Simple Gift Distribution of a Blanket Offers Safety for Her Sons

Rosina’s little boy coughed, and she could hear the phlegm in his chest. Pneumonia battered his lungs. Rosina knew what to expect; it wasn’t the first time one of her two sons had gotten sick with pneumonia.

“We often get sick,” Rosina says. “The most common sicknesses we face [are] pneumonia and cough and cold and headache. These kinds of sicknesses are very much rampant here in this area.”

The area Rosina lives in was situated at the foothills of a mountain range 3,000 meters in elevation. Because of the high altitude, villagers experienced cooler weather year-round, but the winter season brought exceptionally brutal cold temperatures. The cold, dry air chaffed the skin on their fingers, cheeks and lips, leaving them cracked and sore. It also dried out the membranes in their noses and throats, leaving people vulnerable to infections.

Though pneumonia was common, it could become life-threatening if not treated properly. Rosina had taken her son to the hospital, which was more than four hours away, for treatment. She didn’t have a lot of resources to spare—few people in her area did. Her husband, like others, had traveled to a neighboring district looking for work as a carpenter in house construction.

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When you give to provide a warm blanket, you give impoverished people not only the means to survive the winter seasons; you offer them hope and the knowledge of God’s love through the missionaries delivering practical help and Christ’s hope.