Baby Grace

                       

                                                                     Baby Grace

                                                       
I sent an e-mail awhile ago talking about little Grace. Above is a small video clip showing her in the ICU in Blantyre on June 15th. As mentioned she was only at Tyamike for 3 weeks prior to us ( in the middle of the night) rushing her the 3 hour drive from Bangula ( Tiyamike ) to the hospital in Blantyre.

Baby Grace in the ICU

Trying to find a vein for IV, not a chance. Her arms were no bigger than twigs.

The incredible rough life of a little girl here in Malawi. Grace was born May 14, 2014 in a small village 14 km into the brush. Her father died of Aids on May 18th and then her mother died of Aids on May 27th. Grace was brought to Tiyamike by the Grandmother on June 2nd. She was malnurished and was put on a special feeding program immidiatly.On June 14th she was having serious problems so Pam and myself along with a child care lady ( Malawian) loaded up the truck at 8:30 at night and took the 3 hour drive in the dark of night up the narrow roads of Africa into Blantyre,where we checked the baby into Queens hospital around midnight.
Saturday afternoon came and she had lost a tremendious amount of weight as you can see in the video, so Pam spent the night with her  at Queens hospital. At 3:00 am little Grace could hold on no more and she died.From birth to the lose of both parents to death all occured in 1 month ( Un-real)
Sunday came and we had a little coffin made up at Tyamike and a worker took the shuttle up to Blantyre and met us around 2:00 that afternoon. Grace had to be taken from the hospital by noon because of legalities so Pam had little Grace wrapped in a blanket on her lap for 2 hours as we drove around town and took care of some errands.
Montelisa showed up around 2:00 and we put the baby in the coffin and then fit it into a suitcase and began the 1 1/2 hour drive back to Chilakwa, the 1/2 way point to Tyamike. This then followed with a 14 km drive in pitch African darkness along a narrow ,very bumpy and very dirty,muddy trail. We arrived at the village and there was wailing and crying from the villagers and from the Grandma as I took the suitcase from the back of the truck and pulled the coffin out to present it to them.
We then walked in pitch darkness for 1 km along a trail trough the brush to the cemetary where they dug a hole and buried little Grace. It was a life changing experience and after we walked back to the village from the grave site , Pam and myself went into the Grandmas hut with the village elders and prayed for them. Below are a few pictures of the walk down the trail and walking back ( with my camera flash as the only source of light) and bringing some smiles to there faces. Amen

The Grandmother at the tomb, no headstone, just a hole dug and this is were Grace is buried.

Grandma with some village elders at the funneral.

Walking back in pitch black as you can see by the sky.

Pam walking behind me with the ladies of the village.

As we arrived back from our 1/2 hour walk through the brush , villagers were gathered in front of the Grandma's hut.
This is the hut that Pam and myself went into and prayed with the elders and the Grandmother.

So much in such a short amount of time for baby Grace and her family, sad to say but this happens all the time here. The good news is that our Father, our Creator has everything planned out and even though we may not understand and  the villagers and Grandma may not understand the Why, as to all of this happening in this families life. God knows and God is in control, we have to accept by faith that God will use this to bring about good and that in the end we must realize that God has taken baby Grace home to heaven and now Grace is in a perfect body with no pain and she is dancing and worshipping our Lord and Saviour for eternity.

Amen & God Bless