rosamene

Little Rosamene

Haitian Proverb:

"Sa je pa weke pa tounen-what the eye doesn't see doesn't move the heart"

It's so easy for me to jump to conclusions and become frustrated at what I see sometimes.  There are moments when I feel that certain situations are full of injustice beyond hope.  And yet, there are moments when I see God break through and I see the situation through a different set of eyes.  Last summer I met a little girl that broke my heart.  This little girl, Rosamene, was seen in our clinic and was diagnosed with malnutrition.  At ten months of age she weighed just 10 pounds.  I was told that Rosamene was placed in an orphanage and from what I could tell the orphanage wasn't taking care of her.  A caretaker brought her to our clinic every two weeks for three months.  The last time I saw Rosamene she was barely able to hold her head up and didn't have the energy to even stay awake.  I knew that if her caretaker didn't take her to receive the medical care she needed and if she didn't provide her with the needed nutrition, Rosamene would die.  I was completely broken.  There is no way to look at an innocent child and not just want to scream at each and every person involved in her story.  And yet- there is so much more to her story, so many details that I didn't know.

I last saw Rosamene in November and have thought of her daily.  Honestly, I thought she had died and yet there was this small piece of hope in my heart, that I didn't dare say out loud, that I prayed she was alive.  Last week as we were triaging in the clinic I noticed a momma walk in with a baby on each hip.  She said that she had come to see the doctor but that we were full for the day.  The toddler on her right hip seemed shy and the baby on her left was covered in a blanket.  I pulled back the blanket and knew instantly that this was our little Rosamene.  I began to question the mother asking her the baby's name and if she was her mother or a worker from the orphanage.  She responded that the baby's name was Rosamene and that she was indeed her mother.  Her mother shared that both of the girls had lived in the orphanage and she was recently called to come and get them because the orphanage had been closed.

The shy toddler was Rosamene's sister, Mirlanda. She is 5 years old, can not walk, and weighed barely nothing.  As I sat and talked to mom I got to hear more of her story.  Mom has seven children from 3 months to 7 years of age.  Mom herself is just 23 years old.  Mom was really sweet with the girls and she genuinely seemed to care for them.  I don't know why she placed the girls in the orphanage, but after meeting her I quickly realized that I don't know what I would have done either. I can't imagine how hard it is for this momma.  How difficult it is for her to provide for her family and make each and every resource stretch to meet the needs of each person.  Aubree instantly began researching places that provide inpatient malnutrition care and we all sat and loved on this momma and her daughters.  It took all the strength I had to contain my tears as I walked to the gate with this family.  I shared with this momma that we have loved her daughter for a long time and even though we didn't know you, we were praying for you too.  In a way that only God can provide we discovered that one of mom's cousins is a dear friend of ours.  I am so thankful that Rosamene's story isn't over and that she has a heavenly father that has plans for her life that are beyond anything that I could imagine.

Rosamene's mom and sister Mirlanda