He gives. He takes.

Last week one of the ladies that I have been visiting with Kate lost her baby boy. She was carrying the baby for 10 months. She was in so much pain being pregnate that she has missed the last four Suubi meetings because she was unable to walk to Danida. last Tuesday, while four of us girls were in Kampala helping with a shipment, Lillian went into labor. Kate was really excited because she has been filming four women who were pregnate and she was unsure if she would be-able to have closure for Lillian's story, since the other three women have delivered already. I was glad Kate was able to be there, yesterday I was at least. She raced to the clinic and got there right after Lillian delivered. It was a quick delivery, which is good because she has been in so much pain with this baby. She was holding her baby boy with one arm and the other arm was outstretched and praising God. She was so joyful, though also exhausted. She had finally had her child. She was unsure of the sex, so now that she knew it was a boy, she named him David after the founder of Suubi. Wednesday morning Kate and Rachel woke up early in order to take the van to the clinic and pick up Lillian with her water basins, blankets, soap, tea, and new baby. It's a long walk from the clinic to Walukuba East, which is where she lives, so that is why we have been escorting them by the van. Emily and I walked into town in order to get some arrands done. We were both meeting up with Kate and Rachel after so we called them to see when they would be able to pick us up. We waited. About 10 minutes later we recieved a phone call from Rachel saying that we would have to wait longer and that they were soon on their way. 20 minutes later they drove up and told us that Lillian's baby boy david died. Kate told us, and as the first words left her mouth to start speaking the bad news, tears were rolling down her face. I was shocked. I was not able to cry, but I knew that Lillian was not okay and that she was so sad by everything that was taking place. Instead of going on with our plans for the rest of the day like planned we all took a detour and drove to Lillian's to drop off some stuff that we were helping them transport. As we pulled up I sugested we pray since we all did not know how to act or what to do. We prayed and once we were done the families car was pulling up to the home. This was everyones first time back home since being at the hospital so i felt like i was intruding standing there holding pots of food and carrying blankets and stuff. I felt like we should just bring it all by another time and let them have alone time to be together as a family. We were ushered in however. Betty, a friend of Lillian's, was sitting on the couch to our right when we came inside the home. In her arms was baby David's body wrapped up in a blanket. She started to cry. She was so sad. My heart instantly broke for her's. Simon, the husband, was calm and softspoken. He offered us seats and told us to make ourselves at home. I sat by Betty and gave her a hug. She was still crying and so i just kept holding her as she held the baby. Once we were in the house for a while Lillian entered. She took two steps then reached her hands to the ground and collapsed. Her head hanging and body slouched over, Lillian started to cry. She started to pray in Acholi. Started to pray in tounges. She would raise her hands in the air asking why and then transitioned her spirit back into praising God. She recognized only her pain as she cried out, her loss was great, and not once did she try to censer her sorrow as she lay on the ground. I had not seen any person open themselves up to being so vulnerable in front of people like that before. We all prayed in a circle as she layed there continuing on in her prayers to God. Everyone was hoping for a wave of comfort to flow into the room and suround Lillian and her family. It was hard to pray when i knew so much had been lost. But it's the only thing that helps in a time like that so we all did. We each said our own goodbyes at different times. Left Lillian and her family and sat in the van. The rest of the day was lost in the shadow of Lillian and her family. Everything else did not really matter. She was in my thoughts during other visits. Throughout the day. Please pray for her family. They need God's Love So So Much.
Thanks