The victims of mosquito bites have been many these last weeks! They're not only annoying for the welts and itchiness they leave.. they are also keeping many in bed once again with Dengue. Yenny, the newest member of our team is in bed with fever, sore body and headaches. There are many, many others that have been hospitalized or in bed due to this bug. There are other sicknesses going around like colds, a lot of fever, stomach flu, ect. No fun time to be facing all of this especially if you have HIV and your defenses are low!
Last week we met a little 8 year old girl, Rosana, in the hospital who has HIV. Neither mother nor father is infected with the virus... so where did this beatiful girl get infected? The mother opened her heart up to us and told us that her mothers companion (Rosana's "grandfather") has HIV and he sexually abused Rosana and now her life has been changed forever in every aspect possible. The social worker tried to put this case through the legal system so that Rosana and her sisters would be safe from this man, but after examining the little girl and her sister, they said there was no physical evidence that shows that this man was abusing them so there was nothing they could do to protect them. They had to go back home...
A couple of weeks ago, Samy and I had a little one year old spend a couple nights with us. Maria comes from a very poor home, and her mother could not take care of her for several days since Maria's newborn brother was sick and had to be hospitalized. Maria is malnourished and has not developed a healthy, strong body that a normal 1 year old should have. When we took her home she was smelly and full of rash. So, we had a crash course on being parents! She's a very sweet girl.. but those 2 nights where she kept on waking up at night and we didn't know what she wanted after having changed her diaper and given her milk.. those were trying moments! Maria went home after several days because her little brother was better, but after a week again, he was back in the hospital and Maria was homeless again. Since this was going to be a more long-term stay, we decided to take her to a home close by where we knew she would be very well taken care of.
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| This is Maria! a very precious little girl... she won our hearts. Opa even had some nice long naps together with her.. =) |
So, what do we as Dulce Refugio really do with children affected with HIV/AIDS? There are hundreds of other stories I could share with you all.. but, the point is, what future awaits these beautiful children? Are we really transforming lives when all we get is a glimpse of their stories and then they are sent home again? I know we can't rescue each child from an unideal home... but, what can we do so that these children can have a chance in life? What should we be doing so that these children don't get sent back into danger at home?
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