Sleeping Under the Bed of a Dying Man

The Mega Belia refugee camp is a desperate place to live. This camp is in the shadow of a large volcano in the North Sulawesi city of Bitung. Mega Belia has been shelter for thousands of fleeing Christians who have fled the fighting over the last three year in the Maluku and North Maluku province of East Indonesia. There are now over 6,000 souls residing in this camp. The residents have inadequate water and food to provide viable health and nutrition.

A small group of IFC staff went to the back corner of this camp site to spend some time comforting a family whose three year old son died of malnutrition. After leaving their shelter we walked a few steps and turned into another shelter. I didn't know I was about to see something I wasn't prepared to see. I don't know how anyone could be ready for this. We stooped to enter the shelter and found two desperate faces looking at us. They didn't know why their son was dying. Esther Scarborough, IFC staff nurse, asked to see their son. We went with Esther to the bedside of this 23 year old young man. He lay on the bamboo bed with a cloth laying over his lap. He was a rack of bones and had blood on his shirt. Esther said she was sure he was in the final stages of T.B. He had a bad cough and was laboring to breath. His parents were also coughing and it was suspected that they also had T.B.

These people have lost everything in the attacks against their lives and lands. They flee for their lives to find shelter in the refugee camps. These refugee camps provide security from the attacks but the spread of disease has taken a number of lives. This Mother and Father are lovingly caring for their dying son. I watched this Mother use a cloth to wipe the perspiration from his frail body. The Mother was asked, " Where are you sleeping?" She pointed to a place under the bed where her son was laying. In caring for their dying son they never left his side. They were sleeping under their dying son. I asked Esther about the prospects of the parent having T.B. She said they likely have been infected by caring for him. If they have T.B. they will die unless they are treated.

This touched me greatly as I thought of everything this family has been through. Their life is now confined to a small shelter where they are watching their son die. Compelled by love they stay at his side and continue to comfort him as he wastes away.
After leaving this scene a plan was made to start a program to treat the refugee who have T.B. Phase one of the T.B. Project is now underway.