Sunday, October 25, 2009

Contrasts

My Maman Asumpta delivered healthy beautiful baby girl named "Joelle"
last week Wednesday, October 14. She was 6.6 lbs and is doing very
well. Asumpta is good and ready to move back to Epulu after being in
the big town Mambasa since a few weeks before her delivery. So now
her other beautiful little kids - Astrid, Lydie, Don de Dieu are ready
for another little one too. I got to hold her - she is tiny like all
newborns and beautiful!

On the other hand my friend Duga - who is about 30 years old - lost
his 5 year old daughter a few weeks back. She was stricken with
something and died within a day! Pointless, inexplicable, yes - all
of the above.

Meanwhile his wife was pregnant again and in her second trimester.
Last Thursday or so, she suddenly developed major problems and
required an emergency cesarean section. This required an imaginably
uncomfortable 70-km ride on the back of a motorbike. She lost the
baby but kept her life, so it could have been worse! But really - its
not easy to be from rural Africa. All the more reason to rejoice for
healthy births and happy, active lives.

1 comment:

Masselinks said...

Joel, you look like a proud uncle in this photo of you and your namesake, Joelle. Do you realize that she was born one day after your half-birthday as we liked to call them when you were a kid? She is just precious--not only to her family in the DRC but to other families halfway around the world who know you and this special story. Most importantly, she is precious in God's sight! Blessings, Mom