World Vision Resources

World Vision Resources

When a Child Dies
By Richard Stearns


Not every child helped by World Vision lives “happily ever after.” One of the grinding realities we face each day in our work is the appalling statistics of child suffering and mortality in the developing world.

I know the statistics ...by heart: 1.3 billion people live on less than a dollar a day; 2.3 billion drink water contaminated with bacteria and disease; 740 million are severely malnourished; and—most shocking of all—29,000 children die each day of preventable, poverty-related causes. That equals 1,200 children dying every single hour of every single day! Even knowing these statistics as I do, they never prepare me to come face to face with one of the millions of families who have lost a child.

Tears flowed freely on that recent morning when I sat in the small home of Lesbia Arana Valiente in Guatemala, listening to the courageous story of her daughter Marcia. Marcia, 12, had died of lupus just nine days before. She was the joy of her mother’s life, the eldest of three—a girl of remarkable strength with a sparkling and optimistic personality.
Through her grief, Lesbia recounted Marcia’s long and painful struggle against the disease. It was the story of a mother and father who had fought bravely against daunting odds to help their daughter get desperately needed treatments. We felt the pain of parents who had no money, no insurance, and no access to medical care for the daughter they loved so much. After being turned away by doctors and clinics because they were poor, they finally turned to World Vision.

While Marcia was not a sponsored child, her sister, 6-year-old Betzaida, is. Our commitment is to help all children in the communities we serve, not just the ones who are sponsored. Marcia did receive the best medical treatment available thanks to the dedicated World Vision Guatemala staff. Both Marcia and her mother were overwhelmingly grateful.

Marcia even told her mother toward the end that she wanted to write a letter to leave behind, thanking World Vision for giving her hope. Sadly, she died before that letter could be written.

World Vision’s goal in every community in which we work is, first, to preserve life. Only then can we implement programs that enrich children’s lives and allow them to reach their full, God-given potential. Had we failed in the case of Marcia? Was our effort in vain? If we see this story through an earthly lens, Marcia had become just another number for the statisticians. But I reject any such conclusion with all my heart. No act of love and compassion done in the name of Christ is ever in vain. No triumph of the human spirit, even in death, is a failure. Marcia’s life, her heroic struggle, and her unwavering faith in God allow me to rejoice and thank God, through my tears, that World Vision could play even a small part in Marcia’s story.

Toward the end of this mother’s story of grief, my friend and colleague Scott Jackson could no longer contain his emotions. He put his arms around Lesbia, and said through his own tears: “You did everything you could. She’s with the Lord now. We’ll take her story back with us and tell others. We won’t forget her.”

If any of us that day doubted why we had chosen to invest our lives in the work of World Vision, we had no such doubts as we said goodbye to the Valiente family. Forget Marcia’s story? No, I don’t think any of us will ever forget that day.


(This reflection originally appeared in the Summer 2003 edition of World Vision.)Read More