Page:Kvartalshilsen (Kvinnelige misjonsarbeidere). 1917 Vol. 10 nr. 4.pdf/5

 Dobbeler and a German teacher, Hedwig Bull, we also had two Armenian teachers, 4 female teachers and a Turkish teacher, who taught Turkish and Turkish history.

Among all the sick children in the home I had a lot to do, in addition to the sick in the village and the procurement and distribution of medicines. It was a great job, but strenuous, especially in the summer, when malaria and dysentery ravaged. So many of the children were grateful and several asked me not to go; "For who's going to help us when we get sick," they said. In the morning when I did my round, I was almost always presented with small bouquets of flowers from their own garden, and I was always delighted. The greatest joy of the children was when one of us wanted to go with them on walks in the area, and there were many beautiful places up in the mountains, out in the woods, down to the river or out in the field. We came home with the most beautiful flowers, anemones, cowslips, forget-me-nots, violets and roses, and all the living rooms were decorated. Sometimes we went down to the river, and then they were quick to get their clothes off and go swimming; because it was the thing, they liked the most. They loved Von Doebbler’s three children and my little boy and were always happy when they got to go out with them. In the evening after the end of the day's work, there was always a lot of fun and ruckus in the big yard, as the boys tumbled on one side and the girls on the other played and ran or sang many pretty songs. There was often such a noise, so we fled to the most remote room of the house; but in between we were also included, and they thought that was splendid. It was so vivifying and so encouraging to be among so many children, and it is a big task. Our constant prayer was that they must all be won for Christ.

One day, almost a year ago, Mrs. von Dobbeler came and put a small child in my arms and said, "You have to take care of it, it has no parents anymore". I looked at it and didn't really feel like I had the courage for it, because it was so small, so sick and miserable, and I didn't exactly feel strong after all the care of the ones sick from malaria and dysentery; but there was no one else who could take such care, so I understood it was sent to me by God. His father, who had been a driver, had been killed, and his mother had recently been declared dead by malaria or typhoid. The little boy whom they called (…) looked so pitifully thin and yellow-pale and almost always cried; but little by little I made him drink milk, cocoa and eat eggs and other nourishing food, but he remained just as thin. Mr von Dobbeler often said: " Sister Bodil, what a striving you have with that child, I do not think you will have any joy from it." One day we were visited by a good German military doctor, who was good at all kinds of childhood diseases, and who visited us more often to treat our sick children, and I showed him the little boy and also a little girl of 5-6 years who was bare skins and legs; - She was brought straight from the street and had no one in the whole wide world and was one of thousands of the poor expelled children, a pitiful, shabby creature. - The doctor examined them closely but shook his head and said that unfortunately he had no hope for the two children. "You must prepare yourself sister," he said, "I have no hope that they will recover." But I did not give up hope for the two; for God could heal them, and I would do what I could. I've taken care of them and fed them with the best we had, and since they both had a good appetite, they ate