Fire in the Night

(THIS BLOG WAS WRITTEN ON OCT 15th-- in other excitement it seems we never actually posted it! We'll post this week's blog later today!)

Our neighborhood in the dark

Things were pretty quiet. Our kids were already in bed, falling asleep. All of a sudden, we heard from outside the cries, “Moro! Moro!” (Fire! Fire!) Knowing that neighbors are the only fire brigade people have here, I called to Tom. By the time Tom went down the block and around a corner the road was full of people. He was there in time to see a small child being carried out, his whole body burned and skin barely staying on.

The neighbor came up excitedly telling me to turn off the electricity. They were worried that the fire was started by electrical wires and so one by one the lights in the neighborhood went out. The neighborhood took on an eery air. Everyone was out, quietly talking, trying to understand what happened. The story came in pieces…a simple tin shack built on the roof of one of the concrete houses. A child sleeping. Mother had gone out to talk to friends. No candle, no kerosene stove left on, no matches left out. The child was whisked to the hospital, but then we learned there were actually two children.  At first I had hoped that the other child wasn’t badly hurt, but then someone came over excitedly asking for a big flashlight or spotlight. We gave the only thing we had, one of our newer headlamps. He took it, looking a little disappointed at its small size, and mentioned that they were still looking for the second child. “Surely, it would be easy to find a child in a small house like that?” my mind cried out. But then I realized that they were looking for remains. I went out to stand with neighbors. I saw the door to the house right next to us was open but instead of finding the women who live there, I found her twin boys, just three years old, standing there alone.  One was just in his underwear, another in a hoodie jacket and underwear. They were dazedly watching everyone. “He was burned all over!” they told me, imitating the intonation the adults were using perfectly. I stood close by and one of them took hold of my hand and held it up against his face. They were scared.  I spoke some comforting words about God and reassured them that the fire was out and that their friend had gone to the hospital. The twin in just his underwear got his matching hoodie and had me help him put it on. Eventually a teenage boy that lives near them came and distracted them with games and videos on a phone.

The twins on a happier day

Meanwhile the cloud of sadness continued to descend. Tom said the street right near the fire was full of crying. I saw one hysterical young man being dragged away to be comforted elsewhere. Our headlamp was returned but the man didn’t say anything as he handed it back. He just lit a cigarette and walked away. As we headed inside to pray and then to go to bed, we saw two men grab shovels.

The next morning it was confirmed. Both children had died. The second one’s remains were buried immediately, but even the one taken to the hospital was buried immediately after death. None of the normal washings and prayers and ceremonies. The bodies were just too badly burned. We were sickened with the news and it became our prayer that these little children just never woke up. 

I went to the place of mourning. I was in a room of women looking serious and sad. I wasn’t sure who I was supposed to be comforting or greeting. I didn’t even know the mother but apparently most others didn’t either. At one point someone pointed out the mother of the children and then all of a sudden a number of women who had been sitting elsewhere, gathered around her and started to mumble words into her ear. I wonder if she preferred it when she was just crying quietly at the edge of the group, unnoticed. Now she was bombarded with island platitudes, people telling her that there was nothing she could do, it was just what God wanted. “No!” I wanted to yell out and contradict them. “This is not what God wanted.”  Instead I waited my turn to speak some quiet words before leaving and making room for the other mourners cycling through.

Since then we’ve had many chances to challenge the idea that all the bad things in the world come from God, that it is what He wants, that people just have to accept it, forget it and move on. We’ve talked about the true nature of God, the one cries with us, who grieves to see the perfect world He made so corrupted; the one who promises a life to come, a life without tears. God is light. God is love. The idea that He wanted these two children to burn to death should be an outrage, and so we challenge the lie whenever we can.

We wonder about the poor mother. Not a full day after the fire, the rumors began. Some said that the mother had left a lit candle inside. Others said her husband beat her and was cheating on her and that it was him who was last in the house. We’ve tried to discourage the gossip people want to share with us. For a couple days it was what everyone talked about. But now, almost a week later, we can feel the neighborhood moving on. But what about her? They collected money to replace some of her possessions, but her life will never be the same. So we remember her and cry out on her behalf.

PRAYERS ANSWERED
We are thankful for our kids continuing to be happy with school.  They seem tired at the end of the week from a full week of school—especially the youngest, but we get mostly positive reports of their experience.  We are thankful for the process of defining our goals and moving towards them.  This has been a great thing for our team and we feel a positive sense of direction and purpose.  Tom’s meetings with his friends to talk about important things continue to go well. 


PRAYERS REQUESTED
This morning there has been a marked escalation of political tension on our island. We don’t know details but apparently there were acts of protest in several places around the island. Many (including us) are laying low. It is possible that this will just last one day and that tomorrow will be back to normal, or that it could be the beginning of something bigger. Pray for peace and justice on the islands.  Continue to pray for the mother of the two children that were burned. Pray also for greater awareness of fire safety on the islands.