Mikencia

See this precious little face . . . this is Mikencia, taken just a few weeks ago in her school uniform, after arriving at our house from school. We haven’t seen this precious little smile much over the past week and a half. If you have been following our blog posts, you know that Mikencia has second degree burns over her abdomenal area, upper left arm, pelvic area, and upper legs after an accident with a kerosene lamp.

Everyday, Lee and I have been going to the hospital to visit Mikencia and her mother, Emilye who works for us as our housekeeper, so that we can take them some food and see Mikensia’s progress.

No trip to the hospital is pleasant, no matter where you are, but the hospital here is nothing like we experience in the states…it is a large concrete structure and when you enter the ward where patients stay, this is what you see…the nurse’s station is right inside the door, on both sides of that, there are long wings separated into four wards (I guess that is what you would call it) and in each of those wards there are probably about twenty beds lined up on boths sides. There is no privacy. The beds sit three to four feet apart with a small night stand between each. It has the familiar smell of any hospital, but there are no clean white walls or colorful wallpaper, just concrete with windows on the outer walls that open right up to the outside…no screens.

Normally, when we walk in, Mikencia is lying on her bed with nothing but the gauze on her burns and a mosquito net over her bed. However, today was different. Today, the mosquito net was pulled back, there was no gauze on Mikencia’s burns, and Emilye was bent over her daughter applying the medication to her burns with a small applicator. Mikencia’s body shook from head to toe with the pain. Everytime that Emilye would pause in applying the cream, Mikencia would take a breath and start to cry. When she was calmed down, Emilye would go back to work again. The burns on Mikencia’s tummy reminded me of a roasted chicken which had been in the oven a little too long. Emilye stopped several times to make conversation with us; the woman in the bed next to her even told her to stop and visit with us, but we urged her to finish her difficult task; that we would wait for her to finish. When they were finished, we helped to put the mosquito net back in place and briefly visited with Emilye and Mikencia before leaving them so that they could eat and rest. Mikencia was exhausted.

We both left the hospital with tears in our eyes. Somedays there just are no words for the hardships that are experienced here. Please continue to pray for Mikencia and Emilye and the rest of their family. They are longing for complete healing and the ability to be home with their family. Almost everyday, Emilye and I look at each other and one of us says, “Bondye konnen” (God knows). It is the one thing that this precious family has to hold on to in this difficult time in their lives. God does know!!! I have no doubt that God has great things in store for this precious little girl who has the strength to endure so much at the age of seven years.