Water Bottle Baby

One by one, we put babies on the scale and waited. Some cried big tears with arms outstretched, and so I pulled a little rubber frog out of my pocket to try to get them to smile. It worked once, but another time it just made the poor child cry harder. Some children were perfectly content to sit on the scale with big smiles on their faces as if to say, "Look at me! Look how much I've grown!" 

"6 kilos, 78." Delphine called out, and I grabbed the pen and jotted down the date and 6.78 kg in the child's paperwork. Last month, he weighed 5.24 kg. I smiled and said to the child, "Bravo! You've grown a lot this month!" Of course the child didn't understand, but the grandmother did as she picked him off the scale and smiled at me. I really wanted to give her something to be proud about. She's done a lot, you know, taking in the child of her own child that died tragically. She doesn't have a whole lot of extra to make ends meet, but she has just enough to care for this orphan, and because of our infants in distress program and the milk it provides, she can be proud of how much weight he has gained. 

We had nine babies at the milk distribution that day, and every single one was healthy and in "good form" as they say here. 

I sat down to face the women under the shade of a tree. "You all brought your babies to the distribution today, and I brough mine!" I cradled my "baby", which I had made out of a water bottle and wrapped in an African pagne just like a real infant. All the ladies burst into laughter and started applauding, so I knew this was gonna be good. 

I actually learned this technique in nursing school - how to make a baby out of a water bottle to teach people about the important of hydration. In advance, I had cut small holes in my water bottle baby and plugged them up - two for the eyes, one for the mouth, one for where baby tinkles, and one for where he poops. 

As I cradled my baby, I asked the women what our bodies are made of. "We have skin and bones and muscles and blood, but did you know that most of our bodies are made of water?" I asked as I filled my water bottle baby with water. 

I demonstrated how a baby cries by unplugging the eyes and letting water spill out, much to everyone's laughter and enjoyment. And if you thought the audience enjoyed that, you should have seen them explode when I unplugged the urethra and let that water bottle baby pee on the hard, red dirt! 

We talked about the importance of keeping our bodies full of water, especially during this dry season. And we talked about how to refill our baby's bodies with water by giving them milk to drink. By the end, I got an ovation, and I felt very proud of my firstborn water baby. 

When the audience calmed down, I continued and said, "I want to tell you a story about how water saved a life." 

It's a story in Genesis 21, a story that many people may not be entirely familiar with even if they've grown up on stories of the Bible, but it's a story that I love and love to share. 

I began the story simply. Abraham had a wife, but she wasn't able to have children, so he took a second wife, and she bore him a son. The first wife's name was Sarah, the second wife was Hagar, and her son was named Ishmael. After a little time, God heard Sarah's prayer, and she too bore a son and named him Isaac. When both boys grew up, Ishmael started to mock Isaac, and Sarah was not happy about it. In fact, she said to her husband, Abraham, "Get rid of Hagar because her son is mocking my son." And so Abraham sent them away. 

The way the women were staring intently at me at this point in the story made me think some of them had lived it.

Hagar and Ishmael were now without a home, without a family, and with very little means. They wandered in the bush until they had run out of food and water. Ishmael was so weak that he was almost dead, and Hagar couldn't bear to watch him die. She put him under a bush and walked away, crying out to God. God heard her cries and the Bible says "he opened her eyes" to see a well nearby. She quickly brought her son some water and it saved his life. 

The women erupted into applause, and I knew they had understood. 

"But what was it really that saved the life of the child?" I asked. "It wasn't the water; it was the Lord." They nodded and made noises in their throats that echoed agreement. 

I told them that I don't know what kind of struggles they are going through or how much they relate to Hagar in the story, but I could tell by the way they listened and nodded that they related to her a whole lot more than I could ever imagine. Some of them are probably first wives who couldn't have a son, and so their husbands took second wives. Some of them are probably second wives whose children are in conflict with other wive's children. Some of them have probably been chased away from their homes. Some have wandered in the bush. Some have almost watched their children die. Sometimes I wonder if they should be teaching me stories from the Bible. They probably get it better than I do. 

"Even though I don't know exactly what you go through, I know that the God of the Bible who heard Hagar's cry is the same exact God that hears us when we pray." Their eyes were fixed on me and Delphine, who was translating all my French words into their Dagara heart language. "And he can open our eyes - just like he did for Hagar - to see how he will provide for us, even in our most desperate situations." 

I closed my Bible and reiterated that the story is true and that the lesson is true for us today if we will but cry out to God and trust in him. With one last round of applause and many gleaming white smiles blinking back at me, I wrapped up my water bottle baby, shook the hand of every woman who was there, and patted the head of every precious baby. 

Climbing into the car, I handed my baby to Juliette and told her to take care of him for me. "I'll take great care of him," she joked back, "because he has to make it to next Friday's distribution!" "Yes, that was an excellent demonstration and story," Delphine added. "The whole thing was very good!" 

Ah the power of simple story-telling and simple truth-sharing. Thank you, Father, for your Word and its power to relate to people, touch hearts, and change lives. Thank you for letting us be distributors and sharers of its message. Help us to live up to this calling, to live lies worthy of your gospel everywhere we go and with everyone we meet.