She arrived to Child Services as an 18 pound, severely malnourished two-year-old child. Her “father” dropped her because she was on the verge of dying and he did not want to be responsible for her death. Child services called our host family to ask if they could pick her up tomorrow as a foster child- they said absolutely. The department paid a staffer to sit with the child overnight as they expected her to die. When our host family arrived to pick her up they said she had head lice, body lice, bald spots, fluid running out of her ears, and the emptiest eyes they had ever seen.
Immediately, they rushed to the hospital to get her treatment for malnutrition and the people in the waiting room were literally pushing the family out of the doors because they were “gringos.” The new foster mother kept pushing back because she knew she had a dying child in her arms. The doctors were furious about the condition of the little girl, claiming they had never seen a child so close to death.
After six days in the hospital, the fragile girl was making progress but still could not even sit up on her own. During this time, the foster family learned that there is no birth certificate or paperwork on this child. They did not know her parent’s names, where she was from, or even her birthday. The family believes that she was kidnapped in order to be sold later in life- which is, sadly, common practice in poor families here.
After two months, the “father” showed back up to child services and asked where his daughter had been buried. He was shocked to hear she was still living. The foster family was notified that the girl was to go back to her “home.” A few days later when the little girl saw the man who dropped her off she immediately began crying and would not even look at the couple who claimed to be her parents. For 15 minutes the man held her and the entire time she cried, screamed, and kicked- trying to break free.
They learned that the people who brought the girl in are witch doctors from the mountain side with a reputation for kidnapping young girls, forcing them to bear children beginning as young as age 11, and selling children off.
I know this sounds like a nightmare that someone made up, but it breaks my heart that it is real. I’ve been playing with this now six- year-old every day and am happy to report that the family is working to adopt her as their own. This girl is an absolute joy to watch as she runs around laughing and cracking bi-lingual jokes with everyone! She is a fighter. And what’s amazing is she is asked us to pray for her to not be angry any more. She has fits of rage that spark from time to time, believed to stem from whatever torturous life she had until the phone rang that first night.
Please pray for her desire to not have anger outbursts, and for all the children who have similar stories like this here in Honduras. Many of the 13 children here at the home have survived unfathomable circumstances. Pray for the redemption of these children’s lives!
