Esther

Esther is almost four, and her parents are both dead.

Her grandmother brought her to the hospital in a coma late Wednesday evening. Esther was feverish and had been vomiting for three days, one of the all-too-many dehydrated children admitted to our pediatrics ward. She had "3-plus" malaria and needed a blood transfusion as well as IV quinine. The nurse on duty was finally able to access a scalp vein, but we weren't sure Esther would survive. However, Esther went home with her granny this morning, the first Sunday in Lent -- wearing a "new" smocked dress from someone's mission box .

Thanks to the generous donors who fund our Orphan Health Initiative, Esther's three-day hospitalization will be covered in full. It cost exactly $25 to save her life. There are so many more lives that need to be saved... Please consider making a donation to Maseno Missions or to a charity of your choice during Lent. (See "Donate" on the sidebar of my blog.) And please remember that we can all afford to pray. As Father Rich Simpson at St. Francis Episcopal Church in Holden, MA, wrote on Ash Wednesday: "The point of these next forty days is not to feel bad, but to do good."