New friends

I took some pictures yesterday of some of the children I work with so as to slowly introduce them to you. The picture above is of Daniel D., the child I wrote about who is deaf and blind. Although he is small Daniel is 12 years old and quite spoiled for a child given his circumstance. He loves to be held and played with but heaven forbid you should try to get him to walk...he just crys and whines the WHOLE time! Frustrating...



This is Mark. He is eleven and is our highest functioning resident that I know of. He has no physical disability that is readily apparent. The say he is "schizophrenic" but by that they just mean he seems to have a disability and they don't know what to call it. The caregivers have a really hard time with Mark. Some of them think it isn't fair he is there because he is so high functioning. Others don't like him because he is "always in trouble" and many shun him because they have "real" problems to deal with. I like Mark...he is just all boy. By "always in trouble" they mean things like how one morning Mark climbed a tree and from there dropped onto the roof of one of the buildings and began to walk around. They started yelling at him to come down and he didn't. Would you come down if there were a bunch of angry women yelling at you? Granted, Mark can act out, but usually the way he is dealt with is extreme. I have kindve taken Mark under my wing and I find that he is actually very helpful when it comes to helping me with the other children. He is patient with them, he can get them to come with me when I can't get them to move, he knows all their names already, and he translates for me when I don't understand their patois or what they are saying through their speech impediments. Yesterday I got permission from the supervisor to let Mark climb a mango tree. Actually what I said was "Hey, I would really love some mangos. Would you mind if I send Mark up to get some for me??" Of course, I did want a mango but I also wanted Mark to get some of his energy out without being yelled at. He is amazing at climbing trees and I just prayed to his guardian angels the whole time!


This past weekend the Child Development Agency "CDA", the same concept as Child Protective Services, brought 20 new children to Jerusalem. Twenty. Father Gregory has made it clear that we will never turn away a child and CDA is quite aware of that so we get a lot of kids. I don't know how we fit in the twenty but I was told they all have a bed. To the right are two of our new kids. I haven't found out their names yet. The girl on the left is pretty verbal and very cheerful. The boy is non-verbal and seems happy. Both of them sat next to me for at least half an hour just staring up into my face as I wrapped my arms around them and sang them songs. The little girl knows some songs from Church and she would sing a line and wait for me to copy the words after her. I'm looking forward to getting to know more about them next week when we assess them.

I can not believe I have been here for almost a month already. It is exciting that time is passing pretty quickly thus far, and also a real test of patience as I have yet to settle into any real routine. Everything takes much longer here and communication often experiences breakdowns. One day at a time. I guess ultimately I keep trying to remind myself that even if I never appear to "accomplish" anything here I have loved children everyday and that is something they need and yearn after so much. Maybe fruits will never be seen. But someday, when we are able to speak together in heaven without speech impediments and language barriors I think I will see my reward. I think it means more to them then I will ever know or see. At least I hope so. All for the greater honor and glory of God.