so much pain.

WRITTEN ON TUESDAY JUNE 25

there is so much pain here.

so often, when people come back from africa, they tell of the joy of the people & the beauty of this place. but i’m gonna tell you that though there is so much beauty, there is so much pain. 

oh so much.

today we saw this firsthand. 

we were driving along the road, when Seneli, are driver & translator , stopped the car and got out. he ran up to the house we were by. later we found out this was because he saw a man standing threateningly over someone.

we could hear screams of pain, and crying. i will never be able to forget it. so much pain. we could see Seneli talking to the man.

we waited in the car, because it would do no good to have white people run up there. around 10 minutes later, Seneli came over & told us what was going on.

the man had been beating his wife with a spear, who was pregnant with an 8 month old.  

oh dear jesus.

Seneli went back up to the house to guard the woman, and to call people. 10 minutes later, we got her into the car to take to the police station & to the clinic.

at this point, we were not sure if the baby was still alive.

she was obviously in so much pain. emotionally & physically. so so hard to watch.

there were slices on her arms & legs that were bleeding. she had a bad limp & was moaning as she walked.

we had to be careful to try not to get blood on us because of the huge HIV/AIDS epidemic here. 

we reported everything to the police & got that taken care of & then rushed her to the clinic. 

at the clinic she moaned loudly out of pain as we helped her up onto the table. the nurse examined her & then said that she would need to be taken to the hospital to check on the baby & to get her wounds checked out.

here in Swaziland, and probably in most of africa, you need to travel to get to a decent hospital. the nearest decent hospital from Nsoko is an hour away.

they took her there & all we could do was wait. 

later that night, we got a text that the baby is alive & that they did not admit her over night, which is a good sign.

she was moved from her husbands homestead to her parents, where she will hopefully be safe.

sadly, this is not uncommon around here. it breaks my heart, the pain that is experienced here. thank God that we happened to be there at the right time. there were so many things that “happened” to get us there at the right time. 

there is so much beauty here & yet so much pain and hardship. 

how can one see the pain here & then go home to their normal, safe, happy, and comfortable life? i am not sure.

i am fearful of going home. i have no idea how to tell of all that i have experienced. i am scared that i will not portray it correctly. i am being given such responsibility with going back. it is my job to tell of this place.

 to be the voice for the voiceless.