No little devil

Every African momma dreams about having a beautiful baby of her own. But for one woman, the birth of her son came with surprises, as well as disappointments. Junior had a cleft lip...and in African culture this made him an outcast and a "little devil." Everything went alright until he was two months old. His mother became very ill and was told by the grandmother that the reason she was sick was that her baby was a little devil and needed to be sacrificed. If they killed little Junior, then they believed she would get well. They would take the life of this sweet baby in hopes of curing her illness.

The father couldn't bear to see his little boy sacrificed, so he snuck him away and took him to the only place he knew he could find help...the children's hospital. At the hospital, a white doctor named Sandra met the desparate father and was able to place Junior in an orphanage for safe refuge until more could be done to help.

Sandra had grown up on the Anastasis, one of Mercy Ships' former hospital ships, so she was well aware of the work that the Africa Mercy was doing in Guinea. She was able to connect with the screening team there to get Junior on the list for surgery. He was scheduled to have the operation several months later when he would be big and strong enough to undergo the surgery.

After a long journey from Sierra Leone, Junior finally arrived at the ship in Guinea and entered D Ward to prepare for his surgery the following day. As I was walking through the hallway of the hospital, my friend Dan caught me in the hospital to show me the newest cleft lip baby. I held him for a few minutes, aware of his story and thankful that God had protected him from being killed.

The next day was Junior's big day. The surgery went well and he came out with his new lip, covered with his steri-strip whiskers. I went to visit him and snuck in a few minutes of snuggles with little Junior while I chatted with his dad. Sandra had to take Junior and his papa back to Sierra Leone before the five days for the steri-strip whiskers was finished, so she did his follow-up wound care and sent us a picture of Junior and his new lip after his little whiskers came off.

Sandra and Junior

I am so grateful for the papa who saw his little boy as more than "a little devil" and fought to save his life. I have no doubt that God's hand was in it all and that God has great things for this little one. We are grateful to have played a small role in giving him a brighter future.