Today I had a wonderful surprise… Boucari came to the CURE Hospital! I had not see him since June, when he left after staying with us about three months. When I first met him, he was shy and did not give me eye contact. You see, Boucari had been severely burned in a cooking fire when he was four. His face was disfigured. His face was actually fused to his shoulder, and he could not even hold his head up. His face looked almost like it was melted, as his mouth and eye drooped. Scar tissue continued down his face and onto his torso — a pretty sad sight! He had never been to school and spent his days begging on the road. A missionary couple saw him one day and asked if he would like to be helped, and of course he did. It took them two years to get him there. The timing worked out though, as our hospital just opened last October.

Boucari had extensive skin grafts. I was amazed to see, from week to week, how Jean Francois Negrini, our surgeon, treated him. He used a skin expander in his neck that he implanted and then blew up, little by little, to stretch the skin. He then used that extra skin in the grafts. AMAZING. I have to admit, I am not medically trained, so I may get this a bit off, but that is what I observed.

While Boucari stayed at CURE, I enjoyed blowing bubbles with him and teaching him how to play Frisbee. He spent a lot of time just chatting with staff and other patients. He was so delightful and full of joy. I just loved having him around. As his treatment continued, you could see a real change in his demeanor; he had more confidence. He could often be seen carrying little babies around and helping others. He spent a lot of time with Hassane, our Spiritual Director. Hassane speaks fluent Hausa. Boucari does not speak French and definitely not English, but when the Hausa started flowing… he just came to life!

So today, I almost did not recognize this young man who was grinning and confidently taking my hand. I loved it! He returned to have the droopy skin around his eye fixed. He is healing up well, and I am interested to see where his life takes him. He has definitely been touched and changed from  the inside out.  He was once very hopeless, and now he has hope. He not only had his burns cared for, but he experienced Jesus! The seeds of the gospel have been planted in his heart. This is truly something wonderful… a transformed life!

Originally posted at: http://christinelehman.blogspot.com/2011/09/boucari.html.