We heard a story at chapel this morning at CURE from our spiritual director, Mesfin.  He traveled last week to the village of Shone, 375 km south of Addis.  He and other CURE staff were invited to the village to have a thanksgiving celebration for the healing of a girl in the village.  Her name is Hanna. This is what Hanna’s father shared on a shaky, home-made video that Mesfin shot.  Mesfin translated these words for us from the video:

Yohannes has 12 children.  His last born, Hanna, is 12 year old when he brought her to CURE Ethiopia.  When Hanna was reaching one year old, she fell and, as a result, became crippled.  She couldn’t move from place to place and became very silent.  After the incident, Yohannes took his daughter to many hospitals, but there was nothing the doctors could do for her.

Hanna has never been to school.  Her father said he was embarrassed because of her deformity and he didn’t want to take her to school.  Hanna became a very sad girl.  Giving a smile is a very hard job for her.

One day in a nearby town, Yohannes heard about the CURE hospital from a doctor.  He heard disabled children are treated at CURE hospital for free.  Yohannes didn’t waste time to bring his daughter to Addis Ababa CURE Hospital. He was expecting a lot of process to see a doctor, but was accepted and guided to see a doctor right away.  He was so amazed by the treatment of the security guards and reception people. The doctor was also very friendly and gave him hope that his daughter may walk. For Yohannes, this was great news.  He called his family about the new hope, and the family rejoiced and waited for surgery day.  Hanna, too, was already excited by the news. She saw other children with disability in the compound, going out from the hospital being treated.  Her hope began to rise.  On the surgery day they were happy, thanking God and praying for successful results.

After all these things happened, Hanna is walking for the first time in her life.  The hospital provided her with brace shoes until her muscles get strengthened.  This brought so much joy to her family and her village.  It showed for the family how God restores the weak and help them to be free of shame and embarrassment.

Before Hanna came to CURE, she had to drag her buttocks and legs along the floor with her arms in order to get from place to place.  Her family members had to even carry her to the toilet.  Now, Hanna is able to walk one kilometer, and she is attending school.  Her smile comes much more easily these days.

During the video, the village sang a song of thanksgiving for us to enjoy.  As we watched this video together and heard her father share these words and listened to their song, I noticed the recovery room nurse Hamara, who was sitting next to me in chapel, wipe a tear of joy for Hanna from her eyes. It is so good for our CURE nurses to hear these words of thanks and encouragement, especially since their lives have become so difficult (Ethiopia has experienced 40% inflation in the last year, and their basic food staples have increased something like 300% over the last two years).

The LORD is the strength of his people,
a fortress of salvation for his anointed one.
Save your people and bless your inheritance;
be their shepherd and carry them forever.

Psalm 28:8-9

Originally posted at: http://ethiopia.thebernards.org/2012/02/10/hanna/.