Little

So meet baby Suzanna. She's 11 days old. She weighs about 2 pounds. Her arm is the size of a mans finger. She's an orphan.

Her mom was working at our school and got sicker and sicker. Eventually she was admitted to the hospital, a C-section was done (premature obviously, maybe 7 months?), and then mom died the next day. It's still unclear as to why she died, but I'm leaning towards AIDS...that is sort of the main "hidden" killer. Lots of people die in the village from "fever" or " a cough" when in reality it is AIDS.

The problem is that mom was already raising her 5 kids alone, dad died a few years back in an accident (I know, that means this baby still has a dad somewhere, but who knows who or where?) A friend who also works at the school has taken in ALL the children and is caring for them. Mind you, they live in a two-bedroom block house in the village and have 3 of their own children. The friend still comes to work everyday, hasn't complained about it once, and just keeps rolling along. I am amazed, but that doesn't even sum up what she is doing. I asked her today about the possiblity of some of the kids going to the Ark, the Kids Alive orphanage, and she said she would like to think about it. She didn't just automatically say "of course, take them!", but really wants to think through it. Incredible woman.

My first instinct is to take little baby girl home with me. Of course I could feed her, love her, raise her, make sure she gets what she needs...but who am I to decide what she needs? Maybe what she needs is to stay in the village and be raised by a Haitian family, maybe she needs to be with her brothers and sisters, maybe my desire to help wouldn't actually be a help in the end. How long am I willing to commit to her? Would I ever be able to let her go after raising her for a few years? The questions are hard, there doesn't really seem to be a right answer. So I cuddled her and prayed for her and know that I'll know what is right, somehow.