I love you

Aissa is learning English.

Most afternoons on my way around the ship, people stop me to tell me about the activities of our little bird. Everyone seems to have a story about her joy, her courage, some new phrase she learned, how smart and clever she is and they take the time to share.

Today, Aissa learned to say ‘I love you’. She exuberantly exclaimed this to all within hearing distance as she basked in the nurses’ praise and attention. She accepts hugs and kisses readily, runs to the staff she knows, wrapping her arms around them and sits in any lap that might happen to be available. She affectionately acts as mother hen to all the younger children that toddle around the ward, bandages on their faces and tubes in their noses, gently trying to pick them up, gently placing them on the floor again if they cry.

Tonight I went for my evening visit and the little bird sat on my lap while she munched an egg. I then chased her around the ward while she squealed and tried to hide from my tickles. After a rousing game of soccer with another sweetpea who had just undergone a cleft palate repair, we sang the hokey pokey which, by the way, is guaranteed to attract kiddos like flies to honey.

In the meantime, her skilled nurses flowed around us, patiently accomplishing their tasks while stepping over our kicked soccer ball or dodging our flailing limbs as we danced, making way for Aissa as she ran, screaming with robust laughter, through their already crowded workspace.

One of the nurses remarked to me that Aissa was like a different child, so much more at peace than when she first arrived, so much more joyful and affectionate.

Indeed.

I believe that God answered our prayers and blessed Aissa with peace during our time on the ship. I also firmly believe that he used the lovely nurses of the Africa Mercy to accomplish this. How beautiful they are.

Love. The love of God reaches through them to bless Aissa with a sense of security, stability and acceptance. Do they know how much they have already meant to a little girl who just one year ago almost lost her life to neglect and poverty? Do they realize that their hard work and patience, their extra efforts and their love has impacted her soul?

So Aissa learned to say ‘I love you’? How appropriate.