Making connections...

In many ways it is great to be getting to know the local people. When I walk or am getting a ride down the street, I see lotsa people I know and wave and smile. I'm always making new connections. Oh, that lady with the baby must be so and so's daughter or niece...aha!
Unfortunately, getting to know the people has its down side, sometimes there are some very sad connections. Just this last week that has happened twice. A little girl was not allowed by her father to come to clinic for follow up on her arm fracture and now there are several complications. We started talking to the Mom and trying to find out who the dad is. While talking with another missionary we realize that he must be the guard that was working for so and so who shot that other guy in "self-defense" on the road last fall. NOT a nice man. Very sad realization to make.

Another connection was the man who sent his mentally delayed wife to get the baby they had given up. She reported that they were “moving to the city”. They had signed a one year contract that this foster family would care for the baby because he was dying in that home due to parental negligence. I wondered why the father himself hadn't come. I was reminded that he couldn't come back to these parts because he's the one who nearly killed a man with a machete. He tried to strike a man in the head and ended up cutting off two of his fingers and breaking the rest. That victim was here with us after surgery for a week or more and I remember him well. Strange connections!