In his book Night , Elie Wiesel, a survivor of Auschwitz , wrote:

The SS hanged two Jewish men and a youth in front of the whole camp. The men died quickly, but the death throes of the youth lasted for half an hour. “Where is God? Where is he?” someone asked behind me. As the youth still hung in torment in the noose after a long time, I heard the man call again, “Where is God now?” And I heard a voice in myself answer: “Where is he? He is here. He is hanging there on the gallows…”

In the midst of horrific suffering, we see the crucifixion of the innocent. We may read of the Innocent being killed in ancient history, or we may hear about the innocent dying violently in a distant land. By separating ourselves in time and space from the suffering, it is all too easy to discuss the subject flippantly. We hang a wooden crucifix on our wall, we paint a picture of a meek white man petting his well-groomed lamb, or we change the channel when our television confronts us with the world's suffering. But what happens when we actually see the killing of the innocent? What happens when they have a face?

Gabriela is 12 years old and she has HIV. Her father was an alcoholic. Because he spent his income on booze, the family was impoverished. Gabi became malnourished, which may have been a gift in disguise. Her mother took Gabi's older sister and sold her to a prostitution ring in Greece . She then took the money and abandoned her family. If Gabi had been healthier, perhaps she would have been sold as well.

Because of ill health, Gabi was admitted to the hospital. There, most likely through an injection with an infected needle, Gabi contracted HIV. She was then sent to the hospital for infectious diseases. Inside a chain-linked fence, Gabi was treated as a problem, not as a child. Though Gabi did nothing to deserve her lot, she was sentenced to death by an indiscriminate disease. She hung from the gallows with the Jewish boy. She hung from the cross with God.

Yet it is not Gabi's suffering that is so astonishing, but her joy. It is not Gabi's dying that is so staggering, but her life.

At the age of six, Gabi was taken into a local NGO-run children's home. Though she could hardly speak when she arrived, she is now excelling in the 4 th grade. She takes on the responsibilities of shopping and caring for the younger children in the home. In the face of death, Gabi chooses to live. Though negligence and ignorance are murdering the innocent, Gabriela will not lie down and die.

Elie Wiesel speaks of unexplainable suffering in Night . Gabi knows suffering such as this, but still she brings hope for the Dawn. We look to Gabriela to point the way to the breaking of a brand new day.