not wrong just different?

We learned that phrase back at gateway during our cultural education. But sometimes I think things are just wrong. I’m working with these adorable girl patients everyday. They are mostly from the Fula people group. They’re beautiful. They’re very tiny, about my height, but literally half my weight. This people group is largely made up of nomads and pastoralists. They’re very old fashioned. They’re Muslim. Culturally, a girl is old enough to be married and have babies as soon as puberty arrives. The girls I’ve had the privilege to help this week are uneducated. They don’t read or write. Not only are they too tiny to be having children in the conventional sense, they’re expected to give birth alone. No help allowed. Not even their mamas. Why? It’s the way they’ve been doing things since the beginning of time. Literally. How do you convince a whole people group it’s okay to deliver in a hospital? Girls who step outside the box and seek modern healthcare are ridiculed and ostracized for being too weak. There are just so many things wrong with this picture to me. And yet I understand this stubborn need to hold on to old ways. We’re all like this to some degree. Set in our ways. Sigh. It’s just really sad to be doing major gynecological surgery on little girls. The cases here have been particularly complicated because of others trying to repair the injuries and female circumcision (fairly common here). Pray for this people to come to a new understanding about healthcare. Pray for them to discard practices that are harmful. Pray for them to know Jesus.

His… Michelle
Philippians 1:20