Christine is Still Sick

I've hesitated to write this story as I don't know if I can do justice to the cultural knowledge you need to understand it.  I'm fairly certain that I don't even have the cultural understanding to truly grasp what is going on, but it is such a good picture of some of the obstacles we face that I want to give it a try.

Many of you may remember the name of Christine.  Those that have been here may even remember her.  She is a widow in her mid 50s that has had a very difficult life.  She is an immigrant from Burkina that has lived in Abidjan for more years than I've been alive.  She worked every day in the market for a dollar or so each day to be able to pay the rent on her house of around $30 and to have whatever else she might scrounge up to eat with.  I honestly don't know how she lives.  She is involved in the local Catholic church and they may help her a little when she's in a tight spot, but they have a church full of people in nearly as dire a need as her.  I've storied with her for a long time in her spot in the market.  Occasionally other women listen, but she's always had a bit of a rivalry going with her closest market.  They seem to be friends on the outside, but they often snip at one another and are competing for my attention.

Christine has been sick a lot of the time since I got back.  She has some grown children, but they aren't really helping her.  Some of them are still living at home and eating her food and taking up space.  If they get sick, she has to get them to the doctor.  To start with we all assumed she was just overstressed and tired.  By the first of September she was treated for malaria a few times.  After a few weeks, she finally went to another doctor who did a blood test for her.  It should have been done long ago, but she had no money to pay for it.  She was diagnosed with typhoid fever and kept in the hospital a few weeks.  This particular doctor does charity work and was treating her for free.  She's the only one of her kind that I'm aware of in this city.  She was sent home for a couple of days and quickly taken back.  They thought the typhoid fever had just flared up, but after several more weeks of treatment they've found that something worse is going on.  Many years ago, she was diagnosed with TB and that is what seems to be back.  About 2 weeks ago her doctor told her that she'd be spending the holidays in the hospital, but unexpectedly she was released only a few days after that.  I still don't have the whys of that decision or if she fled, but from then on, she's been nearly unresponsive.  She won't talk to friends.  She sits in her house and sleeps and refuses to talk. 

Christmas eve, I ran by with some food to try to lift her spirits and finally found out what was at the heart of her utter despair.  Christine thinks that someone has put a curse on her to knock her off so that they can have me as their very own friend.  Now I know my American friends just spit on themselves in sloughing that off as the most ridiculous thing they've ever heard.  Let me just say that is not at all uncommon thought here, neither that someone would put a curse on her out of jealousy, nor the idea of a curse in general.  Our friends here live in constant fear of a spirit world that I am oblivious to and even often skeptical of, but I have seen the power at work in the lives of others.  I don't have any idea how much of this power is in the minds affected and how much is pure evil at work, but I do know that it is very effective whichever way it works.  I don't suppose it matters if the evil one destroys by the power of one's mind or if he wields power over germs and sickness.

After I picked my jaw up off the floor, because although I've worked here for 4 years, I wasn't expecting this one, I tried to compose myself and figure out what to say.  I've never in my life prayed "God help me say the right words" as I have here!  In that short instance I decided not to tackle the validity of the curse, argue who may have made such a curse or even assure her that she'd be fine.  What was impressed on me in the moment was to remind her who Jesus is, the authority and power He has and at the same time warn her that we are all to be ready to stand before a Holy God.  I wanted her to understand that we are all ashamed, in filth and without hope if we stand on our own merits and that only Jesus can cleanse and restore us.  She listened.  She's not looked at me in weeks, but she looked me in the eye and heard what I said.  In one hateful moment she sarcastically retorted to a comment that I had made, "So you think I'll get better?!"  It was the perfect chance to say that none of us is guaranteed tomorrow and we must all be ready.  God laid in on my heart also to reassure her that He never leaves us and His plans are for our good even when we can't see it. 

In all honesty, I really only held it together long enough to get out of there!  The idea that she may die had already worked it's way into my thoughts as I saw her sitting there a complete skeleton.  The thought that she figured she'd been cursed on my account was enough to make me cry buckets.  In a moment, I wondered if my presence does only cause suffering.  Then I remembered we are all under the curse of our sin and we surely will die a spiritual eternal death without the news of salvation.  For that reason, He calls His own to share what He's done for us.  So I must keep on and so must you.  When you look at your neighbor who seems to have it all together on their own, think of a skeleton wasting away because of the curse of sin and death.  If you don't do something, Christine's possibility will be their reality.

Sorry, I didn't realize this story was going to turn into a lecture!  On a happy note, Christine called me Monday to wish me Merry Christmas.  She sounded upbeat and her reaching out is something I haven't seen in a while.  I'll try to keep you posted, but pray for her body as well as her heart.  I'm not sure about her soul.  She has a lot of good answers to my questions, but on a deeper level, I really don't know where her heart and her hope is.

With Love,
Heather