TGIF

I'm thankful this week is over. It's been a good week but stressful as we've had to support two families who have lost loved ones recently. Families are starting to gather from all over the country and the grieving is occurring en masse.

Today started off great...it was a beautiful, sunny day which is unusual since it is the rainy season. We started off by visting the family of Rose, who passed away a couple of weeks ago (I wrote about her on Sept. 11). We were just making a short visit to drop off a 100 lb bag of rice because we knew Rose's funeral was on Saturday. When we first got there, we found out Rose (a different one than the one who passed away) had had her baby the day before. So we got to see the new baby and take photos. The baby won't have a name for at least another week.

While we were waiting for the family patriarch, George, to get there, I played with lots of kids -the best part of the job. They kept trying to take my bag because I always have candy in there for them. Here's Jean holding baby George (that's not the new baby) and Rose who just had the baby.

So finally George showed up and we gave him the rice and prayed for them. Then he said that they would be bringing home the body of Rose later that day and asked if we would come back and take family photos. Yikes...not something I was looking forward to but, of course, we agreed that we would come back later that day.

So next, we went to Korto's granny (her name is Mama). I wrote about Korto earlier, the 3 year old girl who passed away about a month ago. Hanging out on Mama's porch is really fun. There are lots of kids and Mama's English is good so she is easy to understand and we can actually have full conversations.

Jean and I had already decided we wanted to help Mama restart her selling business. She used to sell dried fish and other meat products but when Korto got sick, she had to quit selling to take care of the little one. That was seven months ago and she has no money left.

Before we told Mama we wanted to help, we asked her to tell us about her previous business. For someone who has never been to school, she is one smart businesswomen so we are very encouraged that she will be able to make a good living if we provided the startup costs.

So it was the most amazing experience when Jean told her Mercy Ships was going to give her $100.00 to restart her business. That's about 5 months of income here. She just kept raising her hands and thanking us and shaking our hands and praising Jesus (she's the one who just became a Christian about a month ago, the week Korto died). She was so overjoyed. It is really an amazing feeling to impact someone's life so directly and then to see their reaction. Just watching her face as she counted out the money Jean handed her was priceless. Wow, I wish I could explain it better in words so I can remember the feeling.

As we were leaving I took a photo with all the kids there and had them hold my Eddie doll (the Principal Financial Group mascot). My friends from Principal sent him to me so I could take photos of him in Liberia. Principal has a contest to see all the places Eddie goes so they will submit a photo and maybe we'll win (what do we win, Jamie?).

We did two more visits and then it was time to return to Grace's home to take the photos. When we got there, George and the casket had not yet arrived so once again, we hung out and played with kids. Here's a few of the photos.

This is 4 year old Mawi (holding Eddie). She looks like this because instead of saying 'smile' when taking their photo, we say 'show your teeth.' So she showed her teeth! Mawi talks non-stop and likes to beat up on her older brother Emmanual. Mawi and Emmanual are two of the children of the Rose who died. She also has a sister named Handful. I told Mawi she got the wrong name - she should have been named Handful. She didn't understand a word I said:)

This is a little neighbor girl. You find many times, girls this age are expected to look after younger siblings.

Another group photo. You will see that Mawi is missing because she was very mad that I wouldn't let her keep my Eddie doll. She refused to be in the picture. Handful is the little girl in the middle with the blue dress and the patch under her eye. She just had surgery this week on the ship to remove a benign tumor.

This last photo is the neighbor doing laundry. Their babies go whereever they go and they often sleep through situations like this.

So finally the van appeared at the house and the men carried the casket into the house. The next 15 or so minutes after this was one of the most distressing experiences in my life. The mourning began almost as if on cue. The women started screaming and wailing and falling on the ground inside the house.

We were waiting outside with most of the kids, not really sure what we were supposed to do. Finally, someone led us into the house so we could take photos of the family around the casket. It was extremely stressful and people were inconsolable.

The worst part is that the children were completely ignored. While people were trying to console the adults, Mawi and Handful were just standing against the wall staring at the casket. I picked up Mawi and put my arm around Handful and just held them and prayed over them. Adults just kept walking past us (including their father) and no one even looked at the kids. Eventually I took Mawi out of the house but a lady outside took her from me and took her back in. So I went back into the house and Mawi again was standing against the wall alone. Handful was sitting next to her aunt, patting her back. Handful is only 8 years old. Someone should have been patting her back.

While we chalk up many experiences we can't explain to cultural differences, this is one I will never understand. I can't imagine the trauma these children have gone through today (and I'm told this kind of wailing/screaming will go on all today and tomorrow). And I guess one day, they will mourn like this in front of their children.

So I probably sound pretty judgmental in this post. But just because a culture has always acted in a certain manner doesn't make it right. Today is one of those days where you realize you can't change the world but hopefully I made a small difference for Mawi and Handful.