A tribute to Benjamin

(This was written by Sarah, since we write about the same things we decided to just use each others writing!)



Benjamin was a 5 month baby that the home had taken in because his mom had dies at childbirth from what they suspected was a result of AIDS. Benjamin had a rough start to life. He was severely malnourished and spent much of his short life in and out of hospitals. Despite all this he was the happiest baby with the softest head of hair. Everyone at the home adored him, and it was always difficult to be able to get a chance to hold him: he was always in someone else’s arms.
I’ll never forget the moment on Thursday when we were called and told that Benjamin had died. It was such a shock because he seems to be getting so much stronger. He was in the hospital for a chest infection two weeks ago, but as Kristen and I were leaving for Banta he was looking so much better. Wednesday morning he was rushed back to the hospital for this same infection. The doctors think that he had AIDS which caused an infection of tuberculosis that he never was able to recover from. How is it fair that such a small baby could have died? He never even got a chance at life. I still feel numb, not grasping the fact that he really is gone. This country has the highest infant mortality rate, but that statistic didn’t mean anything until an infant that I loved became one of those in the statistic. Pray for everyone as we grieve and try to make sense of this tragedy.