A Tribute to Job

Dear Family and Friends, 26 July, 2009

I must report some sad news. Our little one, Job, passed away on Saturday, July 24, 2009.

Job is a factor that is not calculated in Burkina's infant mortality rate of 25% for children under 5 years of age. Job never received a birth certificate. Job never received a death certificate. He is one of many who is not counted in these statistics.

Job was abandoned in the bush by his mother, probably a young woman not well mentally, who possibly did not even know what was happening to her when she gave birth. Job was discovered by a little shepherd boy watching his father's goats. The little boy heard Job crying.

The boy ran to get his father and the father took Job to the nearest small town where there was a police department. The police called Social Action and Social Action called us asking us to come and get the baby.

It is not known for sure but Job may have been laying in the bush for one or two days before he was found. When he reached the maternity ward in his village, he was covered with crusted blood from his birth and was crawling with flies and insects. The hospital cleaned him up a bit but the flies and bugs had already had time to lay their eggs all over him, in his eyes, ears, and nose.

The first day that we had Job at the orphanage it became quickly very clear that we could not care for him. He weighed just 1.8 kilos (about 3 ½ pounds), was very weak, and we saw that little worms (larvae?) were crawling out of his ears and nose. We took Job to Ouagadougou where there is a neonatal ward, one of only three such wards in all of Burkina. They accepted him and very quickly placed an IV and were giving him antibiotics to fight the infections. They also tried to clean out his ears and nose.

Unfortunately, just 5 days later, the hospital called us to say that Job did not make it. So, just this morning (Sunday), Angie and I returned to Ouaga and brought Job's body back to Yako for burial. Jean and 3 of our high school boys dug his grave and we had a quiet burial service for Job.
Job was a sweet, sweet little baby. Although we only had him for a few days, we are sad that he is no longer here with us. But in all things, we say 'the Lord gives, and the Lord takes away, blessed by the name of the Lord”!

Thank you so much for your prayers for Job and for the many encouraging notes that you sent. Thank you so much for always lifting us up in prayer.