The pain of Nias

Yesterday as we were leaving one of the tent camps, I stopped in a little place that was serving as a clinic. Just wanted to ask about the conditions of people there.

It is a very small place, in the corner there laid a boy about 5 years old. He was breathing with a great deal of difficulty. Next to him was his father who looked very down. He had walked 11 km to bring his son for potential life saving help and all they could do was put him on a drip.

The boy had been fighting Malaria for a few days and looked really bad.

I asked the nurse why he was not taken to a proper hospital and she said that the nearest one was three hours away and the boy probably would never make it.

This was a very sad moment for there was nothing that anyone could do for him. He was fighting for his life and there was no way to help him.

Kris and I prayed for the boy and then for his Dad and left very sad...ten minutes later the boy died.

The father took the body and went home where his 7 other children were also struggling with the same thing.

Witnessing in despair this sad loss, made me realize that in experiencing this moment, I entered into the pain of the people here, the despair of their tragedy, the hopelessness of this situation...and they have been living with all this since the Tsunami on 26 Dec 2004.