Guatemalan Journey: Where I Belong (August 19, 2010)

I've been praying for discernment to know what things I should do here among the hundreds of needs I see almost each day. Walking into Hermano Pedro today confirmed for me that I'm where I belong. I almost cried at the excitement of the kids when I came in after being gone a week. Maynor told me that the nurses had stored my materials for me, and offered to get them. The kids couldn´t wait to get to work. Today, though, I mostly wanted to get reacquainted with them after not seeing them for so long. I never understood how Dick could miss them so much when he was on the road. Now I do. I love traveling, but I love being with "my" kids even more.

As soon as I walked in, I heard cries from Ervin, and just had to take him out of his crib. It was 11 o'clock, and apparently he still had not be put in his wheelchair today. I was a bit frustrated, as it seemed a number of kids were still in bed, as the nurses sat preparing for a celebration of the 25th anniversary of the children's unit on the 16th of next month. I wish they'd show half as much excitement over the kids as the do the existence of this unit. I need to reign in my critical spirit a bit, but guess my tolerance level is a bit low, given the excellent program I visited yesterday.

Today I worked for the first time with one of the teens in the Belen unit. Lanz greets me every day as I arrive, and appeared to be quite bright. Today he showed just how bright he was. He is a very independent worker, if you just give him a little praise and attention now and then.

It seems I'd just started working with the kids, when Flori, a social worker from the Santa Rosa area came to get me. She wanted me to see a child who was waiting for a doctor up in the clinic. Marco Gonzales is five years old, has a cleft lip, cerebral palsy, and epilepsy. Flori wanted to know if I thought we could get him a wheelchair someday. I called Dick who was on his way to the orphanage, and asked him to bring in an application form when he came. I visited with the parents for a while, and learned this dear little one was having multiple seizures every day--partly because his parents can't afford the $20 a month to buy him medicine. When I met his little brother, my heart absolutely melted. This was a loving family stretched to the limit by trying to care for their son.

When Dick came, he measured Marco and when we discovered he would only be in Antigua this one day, Dick called the Hope Haven wheelchair factory to see if we could get him a chair today. As usual, the answer was "yes." After a quick lunch with a few of his neighborhood kids, they were off to the factory to set up a chair for Marco while he waited to see the doctor, nutritionist, and head therapist. Some days things just seem to fall into place, and today was one of those days. Thank you, God.

While they were gone, I spent time with Estuardo, a little guy with autism. He has the highest pitched shreek I've ever heard in a child when he's upset, and makes the loudest popping noise I've ever heard a mouth make when he's happy. Today we went into a gated area outside, and he could run free, and play. I put a mat down on the floor, gave him some plastic glasses to play with, and sat down and let him have at it. Today there were many more "pops" than there were shreeks. I even heard a variety of other babbling noises from him as he ran around, occassionally hurling himself into my lap for a hug.

This may not see like a lot, but a hug from a child diagnosed with autism is a major accomplishment for the child. It was really neat, too, that whenever someone would walk by and try to talk with him, he's jump back into my lap. For the second time today I was moved to tears. While we didn't do much "work" today, Estuardo and I spent time getting used to each other. I have to admit, though, that I'm trying to find a better way to get him back to bed after we work. I got a real cardio work-out today doing this. Sometimes I feel every bit of my age, and navigating him into the ward was one of those times. Gratefully, I finally figured out if I had him walk backwards, he didn´t fight me as much. I'm sure he still knew where he was going, but cooperated, maybe because he saw the desperation on my face.

Dick and the boys returned and seated Marco in his chair. Flori still had not found a way to pay for the medicine he needed, so I made sure that at least for a month Marco would have a chance at being seizure free. What we'll do next month, I'm not sure. I know I can't provide for every kid that comes through the clinic, but today was one of those days I felt I needed to take care of the need right in front of me. If anyone would like to sponsor medicine for this little guy, please email me and I'll help you set up something. $20 a month would cover it.

Sr. and Sra. Gonzales could not seem to believe that in one trip to the hospital their son received not only the medicine he needed, but his first wheelchair. Before either Dick or I could explain that these were gifts from God, Sr. Gonzales grabbed my arm, asking God to bless us for helping them. Once again I got to explain that we only worked for God, and it was our privilege to be able to be the vehicle by which He blessed this family.