In late 2021, some of Rebekah’s employees were out in the bush collecting tall grass to repair the roofs of mud huts. While there, they came upon a small village with a fresh grave. Nearby were the dead mother’s two little boys, both deathly ill.
The older brother, five-year-old Keem, had hands and feet so severely covered with jiggers—a parasitic infestation caused by sand fleas—that he could no longer walk. He could only crawl on his knees and elbows. His little three-year-old brother, Adome, was lying nearby on a mat, barely breathing and riddled with malaria.
The employees rushed back and told Rebekah what they had found. Rebekah herself was undergoing treatment for malaria at the time. Our vehicle was up on blocks, so Rebekah and one of the employees walked to the village, even though Rebekah was having great difficulty breathing.
When they reached the village, the boys’ elderly grandmother told Rebekah, “If you don’t take these boys now, they will die.”
So they began discussing how in the world they were going to get these boys the help they desperately needed. They called an engineer who was building Rebekah’s dining hall and who owned a motorcycle. He came, picked them up, and brought them back to Mission Moroto.
After cleaning the boys and treating Keem’s hands and feet, Rebekah realized that Adome was far too sick to be treated there. She called a motorcycle taxi and raced to the hospital with him. Adome would stop breathing every few minutes, and Rebekah would shake him to get him to breathe again. She told the motorcycle taxi driver to go as fast as he could.
They were traveling so fast that they nearly collided with another vehicle, barely missing it. As they raced toward the hospital, Rebekah prayed under her breath:
“Lord, this child is either going to die in my arms, or we are going to die together on this motorcycle, but I am getting him to the clinic because I don’t want to bury another child. Either we make it to the clinic, or we die together, and I’m good either way.”
They made it.
At the hospital, the medical staff gave Adome the best malaria medicine they had, and afterward, Rebekah brought him back home. Rebekah was too ill herself to sit beside Adome’s bed throughout the night, so she called one of the house matrons to sit with him and make sure he kept breathing. Then Rebekah went to bed.
The next morning, she awoke and rushed over to the dormitory. She was shocked and thrilled to find both boys sitting on the veranda, happily playing.
Keem’s recovery took longer. For two weeks, he endured excruciatingly painful wound dressings that required several staff members to help hold him. Rebekah would even tape socks over his hands to help prevent the infestation from spreading. After about a week, Keem was able to walk again, and by the end of two weeks, his wounds had completely healed.
Soon afterward, we realized that Adome’s knees had become deformed from severe malnutrition. We knew that eventually he would not be able to walk properly, run, or play like the other children. When he was old enough, we took him to Kampala for surgery.
Today, you would never know there had been anything wrong with his legs. He runs and plays just like the other boys.
Keem and Adome are both doing very well in our school and are loved by all.
Thank You, God, for Your constant kindness to us—and for Your kindness to the desperate and suffering people of Karamoja. www.missionmoroto.org #missionmorotostories
Adome Michael
Keem Joseph