Beautiful Gate

In past entries I have provided some brief comments about Beautiful Gate Lesotho (BGL). Today I will take a moment to give a fuller picture of the organization. I have mentioned that BGL had its origins in offering care to three abandoned babies left at a local hospital. From that start some 150 babies have passed through the doors of BGL.

I had naively thought the babies all had been left at a hospital, from which, through the Department of Social Welfare, they were directed to BGL to be cared for. Well, that thought was only partially correct. Often there is a story before the hospital, though some parents, unable to provide for a child, do take the child to the hospital or even directly to BGL on occasion. But for many babies abandonment occurred before the hospital.

I cannot comprehend the desperation of poverty, whether poverty as a lack of resources or poverty of spirit – the shame of having a baby outside of marriage or having one that may be HIV positive. But this desperation leads to babies abandoned, not just in the hospital, but also in ditches, on hillsides, or left in pit toilets. (At least in the toilets the babies have a chance of being found sooner by someone using the toilet.) Little Pelesa was one who was abandoned on a hillside. By the time she was found, her core temperature was well below normal, and though she struggled valiantly under the care of BGL staff, she was not able to recover. Her funeral was today. She had not reached two months of age.

Fortunately Pelesa's final chapter is the exception. More often the babies are restored to health and vitality through the love and care they receive at Beautiful Gate. Death, though, has been a too frequent visitor for little ones whose start in life has been so difficult.

I have used the term ‘babies’ throughout as babies are the focus of BGL. BGL works very closely with the Department of Social Welfare here in Lesotho. While BGL provides care for the baby, the Department of Social Welfare works at securing long-term adoption placements for the babies, either locally or internationally. Hence BGL seldom has a baby, or child, older than three years. A current concern at BGL is that the Lesotho government has recently placed a moratorium on all adoptions due to reports that less scrupulous organizations, masquerading as adoption agencies, are actually involved in child trafficking.

While the concern of the government is valid, we are praying for a quick resolution to the concern. One of our little boy’s adoption has been put on hold. I say boy this time because he is past three and knows that other babies have gone to homes and wonders why he cannot go. There is a story of one other such little fellow. He too, was past three when his adoption was finalized, and the day he was to be picked up by his adoptive parents, he was up very early, got himself dressed, and was waiting at the door with his coat on before he had even had his breakfast.

I have so much respect for the perspective of BGL. Their intent is to see each baby placed with a long term loving family. They do not see long tern orphanage care as the answer. I also highly respect their more recent initiatives. One is the development of the pre-school, which opened on Monday, August 13. The pre-school offers local parents who cannot afford pre-school for their children, a place where they can send their children, at no cost. A second initiative, still in the development stage, is the community clinic. The plan for the clinic is to offer pre-natal care and counseling to women in the community. One recent study has suggested that as many as 50% of the women of child bearing age in Maseru are HIV+. As such, pre-natal care becomes an imperative to reduce or prevent the transmission of HIV from mother to child.

Here in Maseru, Beautiful Gate is one of the agencies on the front lines of offering hope and a future to the children of Lesotho. What is even more amazing is that they do so with no support from the relatively impoverished Lesotho government. Each month the organization depends on God to provide the resources needed to keep the centre and its programs running. I can’t imagine living on that kind of faith, but God has been faithful as individuals, groups, and churches in America and Europe have provided BGL with the funds needed for its programs and the building projects.

If you are one who is given to pray, two specific needs come to mind. First, that the moratorium on adoptions would quickly be resolved so that babies can again be placed into families. And second, BGL has a few critical needs for volunteers, and one is for another nurse if the plans for the community clinic are to move forward. Thanks.

~ Benno ~