The last two days have been very full for our team. Interestingly enough, there has been a common thread that has run through our work. That thread…food, or the lack thereof.
Yesterday we spent the day at Casa Jackson which is a malnutrition home on the edge of Antigua. Currently it houses 14 children who entered the facility greatly underweight. We helped with bathing, feeding, and holding the children as well as some basic cleaning. The entire group greatly enjoyed the day they spent with these little ones.
I spent much of the afternoon with a very serious little girl named Mirna. Throughout the first part of the day she observed our group with large brown eyes, but never once cracked a smile. At around 1:00 pm I took her in my arms with one goal in mind…a smile! Using silly voices, “gotcha” fingers, and assorted props, I gradually saw a smile develop. Then, at around 3:00 I actually heard a giggle! It seemed like she actually learned to smile and laugh for the first time that afternoon. I imagine she hasn’t had much to be happy about thus far in her short two years of life.
We spent today at Hermano Pedro loving on the kids. Once again we filled the courtyard with every available child. We blew bubbles, played games, and sang songs, and as we did we saw the same marvelous transformation occur. Joy replaced sadness and the entire place brightened.
For lunch we took a group of the older teens and two young ladies out to eat at Pollo Campero. Stomachs were filled with food and paper airplanes made from placemats filled the air. We had so much fun with this group!
My buddy, Elmer, and I put on our special hats and struck a gangsta pose together while Dick hit us with spit wads. In other words, the adults were worse than the kids!
We returned to HP at 2:00 pm to find almost all the kids back in their cribs. We held another jail break, liberating most of the children into the courtyard where we spent the rest of the afternoon.
Things went well until supper. As usual, the nurses brought out food for us to feed to the children. We all fed the kids assigned to us and the nurses came back around to brush the children’s teeth. At that point, various members of our team began to point out different children who had not received food. After discussing it with everyone we determined that six children had been skipped. When we pointed this out to the nurses, they tried to argue that they had received food, but we were sure they had not. We stuck to our guns and insisted that they be fed. Eventually they relented and food was brought out. However, they had already cleaned up after dinner, so those remaining only received bread mixed in warm milk.
But for our team’s alertness and intervention, six children would have gone to bed hungry tonight. Why? Because of a failure to create a simple checklist that would assure that all the kids receive a meal. I confess that this angered me. How many other nights do they miss feeding some of these little guys? And how long will it be until someone cares enough to change things?
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On a side note, Byron’s head-control unit for his wheelchair shorted out today. This young man is a wonderfully active guy thanks to the mobility provided by his chair, but until it is repaired he loses that mobility. Dick is working to repair it, but is not sure he has the necessary parts. A new unit is expensive and would not work as well for Byron’s needs. Would you please pray with us that Dick will be able to scrape together the parts necessary to get him back on the road quickly? Thanks!
