Please do not cease praying for us

Dear friends and family,
We knew before returning to Mozambique that this year was going to be a tougher one than last year - knowing this we even asked some of you to intercede more on our behalf during this coming year. We, however, hoped that the "toughness" of this year would not actually have anything to do with the children that we look after. This is not the case. This week has been more trying than the previous ones and ended very sadly for everyone here at the centre.
Helena was an 11 year old going on 20, full of life & drama who loved everyone around her. She loved to dance and sing, she loved attention. She liked to pout and be loved on, she was a normal 11 year old girl who I've known and cared for since 2004. She came to our centre as a baby, so she was family to everyone. On the 7th of June she started with a headache and fever. It took the 5th and 6th doctor and 9 days later to actually do the proper exams and admit her to hospital. The following morning (day 10) she was diagnosed with bacterial meningitis and by that evening, passed away in hospital, the most painful death I have ever witnessed. This has brought great sadness to everyone involved. We sit here trying to figure out how such injustice and lack of proper judgement could exist at such an extent. We sit and grieve for a country that experiences such injustice as normal as day to day living. And we grieve for such a full life that feels so unnecessarily lost. We fought for her, worried for her and cared for her in those last days and still it was not enough. We prayed and asked God to touch and heal and take away her pain and yet, she was still taken from us in such a forceful way! And yet I am relieved her suffering (which was great) is over - and that 2 days before her untimely death she spoke out loud that Jesus was her salvation - how amazingly grateful I am to have that memory knowing for sure that she sits with Jesus in Heaven now. How grateful I am for God's amazing mercy over her. But we grieve her absence and as we watch her "sisters" - all the girls she lived with and grew up with and the "mommas" - tias who cared for her through the years - we hurt for them who have lost a sister, a friend, a daughter.
Friday, June 17th was a day like no other, started out rather innocently, moved into crisis and ended with death in our hands. How much can a person be stretched?! I am learning this. Friday we received Helena's diagnosis  as a punch in the stomach - one of our Mozambican nurses kindly reminded me that bacterial meningitis can be contagious. I immediately moved into crisis mode thinking of the 260ish children who live on our base and all of the tias and nurses who had been caring for Helena hands on. I quickly did research and found out a simple one-off treatment with Ciprofloxacin was all that was required for post-exposure prophylaxis. Now I needed to compose a list of those who had "close" contact with Helena in the last 9 days. Oh, Lord, help! And he did - Helena had slept in 3 different bedrooms in the last 9 days, shared with many different little girls, was cared for hands-on by many different tias and nurses...and within 3 hours of the news everyone required had been treated - I don't know how, but Hallelujah! Through the afternoon I was attending to frantic calls about Helena quickly going downhill in hospital and as evening approached we arrived at hospital a few minutes too late. She was finally at peace after such a fight. I knelt over her, placed a hand on her head and her chest, still warm. I watched, nothing, I prayed, almost scared to breathe, willing Helena to breathe, she couldn't be gone. And then the tears came heavy as I saw the injustice of it all - 6 doctors - such terrible pain - how could they miss this?! And then they asked me to leave the room because you do not cry.
We believe Helena's funeral will be either Monday afternoon or Tuesday morning and would appreciate your prayers for all of her "family" here at Iris and out in the community.