FOR THE LOVE OF A BABY
Deep in the jungle mountains, far away from electricity, phone service, internet, shopping, or conveniences, lies a tiny, messy, filthy dirty, bamboo hut. Inside this hut lives a man addicted to opium, alcohol and mad horse medicine, (See footnote), and his wife, SayGler, addicted to mad horse medicine and who knows what else? There is a small addition to this family, a tiny 5-month-old baby girl, SoChaDa.
We first were acquainted with this mother, SayGler, when we were returning on motorbike from visiting a patient in GeGhah village. She stopped us and showed us her baby who had a huge hemangioma, (congenital growth) on her chest. There were 3 other growths of smaller dimensions on her back. We were instantly concerned and ready to help, but it is a complicated procedure. First, she must be seen in a small clinic in MeDuGlow and get a referral to a hospital in Omkoi, then be referred to two different hospitals in Chiangmai where the baby could finally get proper treatment. We must take several days, and many hours of driving to make all these appointments.
Finally we are ready to take her to ChomThong hospital 5 hours away. We must leave at 4 oclock in the morning in order to get there in time. SayGler is unable to think properly, or remember anything, so it was necessary that we visit her the night before to make sure she would show up at our house in time. We had been working in another village until late, so it was already dark when we stopped where we thought she lived up on a steep mountainside. With my meager cellphone flashlight, and worn-out flip flops, I followed BletJhaw up a long, steep, rugged mountain to a pathway crossing left to right, then we climbed up another steep grade to a wooden house which turned out to be the wrong one. We needed to go back down to the pathway and turn right to the next house over. BletJhaw was ahead of me and he quickly descended the steep grade and turned right. Through the years, I have gotten used to steep places. Everywhere you go here it seems to be “straighter than straight up”, or “straighter than straight down!!” We like to go down steep places quickly because your feet don’t have a chance to slip so easily that way.
This particular night I had 4 strikes against me:
Darkness
Small phone flashlight
Worn-out flip flops
Steep rugged pathway.
I took 2 quick steps, but on the 3rd footstep something went terrible wrong, with the ground. There was a hole with a rock in it and my legs got all twisted up! They could not keep up with my falling body! BletJhaw was quite a distance ahead of me because he had already turned right at the bottom of this steep grade and was gone! What happened next was an unequivocally, unmistakably, undeniably, and unquestionably a miracle of God! Suddenly, in an instant, he was right there in front of me, catching me just before my head and my body hit the ground. I hit him hard and he stopped me short! It was the work of the heavenly angels! If he had not caught me, I would have plunged down a sheer 12-foot drop-off and been really hurt and broken.
“For He shall give His angels charge over thee, to keep thee in all thy ways. They shall bear thee up in their hands, lest thou dash thy foot against a stone!” Psalm 91:11, 12
I knew something was wrong with my right leg, but I made it to the right house. As I stood there on the porch of that house amidst all the dirt and trash, my heart went out in pity for these dear people. A piece of bamboo on the front porch broke under the weight of my left foot and I limped to higher ground. One glance inside the house was heartbreaking. That little baby in her mother’s arms, growing up under these conditions.
You can imagine how that bamboo could brake under your feet!
Please note: My knee, shin, and calf swelled up, so I painfully limped along, praising God for His deliverance from worse injury. Our work here is quite strenuous and injuries are so inconvenient! For almost 2 weeks I struggled along barely making it, my friends who found out about it were praying for me. My healing came quickly! One day it was so much better I could walk without limping, then in 2 more days – absolutely no pain! I literally came - “Walking and leaping and praising God!”
Say Gler’s history: She is about 35 years old. She was married at 13 years of age. She has a 20-year-old daughter attending college in Chiang Mai, and an 18-year-old boy who works in Chiang Mai. Now she has this 5-month-old sweetheart named SoChaDa! She told us that she had been addicted to opium, but even though she wanted to, she could not quit, so she went to the village witch doctor who put a curse on the opium, that way if she used it again, the opium would kill her. Out of fear she dares not touch opium again. But she is taking Mad Horse medicine. See footnote for information on Mad Horse.
God puts us in contact with so many people through the medical work, to whom we can present Jesus!
Now we will take SoChaDa to Maharaj hospital over 6 1/2 hours away in ChiangMai. We noticed this lady could not stay awake! She slept all the way in the truck with her baby’s head hanging off the side. When we arrived she was supposed to meet her son, who would interpret for her. She got out of our truck her Karen skirt was falling off, her plastic bags were breaking and things were falling out. We had to quickly park the truck, then I grabbed a shopping bag we had in the console and limped over to the big hospital. I found her and placed her belongings into my bag. I don’t think she could speak a word of Thai, she just nodded and agreed with everything they said! I can speak some Karen. In God’s providence Karen nurses were at the desk in the pediatric department who I could understand, and the Doctor spoke English! Hospital visits here are a long gruesome procedure! You wait for hours on end. It takes all day to see the doctor, then do lab work and procedures, wait for the results, then wait to see the doctor again! SayGler was a disaster. She fell asleep all the time. Several times I had to catch her before she fell off her chair onto the floor! Thankfully her baby was tied to her body with a shawl, or I would take the baby.
Withdrawal from mad horse medicine causes extreme drowsiness. She definitely had that symptom! We are trying to help her see Jesus and let Him help her not to take drugs. The first lessons of Jesus have been given her. Jesus sees her and this innocent little baby, deprived of every earthly advantage and heading for a life of drugs, and a future without God. He loves and cares for all these poor people!
“We see Him, (Jesus) among the poor, blessing the afflicted, healing the sick, soothing the infirmities of age, reaching with His divine pity the very depths of human woe and misery. He even noticed the sorrows and needs of little children.” HP 40.3
I have fallen love with little SoChaDah!
footnote: Mad horse medicine is known as YaBa = crazy pill, or YaMa = horse pill in Asia. Therefore the name “mad horse” in my jungle mountains. This drug is a powerful stimulant and can be smoked, inhaled, or injected. It contains a mixture of methamphetamine and caffeine. It makes a person stronger and even crazy. If too much is taken or used in combination with opium, or alcohol, it could burn the brain and cause a person to commit suicide or become like a baby, unable to think. Many times these people become paranoid, hearing voices behind them saying they are going to kill them. At such times they are extremely dangerous to other people. Individuals face the risk of hypertension, convulsions, stroke, or death.