11 Steps Closer to Leaving Us

Annie posted a video of Mada walking this week on Facebook.  I counted his steps. There were 11!  His smile was PROUD. He babbled so LOUD.  He toddled and teetered, as a one-year old would ... but did it in his 2-½ year old body.

Click here to see the 15 second video:

Mada is 11 steps closer to leaving us.

These 11 wobbly steps poke at my heart, not only because I am here in California while he is there progressing wildly without me, but because he is 11 steps closer to leaving us.

(Madalitso -- aka Mada -- is the malnourished orphan we have grown to love and selfishly consider "our own" since he came to Hope Village a year ago for medical attention.  He has not gone home yet! Our agreement with Mada's family has always been that he would not return to his extended family until he could fend for himself in the harsh village life. Walking is imperative.)

So, it’s almost time for Mada to go home. Home to poverty. Home to his bed on the dirt floor, his bath from a bucket of cold water, his clothes of rags, his toilet—a hole in the ground.  Home to hunger and thirst. 

OK, maybe I’m being a bit of a drama queen. Maybe his life won’t be that bad.  But on my yardstick of a tolerable environment, his future seems ... well... a bit harder than I would wish for him.   But, the truth is, it will be harder for us at Hope Village to adjust to life without Mada, then it will be for him to re-adjust to life in the village again.  

Anyone think we have gone overboard on his wardrobe?

I can’t deny he is returning to a family that loves him.  Home to the aunt and uncle who took him in (and his siblings) when his parents died; who have faithfully taken turns to visit him at Hope Village every 2 weeks, (6 hours round trip on bicycle, sometimes in unbearable 120F and higher heat) so “he won’t forget who we are," they tell us.

Home to his 11-year old sister Mitale who carried him on her back for those 6 months of homelessness before we found her, as she struggled to feed not only herself and Mada, but her 2 younger brothers as well, foraging for leaves in the bush to cook, begging for food from neighbors.

Aunt Mary offered Mada some peanuts, reaquanting herself with him last month.

Mada eyed his 11-year old sister Mitale with curiosity, and comfort, when they saw each other 

last month for the first time in a long while. She was once his sole caretaker.

  

Don always reminds me, “We’ll know it’s time to return Mada to the village when he can walk.”  

Because Mada was severely malnourished when he came to Hope Village a year ago, his immune system was crushed.  He has been tormented with chronic malaria, endless ear and chest infections, parasitic worms, relentless diarrhea and fevers. 

His health has been our daily battle.  With God on Mada’s side (not to forget assistance from Dr. Don), I think the battle is nearly won.

As subsistence farmers, his aunt and uncle admit they are not inclined to care for a sickly child.  They get to their fields around dawn and many days don’t come home until dusk.  Mada’s twin died while under their care last October (his “daycare” was sitting out in the hot sun while they planted, weeded, harvested), and his death was apparently from complications due to fever and dehydration.

So, all of us at Hope Village are in unison.  Two-and-a-half year old Mada must be able to walk when we say our goodbyes.  To walk when he is thirsty and grab his own cup of water.  To walk when he is hungry and find his own banana.  To walk to his sister, or brother, or aunt when he’s got another ear infection, or a fever from malaria, or a tummy ache from another bout with worms.

Don is right -- walking is Mada's ticket out of Hope Village. (Not a ticket I'm eager to sell).  It's the lifeline in what could be a very hard, harsh, hunger-filled, poverty-stricken life for a toddler.

There I go again, drama mama.  

So I wait. And watch his steps.  11 and counting. 

If you'd like to help other children like Madalitso, you can email me at leanne.green@me.com.  

Or, you can go to our project donation site here, and donate with a credit card (tax-deductible):   

http://www.hopeforthenations.com/fundraiser.aspx?asset=2591&referrerId=1861