Page 1 - Good News September 2012 paper

e have such an AWESOME God! tiny premature baby and a crying two-year-
Read this true story told by
WHelen Roseveare, a missionary
from England to the Congo, Africa.
One night I had worked hard to help a
mother in the labour ward; but in spite of
all we could do, she died leaving us with a
old daughter. We had difficulty keeping the
baby alive, as we had no incubator (we had
no electricity to run an incubator) and no
special feeding facilities. Although we lived
on the equator, nights were often chilly
with treacherous drafts. One student
midwife went for the box we had for such
babies and the cotton wool the baby would
be wrapped in. Another went to kindle the
fire and fill a hot water bottle. She came
back shortly afterwards in distress to tell
me that in filling the bottle, it had burst!
Rubber perishes easily in tropical climates.
“And that was our last hot water bottle!”
she exclaimed.
As in the West it is no good crying over
spilled milk, so in Central Africa it might be
considered no good crying over burst
water bottles. They do not grow on trees,
and there are no drugstores down forest
pathways.
“All right,” I said, “Put the baby as near the
fire as you safely can; sleep between the
baby and the door to keep it free from
drafts. Your job is to keep the baby warm.”
The following noon, as I did most days, I
went to pray with as
many of the orphanage
children who chose to
gather with me. I gave
the youngsters various
suggestions of things to
pray about and told them
about the tiny baby. I
explained our problem
about keeping the baby
Continued on p. 6
Continued on p. 6