A Blessing Amidst The Suffering- Lisa Castellani

It was the 6th or 7th day of my first mission trip, and I was in a room full of anywhere from 50-200 people depending on the time of day. All of them needed SOMETHING. They felt that they needed medical care, and so they brought themselves and their children to me and the physician and nurse as well as the others that were helping treat. I am a pediatrician in practice, but was helping all comers. There were a lot of truly ill people, most with malaria or parasitic infections. However, many people just wanted to get some attention and some medicine no matter what it was. It was like it could fix what was broken without knowing what the problem was.

About midway through the day, I had a rather poised, middle aged woman come to me and whisper into my ear very sullenly that when she “received”, she could only be with child for 2-3 months before she would lose the baby.

This had happened 8 times. I met her eyes as she looked up and I could see the pain of loss, shame, and desperation. She said that she wanted so badly to have a child.

I asked her if she has any children and she said that she does have a 16 year old. I then asked her if she has since that time had an infection of her reproductive parts that caused her fever and great abdominal pain that put her in the bed. She said that she did. I let her know that the infection was probably an STD and led to scarring of her reproductive parts and will not allow her to maintain a pregnancy. It actually could be dangerous for her to do so because of possible infection or hemorrhage.

Just then, as I am looking at this woman, whose hopes I have just dashed, I think about the utter devastation of Liberia itself after 14 years of civil war and all of the orphans that it has left behind.

I began to explain to her that in the U.S., when potential parents are having a hard time getting pregnant, they often turn to adoption (frequently international) to find their child. I told her my story – my husband and I have a 5½ year old daughter by birth and then we adopted Cole when he was 15 months and now he is 2 and 9 months and like a totally different child! This woman’s eyes lit up when I told her that as soon as you hold your child for the first time you know they are yours. I told her of the joy of feeling them snuggle onto you because you are “Mama” and no one else will do.

Finally I prayed for her and that she might be blessed with a child, but that she be patient and trust in the Lord. She thanked me and left and I returned to the sea of people lapping at my desk like the waves breaking on the sand. Honestly, I figured that was the end of things.

A few hours later, when I managed to crawl out to go to the latrine, I turned the corner to go outside and there she stood – the “adoption woman” (for lack of a better identifier since I didn’t know her name). Her countenance had changed. Now she seemed to glow, emboldened, content. She handed me a piece of paper which said:

Aurthur Gonsam – father
Esther Gonsam – mother to be
Patricia Gonsam – our new baby

These are our family.
Thank you for your understanding and encouragement.

When I did, I saw Esther Gonsam, and swaddled on her back, dressed to the nines was Miss Patricia Gonsam. She is 12 months, chubby, healthy looking, and of course, she looks just like her mother! Esther took Patricia off of her back and gave her to me as if she were presenting me with a gift. I felt so honored to be able to hold her, but also to be able to look her over medically. Once I gave her back, a wash of pride and joy just swept over Esther. It was as if she had been caring for children all these years in her heart but now she finally has the chance to give that love to a child who really needs it. This could be the start of something contagious.

Sharon Sudduth
Sara Dean
Lisa Castellani
Mo Elbeitam
Bruce Roush
Anthony Delorenzi
Bob Collins