One year ago today, this girl was swallowed up in Area Q of Walmer Location in Port Elizabeth, South Africa. Annatie, Noluthandu’s daughter.
I can hardly believe it. I really can not grasp it at all, and I don’t pretend to.
When we drive in the car together, trying to put Iona to sleep, I can only imagine she’s thinking of the petrol i’m wasting and can not get her head around how spoiled us western mothers are. For we don’t live every day in terror that our children will just dissapear without a trace because we have had to leave them in the care of dodgy relatives while we worked for pittance. We don’t worry about how we’re going to feed them, we worry they won’t take their naps and give us a break and a good night’s sleep.
We hung out at Annie’s school. The day was gorgeous and it was perfect for just soaking in the sun. She showed iona how to wear her baby doll on her back and I thought of the hours she must have spent walking around with Annatie, tied to her back. Annie’s school is a haven really. The small handfull of children run free in the back garden playing in the sand, climbing trees, playing house, and jumping on a trampoline. It’s a shelter from the realities of area Q where the children play in the muddy roads amidst the shacks. Where just today a seven year old girl was kicked out of the house by her drunken mother who claimed she was “demon posessed”
There are evils on both sides….there are dysfunctions on both sides….wealth is no ticket to happiness just as poverty is not necessarily evil in itself.
But here I sat today with a mother who lost her little baby girl, and I suppose i’m just trying to undertand how and why it could happen.
November 5, 2008 at 3:30 pm |
I could not stop crying, then I did the only thing I knew would help the situation, I forwarded your blog to every praying person I knew. Many prayers will be offered up for both mom and baby. After reading this it will be hardpressed not to stop and pray rather then just ignore the pictures we see at gas stations etc. of missing chlldren. I often hear of horrible things that happen worldwide and of right here at home, and it is so easy to just ignore them and go on with my busyness, and what I consider problems. You have communicated truth to my heart. I also printed your blog and have it in a prominent place, least I forget Thank you
November 5, 2008 at 5:33 pm |
That is terrible, I can’t even imagine the heartache Noluthandu must feel. My thoughts are with her and her precious angel.
November 5, 2008 at 11:05 pm |
It breaks my heart. There are no words.