My name is Sandy Echols and for a little over a year now 3 Measures (our community development ministry in Katutura, Namibia) has been part of a ministry to young pregnant girls. One of the girls, Yomanda, who attended our first classes had a little girl who just turned a year old last month. We just heard that her baby was badly burned in an accident involving a kettle full of boiling water. I went out to hospital earlier today to check on them and to take some treats. I am still trembling from what I saw in there.

Baby Kiara has severe burns covering more than a quarter of her body. She has bandages  wrapped all around her head and ear, (the burn even went inside of her ear), down her arm and across her back. The poor baby was whining in pain and visibly shaking. Yomanda has been with her since Tuesday when it happened. She is able to stay with her baby in the hospital, a necessity because there is no one else (including nurses) to stay with the child and take care of her throughout the day. At night, she sleeps on a single mattress on the floor. She shares this mattress with the mother and grandmother of the other two burn victims in their room.

One of the others in the room is a little boy, not yet two years old; he has been in for over 3 months. He fell in a fire and had horrendous injuries. He lost an ear along with his hearing. He will have a skin graft surgery on Wednesday. He was a shy little one who lit up and started hamming around when I gave him an apple.

The baby in the corner is a year and two months old, but was really tiny. He was in a shack fire two weeks ago when his family knocked over a candle in the night and burned the shack down around them. His mom and dad are also in the hospital with burns. This little one was born with cerebral palsy. His face and hand were badly burned. His hand had open oozing wounds. It was horrific to see a child in such pain. He giggled a bit when I tickled his tummy. He has a grandmother who sits by his side taking care of him.

Sharon and I spent some time with them and prayed for them all before we left. The grandmother was overcome with emotion.

I’m writing all of this to ask for your help. My heart is incredibly heavy for these families right now. Without going into too much detail, I will say that they are all without medical insurance and therefore in the government hospital where the care is less than desirable. For example, the children are only being given Tylenol syrup as a pain reliever, the diapers given by the hospital are too small for the almost two year old, and the parents are in charge of the babie’s care . As far as I know there is no heat in the room either, and we are in the middle of winter. I am writing to ask for money so we can take care packages to these precious people. I would like to give the children some toys and books, some food that is healthy and tastes good, and some clothes and diapers. For the care givers I would like to get books, toiletries, food and air time so they are able to use their cell phones if they need to.

The aim would be to take weekly care packages as long as these families remain in the hospital. We’ve already taken a package with, but would like to begin putting the next one together within the week.

Please consider helping Yomanda, Kiara and the rest. Help us share the love & comfort of Christ in this difficult time. Also, please pray for these sweet babies. Their names are Kiara, Paul and Joseph.