Togo

there is soo much on my heart I have a hard time journaling its like I have been given a million piece puzzle and I am sorting through the pieces but I can't even fathom how to put them together...the stories here you can not wrap your mind around them...mothers with cleft lip babys are often abandon by their husbands and community and some are asked to kill their own babies in order to rid the community of evil spirits...people with disabilities and deformities are looked at as demons and witches they stay in hiding they have low self esteem and no friends they are lucky if their own parents support them...even christians here fear that the ppl with deformities have had a spell cast on them...so not only are the patients dealing with feeling uncomfortable from the pain of their tumors, and funny looks from others...they are dealing with being treated like a demon or a witch...I CAN NOT wrap my mind around what that must feel like....to be in hiding esp for young teenagers who for their whole hormonal development have not been able to know what their face really looks like bc all they see is a huge tumor that stretches their eyes and nose out of place...Kossi my boy here keeps looking in the mirror touching his face...I walked out of the room this morning and as I closed the ward door I saw him investigating his new face tumor free....I can't imagine the restoration that is happening in his heart...
I really can't put into words what is here...children who have to walk on broken crutches for very treatable problems who cry in their rooms at night bc they feel rejected .... poverty is immense: there are children who are 4 months and only 6 lbs their skin hanging from their bones, their are children with bone disorders bc they have never had a sufficient supply of milk...children who can never go to school bc they have to pull in heavy fishing nets at 6am every day all day just talk earn 1.50...There is joy here too parents I have seen three in particular hold their children and cry to God for their healing...with all their heart...father's tenderly caring for their sons wiping their mouths, spoon feeding them, reading them scripture, kissing them....things I will treasure in my heart...