Hi Friends

Hope this finds you all well.

I've been recently sent this photo of myself and a little girl called Esther, it's one of those nice photos that I did not realise was been taken.

Now Esther is very special as of course all our children are. She was born to a 14 year old street girl who did not want a child, so she is not an orphan but she was unloved and uncared for on the streets.

When she came to us in October I was very concerned about her health, Bill Rettie (AIM UK) prayed over her, and we did all we could to help her. She did improve but we soon realised she has a combination of health problems. She has a skull deformity (?birth trauma), and has little lower limb strength and therefore at the possible age of a year, she is unable to weight-bear or even crawl. She also has sickle cell anaemia, which in itself is a major problem but also contributes to her being more susceptible to diseases like malaria. She was extremely malnourished but she is gaining some weight slowly. She does appear to hear and understand to an extent but she does not vocalise sounds yet.

Now having told you all that stuff, I have got to tell you how beautiful and wonderful this little girl is. She has huge deep eyes, and I believe she has a very peaceful spirit. She sits and watches the world go by, the other children crawling, running playing, and seems to be just taking it all in. When I have time I love to walk around with her, especially at the end of my day.

All the other kids love her too, even our 'hard, tough guys' (although off course they are often not so hard or tough really, and are often rough diamonds). For anyone that has experienced these special children who seem to have so many difficulties, but really become such a blessing for those around her that are privileged to share in her life and to love her and be loved by her .

So that's Esther, I just wanted to share one of our beautiful children with you.

Take care and God Bless you all richly LOVE MARSALI