A little life

I know she's a little older than one, but I do not know her name.

I do know the major history of her little life.

Born second to a completely disfunctional and abusive couple, she was abandoned by her mother whose whereabouts, to this day, are unknown.  Her desperate father travelled the 15 hours journey to deliver her on the doorstep of her poverty stricken grandmother, who was already looking after her older sister.

Completely overwhelmed on every conceivable front by this new burden who, in her own words was ugly, black and troublesome, the Christian grandmother tried desperately to find someone else who would care for her.

A missionary couple agreed, with great joy, to take the child, only to have the uncle intervene, demanding that no blood relative of his would be cared for by someone outside the family.  He would take her himself.

In fact, the child was returned to her grandmother, and subsequently put into the care of a local family who looked after such children as a living.  

A few weeks later, miserable, sick and thin, she was returned to her Grandmother, who gave her into the care of a young unemployed male family friend, who watched her during the day while the grandmother worked.

Finally, completely overwhelmed, in debt, and feeling alone, the grandmother sold the little girl. 

Some days, the sadness, the deprivation, the horror  of living in this place is overwhelming and I wonder how even God can break through and shine light into all this darkness.