Since many of you write and ask about particular kids, I thought I’d give you a quick update on a number of them. Please pray for health for all of the children in the Anibal unit at Hermano Pedro. Quite a few of them currently have respiratory infections, which can easily become life-threatening due to their fragile general health. Here are some of my favorite people: (among about 120 other “favorites”)
Jessica has adjusted to life at Hermano Pedro, and is beginning to work with us. She still likes to do what she wants to do, but is becoming more flexible. Katie seems to have a special knack working with her, as well as an extreme dose of patience.
Julian returned from his Easter at home much calmer and continues to be more tranquil here at the orphanage. While still exhibiting significant characteristics of autism, he is becoming more social each day. The Fulp girls have taken a real interest in him, and I can tell the difference.
Little Wilma is in the malnutrition unit, believe it or not! She has rapidly gained weight and is quite the chunk.
The picture on the left is Valentina when she first arrived in the malnutrition unit at Hermano Pedro. The picture at the right is Valentina this month. What a difference. She has always been bright and alert. Now she is absolutely radiant most of the time. When Dick or I feel a little discouraged, we go up and hold her for a few minutes and she works wonders.
Dick continues to complain that whenever Maynor sees him, he only asks for Paty. I still think this is an improvement from always asking for “pollo” (Camperos). Maynor loves to work, and will bug me to death until I give him something to do!
Edgar has been one of the most withdrawn children I’ve seen at Hermano Pedro. In the last couple of weeks he’s really started to come out of himself. This day he was absolutely giddy!
A new addition to our family at Hermano Pedro is Alfonso. He’s a pretty sullen little guy, who appears to be pretty homesick for his family. He has begrudgingly started to work with me, but is often in tears. Today, though, for the first time I saw him actually laugh. Thanks to Bill Specht, an adaptive PE teacher, today Alfonso laughed out loud playing monster-ball. Thanks, Bill!
Ervin, who in the past held the title to the nickname “monster,” is becoming more of a gentleman, though he does have his moments. He is beginning to walk more and more with us, and absolutely loves young men volunteers.
Heidi has been having seizures on a fairly regular basis and has not been out of bed much. Last Sunday I got permission to put her in her wheelchair and take her outside for a while. She loved it! Now she has been in her chair every day for at least a little while and she is so much more alert. Sometimes little things make a big difference.
Little Yofri moved down from the malnutrition unit a few months ago. He is having more and more constriction of the muscles in his back, and we are concerned that his internal organs will stop functioning if we can’t get him into a straighter position. When he arches, you can see every muscle in his throat and it looks like his veins are about to burst. You can see in the photo on the left just how severe this has become. Dick has put a special board in his bed, and the nurses seem to be using it with more regularity. We’re also trying to work with him about 20 minutes a couple of times a day with exercises to help straighten him. Please keep him in prayer as this is a serious threat to his life if we cannot resolve the problem. He’s such as sweet little boy.
Bayron is a bright young man with very limited mobility. It is amazing to watch him drive his powerchair using his head control. Dick is continually challenged to keep the controller working, but somehow manages to keep MacGuyvering it back together. This is a picture of Bayron right after I told him that a friend from the US was sending him a laptop computer to use for his school work and also for communication. (Thanks, Claire!) He’s so excited now, I can’t wait to see him when it actually arrives. He even said he’s going to share it with Nineth, his teacher, and the other kids in his classroom.
Fidel is one of the most incredible people I’ve ever met. He “drives” his power chair and operates his computer with his left foot. He also draws and paints. He celebrated his 26th birthday this past week with a trip to the beach! In the past he has been taken computer classes at a school in the community on Saturdays. Now the classes he needs are on Wednesday, and they are having difficulty finding space for him and his chair in the classroom. Please pray for this to open up, as I think these classes are what keep him going.
I’ve written before about how Paulo will cry for hours on end, and how it breaks my heart. He does stop and smile when you sing to him, but it needs to be a real, live person singing. Recorded music does not have the same affect. Imagine the impact it had on me to walk in and see Katie gently humming to him, and Paulo absolutely laughing at her. I didn’t know he could laugh. . .I think this will be one of my favorite “memory moments” of Katie’s time here with us.
Julio is having a really hard time not being “king of the hill” and struggles with sharing attention with the other kids. He is getting better at this, though, since he is so smart and verbal, often dominates the volunteers who visit us.
Elmer is getting quite mobile without his wheelchair—though walking upright is still not in the cards for him unless he uses his wheelchair. He’s quite the climber when we take him to the playground area at Pollo Camperos. He’s really come a long way in cooperating and following directions. The other day he even let me clean out his backpack and recover some of my activities that he had “stored” for me there!
While this doesn’t include all the kids, it does give you a fairly good view of the cross-section of the kids we serve. If you have been down here and have a “favorite” you’d like to know more about, just email me and I’ll try to update you as I can. There’s nothing I like better than writing about “our” kids!
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