in the 1^st grade. It was not the 1^st burial I have attended but my 1^st for a child. Honestly, I didn’t want to go..I really didn’t think it was something I could handle emotionally. But I knew I had to, for one its somewhat expected and its something the Lord calls us to do, “mourn with those who mourn.”

            I left the house around 8:15 and waited down by the shops until about 8:45 for my ride. When we arrived to the cemetery I saw about 4 other large groups passing to bury a friend or loved one. As my eyes scanned my surroundings I saw high grass about 6 feet tall where many of the burial plots were.  I saw no headstones as we passed along the mud roads full of potholes and tons of water. A group of teen boys who were covered in mud walked by carrying shovels and were being followed by two mangy looking dogs. Apparently, their job is to dig the graves.  After waiting about an hour the family and the mourners for Mercy made it to the burial site. I was told that they had to pass by the children’s hospital to pick up the body on their way to where we were.  We all got out of the car and walked to a small clearing in a field, walking cautiously to avoid the many puddles of water and slick mud. We stopped just under a cluster of small trees as the large pick up truck approached carrying the body and about 25 mourners in the back. They had packed in the back standing and sitting on the edge of the truck bed to fit as many people as possible.

            I was told that the area we stood in was specifically designated for children.  I surveyed the land of rounded mounds of dirt and my heart grew heavy and the tears began to flow almost immediately. Death is hard enough to deal with, but when it’s the death of a child for me at least it seems so much more difficult to accept.  I guess because it’s so “unnatural” in my mind for a mother to have to bury her child. When I look at a child I see someone full of dreams, full of potential, full of life.  But unfortunately death comes even to young. I am reminded of the fact that no one is promised tomorrow..we don’t know how much time we have or even how much time our children have on this earth. It made me see even more the importance of the gospel message to the children God has placed in my path.  There is just as much urgency to proclaim the good news to them, as it is any other. The verse, Psalm 90:12 comes to mind, “ Teach us to number our days aright, that we may gain a heart of wisdom.” My heart is broken but I fell a fresh burden for the young hearts and souls of the children the Lord has brought me here to serve.

            After reflecting a bit I returned my gaze to the truck carrying the mourners just in time to see a small coffin being carried off. It was a small 3-foot box made from thin wood, which had been varnished in a medium maroon color. Where the seams of the wood met there was a black thick band of glue. As the men carrying the coffin passed by me I was overwhelmed with grief, to the point that I had to close my eyes. I didn’t want to look anymore. I didn’t want to face this harsh reality. I wanted to be anywhere but there. I just shook my head as the tears flowed uncontrollably. In my mind I was saying, this isn’t right God..it just isn’t right. I then prayed and asked God’s comfort to be upon the family and that he would strengthen me and help me to learn a lesson from this moment. When I opened my eyes they were placing the miniature coffin under the cluster of small trees. A group of woman from the mother’s church sat huddled together on the ground singing worship songs and songs of comfort softly.  Then the pastor came forward, standing over the coffin and gave a short sermon in the local dialect. As I looked again at the coffin I noticed 8 small, thin nails patruding from the lid. I soon realized that the viewing would be taking place under the umbrella of these trees.

            Moments later, one of the members of the woman’s church group came up to the coffin and knelt. She slowly lifted the top off and inside was the child wrapped in a blanket, swaddled like a newborn. She carefully uncovered Mercy’s face and tucked the blanked tenderly around her face. We were then instructed to come forward to view the body. I still could not get over the small size of the box and I hesitated to join the queue. Eventually I passed by and it took all within me not to fall to my knees weeping. I watched with eyes full of tears as her older brother passed by (he is also a student at our school in grade5) and then her mother. The moment her mother saw the body she blacked out and fell to the ground. She had to be carried away, still unconscious, not able to handle the level of grief that consumed her.

