I noticed Thando’s arm before I knew her name. She was the bright little Zulu girl, about nine years of age, with a grotesquely swollen arm suspended and supported by a sling draped around her neck and shoulder. Squeezed alongside other children on benches in the children’s ward, Thando joined the three of us who go into the hospital to visit the children.
Thando’s eyes were fixed on mine the day I told the story of the beggar who cried out in faith to Jesus for healing. As Sethembile translated the story from English into Zulu I wondered if Thando was hoping Jesus would heal her also. At the conclusion of the story we told God in prayer that we believe He is the God of the impossible who still heals and changes lives today. My hands held the paper still for Thando as she coloured with her usable hand. The activity sheet showed the healed beggar “leaping and praising the Lord”(Acts 3:8).
Cancer caused the severe swelling in Thando’s arm and each week I saw evidence of its silent progression creating an ever heavier burden for her to bear. From being a bright little girl, talkative and competitive in the games we play with the children, I arrived one day to find Thando on her bed, hardly able to open her eyes – she had been given medicine to relieve her pain which had made her drowsy and unable to participate with the other children. I never did see Thando up and about again.
The next few times we visited we sat at her bedside, sometimes telling her a story from the Bible and at other times just quietly sitting beside her. One day, as we were ready to leave, I stood beside her bed to say goodbye. As I did so, she held out her hand for mine. Much more was said in the squeeze of our hands than words could ever say.
I didn’t know it then, but that was the last time I saw Thando. She was transferred to a hospital in Durban to undergo treatment for the cancer invading her young body. Her mother lives well over an hour away from the hospital and I can only imagine how alone little Thando must feel. Please pray with us for this precious little girl, that she will experience the enfolding arms of our loving Shepherd all around her.
I am going to share this story with my Bible Group here at work and ask them to join me in praying for little Thando that God will touch her little life in way that only He can do. Thanks for sharing this with me.
Thanks for doing that. Your prayer really makes a great difference and is a real encouragement to us. It is a difficult time for the children in hospital here because of the strike. I trust your group goes well. Every blessing, Alan
I will be thinking of Thando today and ask God that someone like yourselves will be able to spend time just holding her wee hand and helping her through the pain and loneliness of that hospital in Durban. Keep doing what you all do so well, even through these difficult times, you are such a blessing to those children.
Hi Gillian,
Thanks for your thoughts and prayers. Quite a few of the children we get to know very well are cancer sufferers because they tend to be in hospital for longer. The main cancer treatment hospital is in Durban so we quite often have children transferred there. It is on our minds and hearts that we should get some Christians in Durban who could follow up on these children. Perhaps that’s something specific you could take on in your prayers. Thanks again, Gillian, Alan. (ps How’s school going?!)