The Ants

It was late at night and all the babies were asleep. Samuel started screaming, so his nanny went to check. She found an ant in the crib. Apparently it had snuck in under his mosquito net, so she flipped on the light to check things out. What she saw raised the hair on the back of her neck.

Ants! Ants on the floor, ants on the walls, and ants on the ceiling. Ants crawling everywhere. She put Samuel on her back and ran out to get help. As they turned on lights in the rest of the Nursery the staff discovered ants everywhere, in every room. Nannies ran around, each with a baby tied on their back, moving all the other babies into the main room. Augustine, the nursery administrative assistant, came from his apartment next door which was also infested with ants. Checking outside, he saw the ants were coming in waves, covering the ground. “This,” he said, “is very dangerous”.

Springing into action, the staff put kerosene into household spray bottles, and systematically sprayed around the edges of every room. This instantly kills the ants while the fumes make any ant still alive run for the exits. After the inside of the house was treated, the outside was sprayed all around the foundation to keep the approaching army from entering. The barrier worked! No more ants came in.

Meanwhile, the babies were safe in the large living room, as that area was cleared of ants first and all the windows and doors were opened to reduce the smell. The infants remained in the large room most of the night to keep them from breathing any fumes. By morning, the only signs of the heated battle were a few stray ant corpses and an exhausted staff.

We pray that this will never happen again (and hope the ants never find the way to our house—or yours). That our faithful staff knew exactly what to do is an incredible blessing. It’s humbling to realize how much we don’t know about living in this place. Thank God for His continued protection for the babies. Thank you for your continued prayers.