Meet little Moses

He’s a beautiful child with a warm smile. He is just 5 or 6 years old and very involved in our ROWAN program. I met him at our Saturday Children’s program during my recent trip to Mawanga. During part of the day, all the children were having their hair cut; which our staff was educating and promoting good hygiene and health. It was a great way to tangibly show the kids little steps to take care of themselves. We had our very own “Mobile Barbershop” set up and groups of kids were being cycled through.

Mawanga Barbershop 

Looking at Moses' feet

As Pastor Paul and I observed the process, he mentioned to me that once a month he usually examines feet for jiggers. I told him I had never seen jiggers before and I wanted to know what they were, how to identify them, and simply what he normally does. We asked a couple of kids to sit down with us so we could examine their feet. We slipped of the shoes of Moses and we immediately were speechless (picture above). Since never seeing what jiggers are or what they do, I asked “Are these jiggers?” Pastor said “no”, but after asking Moses, he immediately said, “No, these are not jiggers, but rats. Rats have been eating the bottom of his feet”. I nearly fell over. My stomach dropped from hearing the words. I had to ask him again because I couldn’t believe it was true. I was in disbelief. I have never heard or better yet, seen the effects of rats eating human flesh.

Come to find out, Pastor Paul explained to me that Moses lived in a thatched house (straw grass as the roof with a mud/rock mixture for the walls..picture below) and there were a lot of rats that come into those homes looking for food. When they don’t find food, they begin gnawing on the bottom of feet. Just about unreal and almost unbelievable. Looking at Moses’ feet, there were several layers of skin chewed off, which was proven by the different shades of pink I saw; some areas were even raw. I couldn’t believe this happened to this precious little child.

An example of a house Moses lives in..

“How do we fix this?”, I said. Pastor again looked at me and said, “most people who live in these types of homes face these types of challenges.” My heart just broke…again. This is the reality of so many people with so many numerous challenges, but through even a physical hardship, there seems to be a glimmer of hope in their smiles...

This is another real story happening NOW. Every single night! Stop and think about it…and in that moment, I ask of you to pray not only for Moses but all of those suffering from a form of foot illness, disease or the effects of those living in homes where rats enter...