The story of Esther and older brother Sam,  Esther who looks like a boy. Their behind were shriveled and laced with deep lines left by their shrinking body mass their legs were tiny bones with dried skin clear to everyone.

Starvation had pushed these kids to the point of death. the little boy is 7 years old but the size is for a 3 year old baby. Severe malnutrition led to standstill growth and forces the body to turn on it’s self for food.

Sam is 3 feet tall and weights under 20 ponds both Sam and Esther were also affected by polio. neither of them could walk. We could not imagine why they were abandoned starving , lying hopeless in the dirt.   

As we tried to observe the nightmare for us and figure out what we should do, a little girl emerged from the bush. This little girl is a sister of those two little boys and she was actually cooking for them at one point. Uh can you imagine? it was Sam and Esther’s older sister , Jane a very small eight year old. She had walked miles to fetch water in order to bath the brother and sister.

We in with camera attracted a crowd. The sight of the kids paralyzed the crowd they could stand in horror and watch. we watched in utter fascination as this little determine girl bathed her siblings while most eight year old are busy playing.

Jane faced a life and death situation alone. She couldn’t feed her hungry sister and brother but she could see how dirty they were and it was within her power to take a long walk for some water, lugged back and bathe the kids.

Little Jane, a hungry child herself, assumed a awesome duties of a parent. To look into the face of a suffering child is to see the depth of humanity and the heart of God and we are able to trap all vestiges of our selfishness and desire nothing more than to see another experience relief ad joy.

Most organized religions sadly devote much of their time and  energy to defending dogma or destroying dissonance. When  kneeling before a fragile little boy like Sam, those kind of petty and immature  religious practices dissolve into a sea of insignificance. Love is all that matters and love compels us to reach out to Sam and Esther.