Abandoned: Part 1
It happened quickly, it happened quietly and before you knew it the men were gone. Security opened the front gate to see what the motorcycle was doing just as it was pulling away into the darkness. As he turned back around to close the gate he noticed something in the shadows. As he leaned in he was startled to see the face of a little boy looking up at him. He grabbed his radio and called up to the hospital telling them to send someone down right away, there was an injured boy abandoned at the front gate.
I got the call a few minutes later, jumped in my truck and made my way down to the clinic. I was not prepared for what I was about to see. I walked into the clinic and took a quick look around. Sitting on a mattress on the floor was a scared little boy clinging for dear life in Heather’s arms, one of our medical volunteers. When he turned his head toward me I did my best not to gasp, the first thing I noticed was his eye. Swollen, oozing and misshaped his eye dropped painfully. His other eye looked damaged but not nearly as bad. The next thing I noticed were the scars, his entire face was covered with what seemed to be burn scars, the rest of his body was covered in strange bumps, which appeared to be a mixture of moles and scars. I sat down next to him and introduced myself, told him he was safe now and that I was going to be his friend. He turned his head towards me to get a better look, he quickly snuggled back into Heather’s neck but raised his fist to give me a “fist bump”, which in Haiti is a sign of friendship.
The doctors checked him out, said his eye was most likely beyond repair and gave him some eye drops and an antibiotic. They told us to get him to an ophthalmologist as soon as possible and said there really wasn’t anything more they could do, since many of his injuries were not resent. Heather, the boy and I sat quietly for quite a while trying to absorb what had just happened. That’s when the questions started running through my mind; What horrific things had this boy been through? Where did he come from? How could his parents just drop him off and drive away? I had to stop myself.
Who was I to assume the worst? Maybe his parents had died in the earthquake and he had been found by a kind stranger who knew Mission of Hope would love this boy, even when no one else would. He needs love now more than ever!
I got the call a few minutes later, jumped in my truck and made my way down to the clinic. I was not prepared for what I was about to see. I walked into the clinic and took a quick look around. Sitting on a mattress on the floor was a scared little boy clinging for dear life in Heather’s arms, one of our medical volunteers. When he turned his head toward me I did my best not to gasp, the first thing I noticed was his eye. Swollen, oozing and misshaped his eye dropped painfully. His other eye looked damaged but not nearly as bad. The next thing I noticed were the scars, his entire face was covered with what seemed to be burn scars, the rest of his body was covered in strange bumps, which appeared to be a mixture of moles and scars. I sat down next to him and introduced myself, told him he was safe now and that I was going to be his friend. He turned his head towards me to get a better look, he quickly snuggled back into Heather’s neck but raised his fist to give me a “fist bump”, which in Haiti is a sign of friendship.
The doctors checked him out, said his eye was most likely beyond repair and gave him some eye drops and an antibiotic. They told us to get him to an ophthalmologist as soon as possible and said there really wasn’t anything more they could do, since many of his injuries were not resent. Heather, the boy and I sat quietly for quite a while trying to absorb what had just happened. That’s when the questions started running through my mind; What horrific things had this boy been through? Where did he come from? How could his parents just drop him off and drive away? I had to stop myself.
Who was I to assume the worst? Maybe his parents had died in the earthquake and he had been found by a kind stranger who knew Mission of Hope would love this boy, even when no one else would. He needs love now more than ever!
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