Let's kill Mom

Sophia

In our society it is hard for us to imagine killing our Mother when she becomes old and can no longer contribute to the family. The situation is not the same with many of the families of these dysfunctional people. When a girl gets married the husband often refuses to take on any of her previous responsibilities. This includes any children from a previous man and her parents. Children from previous relationships are often given to the Grandparents to support. At this stage of their life the Grandparents are too old to work and may barely have enough food to support themselves. This sad story is told over and over again in these mountains. The names may change but the sad results are the same. This story has a name it is ‘Sophia’. I’ve written below about our interaction with her for the last two years.

We’ve added another daily responsibility. Her name is Sophia. When we arrived here we were told she had died. For the last two years Sophia was a daily presence at our doorstep. Her 4 daughters had refused to feed her saying she was now old and useless to them. Everyday we would prepare a meal and a care package for her. Now we had a young woman at our door asking us to come with her. Her mom was very sick and weak. Upon arriving at the hut we realized it was Sophia. She was not dead but she was a skeleton of what we had left in June. She was reduced to skin over her bones. The remnants of malnutrition had left her stomach bloated the size of a basketball and her feet swollen. Daily we have become a version of ‘meals on wheels’ we call ourselves ‘meals on foot’. Each day we bring her a warm vitamin drink called encaparina. Along with the drink she receives a couple bananas or oranges and oatmeal, tuna or PBJ sandwich. The trail is narrow and steep leading to the hut. Every trip puts me in awe at how this old lady for the last two years was able to walk to our apartments for her food.

It has been several weeks since we’ve started caring for Sophia, though her strength is better, a noticeable swelling is moving up her legs. Michael has been on the Rio Dulce preparing for teams coming in to help build a mission house there. He has finally made it back to Pinalito and is going with me to check on Sophia. A decision has been made that Nathan, Alli, and I will drive her to the hospital the following morning. When morning comes I grab a hammock to make a stretcher to carry Sophia to the road, but she is too proud and walks with the support of Nathan and myself. Trying to leave the mission is surrounded with drama as the eldest daughter comes running to the truck blatantly mad that her mother is being carried off to the hospital. Evidently having to start over trying to kill her was not in her plans.

Upon arriving at the hospital we all share a light chuckle as Sophia is asked her age by the doctor. We know what her response will be. Even though she is one of the oldest villagers, probably in her 90’s, here she still claims her age is 40. Again this was her stance, leaving a look of amazement on the doctor’s face. The doctor believes the swelling of both her stomach and legs will be cured with proper nutrition but will keep her for observation for several days.

God’s timing and planning is so cool to see in action. Though complaining for being stranded off the mountain top for weeks and for the numerous repairs required by our trucks God used this time to put certain key people in our path. We met Danny after a day spent working on the road before once again having to retreat down the mountain. That morning we had a tire repaired on the truck and remounted. We had just got to the section of the road where we could disengage the 4 wheel drive. We left a van appearing to be a taxi goes ahead of us with an unusual looking driver. He was obviously American. I thought how queer it was to have an American driving a shuttle bus in Guatemala. It wasn’t long before we passed him on the windy mountain road and I got another glance to confirm my theory. He was definitely American. By the time we arrived at the bottom of the mountain our truck was making a strange rattling noise so we pulled over to look for the problem. The tire had not been securely fastened and the nuts were working themselves loose. A few minutes later the van parks behind us and we meet Danny. He is a 27 year old from Michigan who is part of an outreach program that currently host 8 doctor teams a year. Their mission is a couple hours from ours and is complete with an orphanage. They also have two buildings in the Zacapa hospital complex with one of them a nutrition center. This is exactly where I will need to place Sophia after her three days in the hospital. God’s planning is Amazing Perfect!!!! It serves again as a reminder that all things work for the best and He is in control.