While living in Honduras, my morning routine consisted of visiting the children's ward in the public hospital in San Pedro Sula. I would arrive, driven by my bodyguards, to enter the front doors, have my bags checked by security and walk up two flights of stairs to the children's ward.
Jose would always be waiting, and when he spotted me, he would go down the hall announcing my arrival, "La Gringa, La Gringa!" Jose was ten years old and stayed for months while awaiting the removal of a lung. He was alone as his father worked and his mother had other children to attend to in their home several hours away. So he was one I always visited as he was 'one of MY kids'.
However, before preceding down the hall to visit Jose and others, my first stop was always to visit my sweet little Dulce Maria in the hydrocephalic room. She was abandoned at birth, considered an untouchable, and, at eight months old, had never left the hospital. I always held her and gave her a bottle before visiting the other children. Please read the plight of these children in my previous blog titled Dulce Maria.
One morning there was a new seventeen year old mother in the room. Her son did not have a crib yet so she was sitting on the floor holding him while she waited. I greeted her, asked of her baby and began to care for Dulce. As I stood, rocking back and forth with Dulce in my arms, I heard this mother's sweet voice singing softly to her son. In the recess of my memory, I recognized the tune and moved closer to hear the words as she angelically sung in Spanish. It was when she arrived at the bridge that I recognized the song and tears began to flow down my cheeks.
God will make a way Where there seems to be no way He works in ways we cannot see
He will make a way for me He will be my guide Hold me closely to His side With love and strength For each new day He will make a way He will make a way By a roadway in the wilderness He'll lead me And rivers in the desert will I see Heaven and earth will fade But His Word will still remain He will do something new today
This was faith; to trust God to make a way for a hydrocephalic baby in a public hospital in Honduras. Where there were no shunts to save his life unless donated by someone in the United States. Where even if the surgery was performed, there was a high chance of infection and having the shunt later removed. Where there is no help for a child often mentally challenged from the trauma of this illness. Yet she chose faith. This incident was five years ago, yet she touched my heart in such a way that this young, beautiful mother will always be in my memory.