Some days around here are crazy and fun. Others are sad. Yesterday was one of the latter days. It was a busy day of language school all morning, catching up with all the day-to-day work that has to be done on our compound during the afternoon, as well as hosting two different groups of visitors that stopped by throughout the day.
At one point, we received a phone call from IBESR (Haitian social services) saying that they had a "2-year-old" boy that had been abandoned in a gutter that morning. They asked if we would take him because they had no place to bring him. We said to definitely bring him over when we heard he had nowhere to go.
In the afternoon, IBESR arrived with the little boy. He definitely was not 2-years-old, it was obviously just a guess. Our best conclusions are that he is around 4-years-old. We noticed right away that he has some serious mental and physical disabilities. His teeth are all rotted out, and he can't talk, stand, or walk - potentially a reason his mother/caretaker abandoned him in a gutter. IBESR tried tracking down anyone who knew of him for any information, but had no luck. Without a question we took him in and had temporary custody signed over to us(Hands & Feet) so we could take some time to figure out what is best for him and what his needs are. "Michael Haiti" was the name they wrote down for him on the paperwork as they had nothing to call him. Let me tell you how much it breaks my heart that we didn't/don't even have a correct name to call this precious child by.
What happened next melted my heart. I watched about 5 or 6 of our girls take in the child who smelled awful, and change his soiled diaper, bathe him, powder him, put him in some clean clothes, and feed him without being asked. "Li ka dòmi nan kay nou! Li
ka dòmi nan kay nou!" (He can sleep in our house, He can sleep in our house!!) is what they kept shouting. I wanted to cry, as our girls saw this boy just as God sees him....not a smelly, useless kid for the gutter.....but truly, truly precious. Tamara named him, Michael.
"For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother’s womb. I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well." Psalm 139:13-14
We did find him a great home today. The friends taking him are well-prepared to take on a child with special needs and get him any tests, assessments, and medical care needed to provide him with the best home possible. So in preparation for them to take on custody, Stephen went into town today and applied and received a birth certificate for him (yes, in the same day!). They also got TB and HIV tests done. The good news is that he was HIV negative! Tomorrow, our fellow missionary Matt and I are taking him over to his new family. Our girls are sad to see him go, but we're confident he is going to be very well-loved!
