Grief

It is a very sad day at the Ergon center today.  I arrived about 10:30 this morning to find only our manager there.  No work going on.  In talking with her, we came to find out that Zareena, one of our ladies, had a granddaughter pass away just a few hours before.  Everyone was sitting with the family and would not work today.

We quickly went to sit with Zareena and her family as well.  This little girl was only just over a year old.  The monsoon started on Tuesday.  The family told us that the girl had played in the 'nala' or drain during the rain on Tuesday and later come down with a fever.  None of them seemed too concerned about the fever, but they took her to the doctor yesterday.  The local doctor gave some medicine, which they gave to the girl.  They all went to bed.  During the night, she must have gotten much worse, and when they woke up, the family decided they needed to take her to a hospital.  When they arrived at the hospital, the doctor said she was already dead, and he could not do anything for her.

This was their first and only child.  The mother of the little girl is barely 19 years old.  Her grief is intense.  It was so sudden an unexpected.  We have no idea what really killed her, but it must have been some violent infection to have taken her so quickly.  Please, please pray for Zareena, her daughter-in-law and son, and the whole family.  Things like this shouldn't happen.  This death was probably  preventable if they had access to better medical care.  I can't imagine what they are going through....

Mother is in the left, with the red pants.  Sister-in-law is fanning the baby's body while they wait for the supplies to prepare her for burial.  

WorldCrafts

We were so blessed and honored to welcome a delegation from WorldCrafts to our center in March.  It was a wonderful group  of people with big hearts for our ladies and what they are doing.  The ladies were all very encouraged by seeing how much the group loved their products and work, and were able to share some of their successes with the group.  It was a sweet time of sharing across cultures!  

One of the members of the group noticed the disarray in our center.  We have never had the financing to buy shelving and storage boxes for our supplies.  Our paper has always sat in cardboard boxes stacked on top of each other.  It was always difficult to know what we had, and would have to pull boxes apart to find anything.  This sweet lady generously offered to  provide the finances to help us get organized.  We very gladly accepted her offer!  We are so pleased with the result, and hope the donor is as well!