This is a story of healing. Gigi is a former street child who now lives at a partner organization's children's home. When he came to the home, he was emaciated by injuries and disease. At the age of ten, Gigi had begun frequenting the streets with his brother Dorin. They found life on the streets attractive because of the accessibility of money and because of the freedom to do anything they wanted; it was also a better alternative than staying home with drunken, quarreling parents.
By the time Gigi reached the age of 13, he was heavily involved in drug abuse – which was simply his response to the abuse he received on the streets. The drug abuse took away his appetite, weakened his immune system, and poisoned his lungs and liver. Still, Gigi used the drugs to help him deal with the pains of street life.
To feed his drug habit, Gigi had to find ways of making money. He spent a lot of his time at a dive bar on the outskirts of town. In exchange for doing odd jobs, Gigi was provided with a place to sleep and sometimes even a little cash. But Gigi's privileges did not completely shield him from the dangers of the street. Once when he was sent to purchase a pack of cigarettes, a Mercedes ran him over as he was crossing the street. Though his shoulder was knocked out of place, Gigi didn't go to the hospital. He chose to bear the pain on his own.
All of Gigi's time was not spent at the bar, and all his earnings were not always spent on himself. He often went home to check on his little sister and bring money to his unemployed parents. During communism it would have been illegal for Gigi's parents to be without work, but after 1989 it was easy for businesses to fire those suffering from alcoholism. And that's what happened to Gigi's parents. But they eventually managed to get jobs as shepherds in the country. They were poorly paid, but they did receive food as part of their daily wages – although it was usually spoiled by the time they got it. The effects of a poor diet, a harsh lifestyle and drug abuse left their mark on Gigi. He became anemic, his skin yellow and his eyes bloodshot. On the streets, Gigi had no hope of getting better.
In 1997, Gigi was admitted to the hospital, and the doctors discovered that he had chronic hepatitis and cirrhosis of the liver. Fortunately, that was when our partner organization took an interest in Gigi. Their workers visited him in the hospital, and when he was well enough to leave, they took him into their children's home. He then began an intense treatment to arrest the deterioration of his liver. The treatment lasted two years and will require maintaining a special diet for the rest of his life. But Gigi has been healed.
Gigi's healing was not the result of an abrupt miracle; it was the result of sacrifice, faithfulness and friendship. Gigi was not healed by the snap of God's fingers but from the suffering of others. The Old Testament prophet Isaiah foretold that this is the way of God when he said, “It is by His stripes that we are healed.” We see on the cross the image of the Wounded Healer. Healing flows through the wounded and broken. In the same way that God transformed His wounds into healing for the world, we pray that Gigi's wounds would be more than the objects of his own healing. In Gigi we see the wounded, we see the healed, and we expect to see the continued manifestation of the Wounded Healer through Gigi's life.
