No six-month-old should look like James does.
No six-month-old should suffer what James has to suffer.
But I hope and pray that all people will be where James will be in a short amount of time: Heaven.
We meet little Jamesie yesterday when his parents brought him to the children’s hospital. He was admitted and immediately given an IV and a feeding tube. His stomach was bloated from malnutrition and his little limbs were thin with no muscle mass at all. He had the face and eyes of a little angel. We all took an instant interest in Jamesie, and since the moment of his coming to the hospital there was almost always on from our group hovering around his crib.
We were there when he began spitting up the little milk he was given.
It’s heart wrenching to watch someone so small suffering and fighting for life and to realize that you have no control of the situation.
We do what we can, which was very little, and when we realized that he was not baptized and would probably not live through the night we asked the missionaries of charity if we could baptize him. With two of our missionaries standing as his godparents, they chose the name James, the closest to his given name, and Fr. Aaron Smith LC claimed him for Christ.
It was a moving scene, and the last thing we did before returning to guesthouse we are staying at 5:00pm. When we arrived this morning to the children’s hospital, despite all our fears little James was still there to greet us. Later the sisters told us that he has TB and probably won’t make it though.
Today has been a difficult day for all our group, not only because of little James, but because we visited the home of the dying. There are so many people here in Haiti who are suffering, and we can really do so little, but I am so thankful that we were able to make such a difference in this tiny life. Little James, who fights so hard for life, stands as a witness to me of the dignity of every human life, in every moment and stage of its existence. Little James’s suffering is a real tragedy, but even more is the fact that today there are so many “unwanted” children.
I hope on this mission trip myself and all the missionaries with me can prove to these children that they are wanted and loved.