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...