            Next 2 men jumped down into the grave that had been dug and the coffin was passed down to them to be situated properly. Once they ascended one man walked around with a shovel of dirt through the crowd. This was a gesture of respect in which he was offering family members the opportunity to throw a handful of dirt down onto the coffin. No one was able to do so. He returned to the grave and the hollow echo of the dirt hitting the top of the box still resounds in my ears. Soon after, 5 other men joined him shoveling the dirt to fill the grave and eventually making a rounded mound. The pastor then came back up and stood before the grave. He called family members one by one to place small bouquets of flowers upright atop the gravesite.  Once they finished the teachers and staff of Lighthouse were called forward. We stood and/or kneeled around the mound of dirt, placing our bouquets with the others choking through tears as we sang a song a comfort.

          Psalm 22:19, “But you, O Lord, be not far off; O my strength, come quickly to help me.”

February 4, 2012

          I am thankful that I finally had a weekend free of the flu or malaria!!  Today the teachers and about 50 of the pupils from grades 3-5 went to the new school building to do a heavy duty cleaning. Our official opening ceremony is next week and many government officials, parent, guardians and sponsors will be attending. The building is close now to being in move in condition. We are just waiting to raise funds for desks and chairs for each of the classrooms. When I arrived at 8 there were already about 15 or 20 children there running around full of energy and excitement. I took time to walk through the corridors of the school, stopping in each classroom to assess what needed to be done. Laughter and screams of excitement echoed through the halls and I couldn’t help but get emotional. God has been so good and faithful to provide. At this moment there is nothing I look forward to more than seeing these kids in this building. My classroom is 4 times bigger than the one I am currently teaching in and 2 of the walls will be covered in bulletin boards for my charts. No longer will I have to squat to write on the board, no longer will my legs be covered in bruises from having to squeeze through chairs to get from the front of the classroom to the back. Our goal is to have double seater desks rather than the cheap wood tables we had made that are now falling apart. There is a company locally that makes high quality desks from wood and steel that will last a very long time.

            Well, after taking my personal tour of thankfulness I realized quickly we needed some order in the midst of this chaos. It was quickly getting out of hand and im sure it was only a matter of time before someone got hurt.  Two of the rooms had large piles of plank wood, PVC pipe and piles of dirt that needed to be taken outside. I called the grade 5 boys and a few of the grade 4 boys to come and do the “man work.” They all rushed in and were eager to work although they all wanted to exit the room at the same time. Again another possible problem so I assigned one of the boys to door duty. I instructed him to take charge and make sure only one passes through at a time so that no one gets hurt. With that now under control I went to go call the girls and some of the younger boys to assign them tasks. After talking to Wilbroad (my pastor and the building project manager) we decided it best to start at one end of the school and clean room by room.  Many of the children had brought brooms they made from grass; others had found brooms lying around or small shovels. They all were just waiting to be told what to do, none wanted to be without a job. I was so blessed to see their eagerness to serve. Soon windows were being washed, floors swept and mopped, bathrooms scrubbed down, and land was being cleared around the parameter of the school. Old empty cement bags seemed to be our most useful tool. They were being used to carry dirt out from the building and being used outside to hold grass and weeds that had been cut. In another corner of the plot old plastic bottles had been cut to hold water for cleaning purposes and cement bags were being cut with sheers to use to scrub down the doorframes and sinks.

            After about 7 hours of working and with the majority of heavy-duty work done I joined a small group of kids that were sitting out in the grass relaxing. I plopped down and just laid back in the grass. It was then that I noticed my hands covered in blisters that had now torn open, my clothes covered in mud and sweat but all I could do was smile knowing we were one step closer to that day…move in day. As soon as I laid down about 10 kids came running over to me. I sat up to greet them all. They encamped around me, fighting for a leg to lie on or an arm to hold.  One boy ran up from behind me jumping on my back, nearly knocking me over. They are still quite fascinated with my skin and hair so from time to time I would feel some one trying to secretly tug at or smell my hair or pull at the blonde hair on my arms. I pretend not to notice but I sometimes do just laugh to myself.

            After resting for about 20 minutes I found another use for those cement bags…my version of potato sack races. Oh my goodness, I don’t think I could have laughed more. It was one of the most adorable things. I had as much fun watching as they did participating. After that I did a bit of racing with them and swinging them around, then it was time for all of us to head home before the rains came.