Takes A Whole Village: Hiasha Lord!

Something interesting about African women...when they are pregnant, you should never ask them when the baby is due or what they are planning to name the child...in fact they do not really like to talk about it all. You see they focus much more on getting through each day at a time and do not want to "count their chickens" too soon. We have several pregnant nannies, and I never even know until they are like 7 or 8 months along because no one talks about it.

But when we got here on August 1st, there was one nanny you could tell was pregnant because she was obviously showing in her little scrubs. Her name is Juliet, and we have gotten particularly close. (see 'Nanny Time' post) One day a few weeks ago, Juliet tripped down this small flight of stairs straight on to her stomach. She was immediately helped up by other

nannies, as she wiped away tears from her face. Helen, the grandmother of the home, was telling her she must go to the hospital and make sure the baby was ok, but she refused. I wondered if it was a financial issue and I was worried about the baby's health, so I went to talk to Nanny Neema and I told her what happened. So at that point we both approached Juliet and we tried to convince her to go to the hospital. I told her I would go with her or pay or whatever. But she just shook it off and said she felt fine. She was not budging. So I just asked her if I could pray for her and the baby...She accepted so I put my hand on her tummy and she and Neema and I all held hands.

The weeks went by and it was time for us to head to Zanzibar for a week. I told Juliet she could not have the baby until I got back. She promised she would "wait for me." :) But sure enough when we got home, I heard she had given birth to a healthy baby girl! Thank you Jesus!!

So today Neema took Christy, Hallie, Stephanie and I to see her and the baby. She is doing really well. In her tribe, it is customary for a woman to live with her husband's family for the first month after the baby's born. So we visited her at her sister-in-laws house. The baby's name is Beyonce Hiasha. Hiasha means 'Thank you' in her tribal language. She is a beautiful baby and I am so thankful she arrived here in good health and that her amazing mama is doing so well.