Matt’s Blog

For several weeks we would take trips to the hospital here in Manzini. On our first visit there, Mark and I traveled to the children’s ward. When we got there, we really didn’t have any idea what to do. When you walk in, there are tons of beds in the same room and each bed has a child in it and a family surrounding it. However, there was one bed in the room with a child, but no family. We went over to the bed and met a little boy named Sinazo. He was completely alone in his hospital bed, and seemed to have some very serious health problems. His lips and tongue were covered in open sores. Since he couldn’t speak English, talking was really difficult. So that first day Mark and I sat with him for about an hour and just colored with crayons. As we sat there, we began asking questions about him to the parents and nurses in the ward. We were told that his parents had dumped him at the hospital, and he had no family or visitors. He had been in his bed alone for two months healing from his sickness. Hearing that news absolutely broke our hearts. We just sat with him and never wanted to leave him alone there again. We ended up coloring some pictures and taping them up on the wall beside his bed (we wanted him to make his bed his own, not a generic hospital bed). At the end of the visiting hours, we had to leave him. We eventually told him we’d be back for sure to visit him. Before we left, we prayed over him. We prayed for his health, his spirit, and for his family. I left that day feeling so heartbroken. He just looked miserable, and thinking about the condition of his life for the past two months seemed horrible too. Since then, we went back many times. We were absolutely amazed and overjoyed to find that every time we went back, his healing was so dramatic. Last week we went back and played with him and every sore on his lips and tongue was healed. Then, yesterday, we went to the hospital again. We showed up and went straight to see him like always. We played with him for just a few minutes, and then his father and sister walked in. He was unbelievably happy. We asked to take a picture with him, and his father said we could. It was the first picture we had with him, and we barely got it by about two minutes. Then, after just a few moments, he was gone. It was such an awkward feeling to watch him walk away knowing that we’d never see him again. And then an awesome joy came. Just thinking about how his time sitting alone in a hospital bed was over completely lifted my heart. He got to go home where he could run around outside and play. He was delivered from that hospital bed back to the life of a normal child. Over the weeks, Mark and I spent a ton of time praying for him. God absolutely answered our prayers. We are so grateful to have known him and are completely more grateful that he is out of the hospital.