Dulce was only 14 when she gave birth to Jessica. Now she is twenty years old and lives with AIDS. Her father and family kicked her out and her father say’s that she is not his child. She had to live on the streets with Jessica and later at a government center, from which she ran away. Eight months ago she and Jessica came to live with us. Jessica is a beautiful six-year-old girl and she enjoyed living here. She started to go to school and you can see the healing Jesus was doing in her life. Dulce were also doing much better and a huge blessing in helping with the babies. She had a real yearning in her heart to find a husband, a home for her and Jessica.
Dulce met a man at the AIDS clinic she attends and where she receives her anti retroviral medicine. He is married and also lives with AIDS. So three weeks ago while Rika and I were in South Africa, she went to do her hair and later meet the man. He promised to take her to South Africa and take care of her. She stayed with him for the night and the next day came and took Jessica with her. Monday she came to our house, visibly she lost weight and she looked very ill. The man never took her to South Africa, promising her all types of things. Jessica has not going to school for almost three weeks now. She was also without her medicine for a few days. She had to move in with her uncle and he is extremely poor and not able to give food to her or Jessica. She came to ask us if she could come home. Dulce longs to have a man, but the reality is that she is a single mother with AIDS. She has maybe a few more years to live, leaving Jessica as an orphan. Her whole life she has been called a failure and is completely rejected by her family.
Yesterday Rika and I found a house we want to use as a second house for babies, it is a very small house with very nice outside rooms with it’s own bathrooms. We want to employ Dulce as one of our educators at the new house. She will have a lovely new room with her own bathroom for Jessica. It is also one of her dreams to have a job and receive a salary. We love her and Jessica; it was so hard for us when she ran away. Please pray for her and Jessica, God can do a miracle and heal her of AIDS. With Jesus in our hearts there are always hope.
God has been talking to me about providing counseling to people living with AIDS, please pray with us for this. We need people that will come and train people to council people living with AIDS. It is a real need here in Mozambique; there are so many Dulce’s here in Mozambique. There are also no houses for single mothers with AIDS in Mozambique. Daily we experience new needs and we really need, a nurse, a councilor and some long-term missionaries. Please consider laying down your life for a mother with AIDS, an AIDS orphan or an abandoned child.
(Photo’s Dulce with Philip and Jessica)
It is almost three years ago now when we started our first house for babies. In this time we learned so much about Jesus and His faithfulness. We have experienced His provision in so many different ways. Last night when I signed the contract for the second house for babies, my heart was not overflowing with faith though. In my mind I had many questions of how we are going to be able to do this. It is another small step on this journey that Jesus took us to Mozambique. We know it is His heart for us to love and care for orphans. We need your prayers in this time as we prepare the house and train new staff to open the new house.
