Sad Stories

September 25, 2006 at 6:13 pm (September)

 

I have been hearing a lot more sad stories lately.  The worst is about this family of five children who arrived here about a year ago.  Apparently, their father had long left or died and they were being raised by their mother.  One day the mother was offered the opportunity by someone to go to the
US.  So, what did she do?  She left her five children in their house with nothing, never to be heard from again.  The youngest child was seven months old! The oldest was 8.  One of the toddlers also had spina bifida, so he cannot walk and must have been confined to a bed or the floor.  No one found them until 20 days later.  At that point they had been eating their own excrement and urine.  I get teary every time I see them.  You’ll be happy to know that they are doing fine here at the ranch.  Four of them including the youngest and oldest are pictured above. 

Yesterday was family visit day.  This is when any remaining relatives of he children may come to the ranch for the day.  They enter at a small bridge down near the school. Some of the children wait all day on the little bridge. They get all dressed up and bring pictures they have drawn for their relatives. The sad part is sometimes relatives say they are going to come and then, for whatever reason, they don’t show up.  The children are crushed once again.  It’s painful to watch.