Christianity Today October 16, 2026 8 min signal 2026-10-16

African Christians affirm dignity of terminally ill teens

Archived text mirror, captured for personal reading when the Signal ran. Formatting is approximate — read the original at the source.

Christianity Today

October 16, 2026

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Just before dawn every school day, Demitilla Namagembe, 14, gathers her notebooks, pens, and pencils in her backpack as she prepares to leave her home in Kakamega, in western Kenya. She treks for 3.5 miles along the dusty streets until she arrives at Makunga Secondary School.

Demitilla told CT going to school is her longest journey: “Sometimes I prefer to stay home.”

She said she used to have friends in school. One day in 2025, she tried to sit beside one in class, but the friend refused. “She said there were many rumors,” Demitilla recalled, “that I will die early. And there is nothing that I can do. Even if I read and try to study hard, I will still die.” She was stunned as her classmates laughed at her.

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When Demitilla was 5 years old, she became sick. For more than a month, she experienced persistent headaches, fatigue, and yellowish eyes, and her stomach grew bigger. When her parents took her to a clinic laboratory for tests, they discovered she had sickle cell anemia, a genetic disorder that blocks the flow of oxygen in the blood. The disease, which causes severe pain, can be treated but not cured.

“It was only when I got older that I understood,” Demitilla said.

Although euthanasia of terminally ill children has been legalized in some Western countries like the Netherlands, the practice remains illegal across Africa. Despite life-affirming laws on the books, many still feel those with severe chronic or terminal illness have little to live for. Millions of African children fighting life-threatening illnesses such as sickle cell anemia, HIV, cancer, and kidney failure often find themselves pushed to the margins of society.

Demitilla hopes more Christians in Africa will step in to build a culture of life where even the terminally ill will see they are of equal value: “Although I am sick, I know that I am still human. But I am happy for the support I receive whenever I feel bad.”

Sickle cell anemia is a leading cause of death among children in Africa—about half die before their fifth birthday—as well as among teenagers and adults. In 2021, 79 percent of the half million children born with sickle cell anemia were in sub-Saharan Africa. Although childhood cancer numbers are lower in Africa than in Western countries, the mortality rate is 80 percent.

Bolutife Ore-Dawodu, a Christian who lives in Lagos, Nigeria, told CT that after caring for her son with sickle cell disease, she realized the prevailing culture treats children with underlying illnesses as unworthy of life. “The church must reinforce the truth that God created everyone, even the terminally ill,” she said. “No matter what the child is going through, we need to care for the child, pray for the child, and believe God.”

Truphena Weche, a Christian social worker in western Kenya, tries to provide similar encouragement through outreach efforts and an annual three-day camp—which Demitilla has attended—to help sick teens find supportive communities.

As a volunteer with Young Life HOPE, a two-year-old international initiative focused on reaching adolescents ages 13 to 18 battling life-threatening illnesses, Weche walks the corridors of hospitals and visits homes in her community to build relationships with sick minors. Most have sickle cell disease or cancer. So far, she’s gotten to know almost 50 teens at nearby hospitals and communities.

“Many of these teenagers are asking if God has forsaken them,” Weche told CT. “They wonder if they will ever get well, if Jesus really heals. What do I do when I go to school and my classmates judge me or laugh at me? These are difficult questions.”

Weche met Demitilla after the girl became sick enough in January 2025 to be admitted to Makunga Health Center. As Demitilla lay outside on a local mat, crying from the pain of injections, Weche, who was at the clinic to see a doctor, approached her.

“Since then, I have been praying for her and counseling her,” Weche said. “I told her she is free to cry whenever she wants, but she should read her Bible afterward.”

While some like Demitilla have manageable illnesses, others face immediate death. During each hospital visit, Weche prioritizes the teens with conditions most resistant to treatment. “They suffer from mood swings due to their illnesses,” she said. “Some of them tell me not to bother, that they are going to die anyway, that their medicine can’t do anything good.”

Weche said the teenagers got these hopeless ideas from their communities. She doesn’t agree with those ideas, but she listens to the teens without judging or arguing with them: “The best we can do is introduce them to Jesus and help them find hope in him in their suffering.”

Many Africans believe that if parents deliver a baby who is sick at birth, it will be impossible for that child to survive, Weche said. Parents begin to see finding cures as a waste of time, energy, and money. The children’s peers tell them they will certainly die.

“[The teens] lose hope and feel worthless,” she said. “But we let them know that they are loved and valued.”

Florence Ezeonye-Chidi, a Young Life HOPE volunteer from Nigeria, agrees. She ministers to over 60 adolescents struggling with life-threatening illness in Lagos, encouraging them from Scripture to focus on what God says about them. “Yes, your body might be challenged, but that doesn’t change the fact of your identity in Christ Jesus,” she tells them.

Ezeonye-Chidi said this perspective also carries her when grieving those who die. Last year, she lost contact with an HIV-positive teen after the girl’s family took her back to her hometown in Akwa Ibom state, 416 miles southeast of Lagos, after her sickness worsened. The teenage girl had already lost her mother to HIV.

“The uncertainty feels like grief,” she said. “We don’t know what has happened to her.”

Teens sometimes lose access to medical care because their parents feel ashamed of the illnesses or because local communities think sickle cell disease in children indicates they are possessed by devils who put them under a spell, Ezeonye-Chidi explained. Sometimes she has to plead with families not to turn to traditional “demystification” rituals and prayers at the expense of medical help.

“For many parents, it is a spiritual attack, and prayer is the only cure,” she said. “But while we believe in prayers, we should also believe God gave medical doctors knowledge to support us when we are sick.”

Ezeonye-Chidi said her mission to encourage those still living keeps her going: “If you want to give someone hope, you can’t afford to be sad or hopeless.”

Religious conflict can also make caring for teens difficult. In areas without a Christian majority, sharing the gospel can create tension between children and parents, said Apfella Hiribae, a HOPE volunteer in Tana River County in Kenya’s Coast Region. Hiribae ministers to ten teenagers from Muslim families and three from Christian families, all from a Muslim-majority area. She told CT that Muslim teenagers often ask her questions about religion, Jesus, and their suffering.

“Most times I just mingle with the children and seek for opportunities,” Hiribae said. “Sometimes you get scared, but you still have to speak and answer their questions.”

Hiribae hasn’t seen any Muslim teens become Christians. Some have told her they want to but can’t because of their parents: “They are afraid that they might be chased away from home or something bad may happen to them.”

Some parents have banned her from speaking to their teens after learning she works for a Christian organization. Others respond positively when her visits alleviate their children’s emotional pain.

For some teens, Christian workers like Hiribae become lifelines.

Demitilla said whenever she feels discouraged or remembers the unkind words of classmates, she calls Weche, who has become her safe space. Demitilla also loves reading Bible stories of Jesus healing the sick. One of her favorite songs, “Jesus Paid It All,” reminds her that Jesus is her only hope and that someday “I will be completely healed.”

Weche said Demitilla’s academics have improved and she seems less affected by bullying.

Demitilla now finds joy in her studies—especially chemistry. She likes the way a litmus paper changes color: “When you put sulfuric acid in a litmus paper, if it is blue, it will turn into red. But if it is sodium hydroxide, it turns red litmus paper into blue.” She sees this as a picture of her transformation and motivation for a bigger goal. “I want to be a nurse someday,” she said, “so that I can help those who are sick like me.”

Demitilla doesn’t know her life expectancy, but doctors have prescribed her medication, and her family watches over her. She said some days she would rather not take her drugs, but her two siblings always remind her they prevent infections and protect her health. “They tell me I would be okay,” she said. “That I shouldn’t give up.”

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