Mercy

In Psych 1, we learned a theory about social intervention. It posited that the farther away you are from suffering, the easier it is to ignore and the less likely you are to intervene.  The chances diminish exponentially as you move across the street, the town… the world.

But the phenomenon of globalization is pulling us all closer and closer together, and problems that were once out of sight and mind are now in plain view. For me, they’re delivered almost daily, directly to my inbox from the field—slums in Kenya and El Salvador. Each case is heart wrenching, but the most recent one especially so. It comes from Kiandutu, a desperately poor community outside Nairobi …

Some might consider Mercy Wangare a lucky mother. Nearly every time she gave birth, she had either triplets or twins. But for someone living on a razor thin margin of survival, this was devastating. She was sick and weak, and struggled desperately to care for six children, all under six years old.

After she gave birth to the twins, she bled so much that she became anemic. She was in and out of the hospital until she passed away last June.

Two days after her husband buried Mercy, he gave the three youngest children away to strangers. He kept the older three, who could assist with household chores though they were still only five years old. Relatives found out and immediately went to collect the children. Mercy’s sister Martha took them in. She has five children of her own, is unemployed, and only went to school through the sixth grade.

Two of Mercy’s children are malnourished and at only 18 months already suffer developmental delays.  They cannot walk, can barely crawl and have delayed speech. But Martha is determined that these children will not be raised by strangers while she is still alive. She says she will fight for them like her own… with or without resources.

Martha heard about Give A Child Life’s program in Kiandutu and approached the village elders for help. GCL provided her with emergency food and instructed her to take the infants to the hospital for medical treatment.

The email from our Project Coordinator ended, Let me have your thoughts. I sat at my desk, sipping tea, and staring at that line for a while, then out the window.

When we travel to these places and see the incredible hardships, we step back from our own lives for a moment. We embrace a broader vision and a gratitude for the gifts we have. When we return, I again wrap myself up in my own problems. Until the next email or call reminds me that there are others out there concerned only with the most fundamental challenge of all: survival.

Many of these people are children, not yet old enough or strong enough to fight themselves. They must rely on others for help. Including people far away, who may not see or hear their cries.