The Courage of Children

A news story came on that haunted me so much that I had nightmares about it. A young woman-child, about thirteen, in a third world country was crouching in the dirt with a small bundle in her arms. When she looked up at the camera, her eyes spoke depths of sadness. Her expression was one of a child that waged a war all by herself.

I can hardly wrap my mind around this horrible thing. At thirteen I was waiting on the newest Beatles album. My boyfriend and I went to parties together and football games. The most stressful thing in my life was whether I had a date.

I am a nurse that has worked in Women and Childrens Health. Thirteen is only a child. Most girls that have babies at that age can't even deliver vaginally due to their small pelvic structure. So it is amazing she was able to deliver at all.

Girls living in poverty in America have poor diets with low calcium and protein to build bones. They usually have to have a cesarean. These children don't even have the diet that our poor do. Medicaid has a WIC program so poverty level women can get milk, cheese, eggs etc.

The village people glare at this girl who hates herself. She has brought shame to her family. A woman walks by and spits at the girl then she kicks dirt into her face. She had been forced by a married man to have sex and the result was a baby.

In their country, the penalty for adultery is death by stoning. I was astounded that such a practice continues. Her swaddled baby boy was both a blessing and a curse. He would keep her from death until he was weaned from her breast. But in the meantime, she was treated as an outcast. She will sleep on the ground and eat only what she can salvage. The baby also gave her time for an appeal, but only one appeal had ever been reversed.

Her final day on Earth would be burying her up to the neck in stones and then the villagers would throw rocks of all sizes at her until she was dead. The baby would go to her relatives.

Where was the man in all this? I think that is an important question.
The last shot of the news story was her child like figure, still crouched in the dirt.

I believe tears were falling on the head of that precious bundle.