Sometimes you just really want to take back about an hour of life and re-do. I arrived at Mama Laadi's place about 2 AM. As the gatekeeper opened the door to the house, I saw some feet lying in front of the door. Expecting to see Mama Laadi's smiling face waking up to greet me, it was a bit strange to see Grace, one of the girls here, waiting on me. She informed me that Mama Laadi was at the hospital with one of her sisters. Once Grace showed me into my room, I called Mama Laadi and she said that it was actually her god-mother that she was with at the hospital, she had malaria, but was now stable, and I went to sleep. I woke up almost 9 AM and walked outside to finally see Mama Laadi for the first time in a few months. She was just as joyful as always, but she asked me if I would be willing to give blood for her god-mother who was in the hospital. I told her I would, that I was O+ (the universal donor), but that they wouldn't allow me to give blood in the states because of malaria. "This is Ghana, everyone already has malaria" was the response. So after some time we loaded up on a motorcycle and headed to the hospital. Once we got there we went through some typical Ghanaian bureaucracy that took about an hour, then went to do the blood test to verify type and health. The nurse took a small blood sample, then asked if I had eaten. I had eaten some small biscuits (cookies for Americans) and some water just before, but that obviously was not the way to do it in Ghana. I told them I had given blood before and I would be just fine, but they insisted that we take the motorcycle back to Mama Laadi's to eat, then come to do the transfusion. So I came back to the house and had lunch with one of the nurses, mind you. After some hour and a half, we set back out for the hospital. As we pulled back up to the ward where the god-mother (her name was Mary) was being kept, we heard wailing and crying. It was Gifty, Ms. Mary's daughter. Ms. Mary had died while we were eating lunch. It was the worst feeling ever. Here I was, the guy who was going to give this girl's mother her very life blood, showing up a half hour too late. A do-over would be great.
Mama Laadi later explained to me that this Mary had been to Mama Laadi what Mama Laadi is to so many children now. Mama Laadi had been kicked out of her village as a child when she became a Christian. Mary was the one who found her on the street and took her in as her own. Mary took care of many children when she was young, then entered a convent. She was an active sister for some years before quitting to become a mother to a child of her own: Gifty. Mama Laadi had lost contact with Mary sometime before the convent period of her life, but then through "the dutch lady's" travels into some remote village, the two were reunited. Mary then fell sick about 3 years ago. She battled with illness for 2 years before coming to stay with Mama Laadi for the last year of her life. Mama Laadi simply said she was glad to be able to pay back a small amount of her debt to this woman before her death. She was 55 years old. I guess you could call this a celebratory obituary.
1 Cor. 7:29-31
What I mean, brothers, is that the time is short. So, from now on those who have wives should act as if they have none, those who mourn as if they did not, those who are happy as if they were not, those who use things of this world as if not engrossed in them, those who buy things as if it was not theirs to keep for this world in its present form is passing away.
