FRIDAY WAS ABOUT ZEPHANIE

I was asked to blog about a little girl age four who is in our orphanage named Zephanie.  She came to us from the Amani Orphanage and is about age four. That was all that I knew.The Amani Orphanage does not normally take children of less than school age as they need to have their resident children in school for part of the day.  I asked Didier about her;  he told me that when she came to them she had a terrible infestation of lice.  She was not only infested, but the lice had caused an infection.  She had sores in her scalp.  He knew nothing of her back ground. 

Friday morning Didier came to the guest house and told me that he had made an appointment with the Amani Orphanage and we were going to meet with their staff to inquire about Zephanie’s background.  We drove to the orphanage and I was introduced to the staff—the mother of the orphans and a social worker.  We soon found that they had little knowledge of this little one.  But they knew where the foster parents lived who had take care of her and brought her to their orphanage.  So off the four of us went to do our research.

Pastor Didier told me that I was going to have to have a very large heart as we drove into the area from which Zephanie came.  It was more than a small island of poverty;  it was a very large community.  There poverty hit me like a blow to the solar plexus.  Poverty has its smell,  view and emotional  touch.  I will only mention briefly the view.  My first real glimpse was of a pre-teen girl with the unmistakable distended stomach. Little boys ran around either naked or partially naked. 

We stopped in front of a living quarter to visit the foster parent(s).  The social worker went ahead of the rest of us to ascertain whether or not it was alright for us to follow.  In just a few minutes he was back waving for us to follow. We went in, I having no idea of what to expect.  We entered an unlighted room which had a smooth floor—probably cement.  It was obviously the living space, about 30 sq. was my best estimate.   The walls were brick which had been smoothed out with mud.  there were two cracks in the wall into of the cracks was inserted the most worn out tooth brush I had ever seen.  In the other crack was a totally worn out scrub brush.  They were indeed a matching pair. 

There were  five white plastic chair one of which was already occupied by a woman whom I assumed to be the foster mother of Zephanie. Soon all were filled.  Didier asked me what I wanted to know.  The first question I wanted him to ask her was how much money the state paid her for taking care of Zephanie.  He did not even bother to ask, he just told me that she got no money. 

Soon a very animated conversation ensued of which I could not participate.  Then Didier almost whispered to to let me know that we were in reality talking to Zephanies’s mother.  This was an overwhelming bit of information. We soon learned that Zephanie’s father died before she was three months old.  Her mother had a complete break down: mentally, physically and emotionally.  While she was incapacitated, someone took  Zephanie for her protection and was delivered to the Amani Orphanage. 

The community tried to nurse Zephanie’s mother back to health.  When they failed, she was taken back to the village from which she originated to be treated by the local witch doctor.  He failed.

She was returned to the community and her doctor has told her that at any time she may die.  She is incapable of caring for a child. Until we arrived she did not know that Zephanie was alive, she assumed that her little girl was dead.  Pastor Didier showed her a picture of the child.  She looked long and hungrily at the picture and her eyes filled with tears. Pastor Didier whispered she is filling her mind and her heart with the picture. 

Before we left she signed papers of abandonment of Zephanie.

Zephanie on the far left is a beautiful,sweet, charming,  lovable little girl loaded with personality and  possessor of many smiles is presently our only adoptable child.  Her mother has legally abandoned her and she has been in our possession for more than three months.