today betty died...

Betty was at the orphanage for about 2 months. She was extremely malnourished and suffered greatly. Although I did not spend much time with this baby, she is the first child who has died since I started work.

I do not know how to respond. When I first heard that she had past I was doing some work in the office. Turns out, few people were told about her death, and her body was placed far away from the other children.

Kerri and I went to pay our respects, as we do not know if there will be a funeral, and she was fully wrapped in cloths. It was a strange experience, as she was placed on a small table in the storage room by the guards, directly below the water tower. Sister said she drank tons and tons of water this morning, which is an indication that the end is near, and a few minutes after we left the room massive amounts of water started leaking from the water tower. It gave me the chills.
-
When new volunteers come to serve, its protocol to get job assignments from Sister Maria. 2 weeks ago Elaine, a short-term volunteer from Ireland, was given the task of caring for Betty. It breaks my heart to think about how difficult this is to the people who have been caring for her the past two months. It also breaks my heart that she has no family. Very few kids knew her at the orphanage. Even few know she passed away. There is no death notice, no wake, no family mourning. Nothing. Just Betty's body on the table.
-

Late last week I had a very informative conversation with the Italian Doctor who has been working at the orphanage for a few years. She shared a little history of Asco with me. Before ARV drugs were available, they would celebrate on the day that no children died. Praise the Lord, last year there were only 10 deaths. Not ideal, but an answer to prayer over 360.

I also found out that Sister Maria was the first person in Ethiopia to administer ARV¹s to kids. (She is not only a nun, but a Doctor too). She got into some pretty intense conflicts with top officials from John Hopkins. They wanted money and statistics and she wanted her kids to stop dieing. Sister Maria is quite the advocate for her kids.

No wonder there are so many institutional problems. Asco transformed from a home that takes care of kids who are dieing to a place that care of kids who are living, practically overnight.

RIP Betty.