A Few New Friends

"Christ is hidden under the suffering appearance of anyone who is hungry, naked, homeless, or dying." - Blessed Teresa of Calcutta Last week Mustard Seed recieved a call that there were 5 abandoned children living in one of the ghettos not far from My Father's House. A few members of the staff headed over to the area shortly after recieving the call and returned to My Father's House with 5 beautiful children who had been abandoned by their mother months earlier. The oldest is 14 and the youngest 5. After a trip to a doctor it was discovered that the youngest two are HIV+ and they are also covered from head to toe with scabies. A home was quickly created for them in what is normally the physiotherapy room because they needed to be separated from the other children until the scabies had been treated. Unfortunately, Mustard Seed cannot keep all 5 of the children because Mustard Seed is only able to permanently keep children who are disabled or HIV+. The oldest three have been sent to other children's homes in the area. However, the two youngest will be staying with Mustard Seed. Once the scabies have healed they will be sent to one of our homes for young HIV+ boys in downtown Kingston. This past Monday I spent some time throughout the day with them. The youngest is 5, but he looks more like a 2 year old in size. He is severly malnourished and his skinny limbs and huge belly make him look like one of the children shown in advertisements asking for money for starving children in Africa. Nonetheless, they are both adorable. The older of the two is 6 and he has a beautiful smile :) We colored for a little while and I clipped the little one's tiny fingernails. I will be sad to see them leave My Father's House, but it will be all the more reason to go downtown to visit them at their new home! Please keep them, as well as their older siblings in your thoughts and prayers! A lot of people have asked me how Mustard Seed recieves all the children we have living at our homes. Well, this story is one example of the ways we recieve kids. Additionally, we are sometimes left children outside our gates or sometimes parents can no longer care for their children and they humbly bring them to us. The Child Development Agency also brings us children. Recently we were asked to provide a home for a young boy who continuously ran away from the children's home where he was living. The home did not know what else to do with him. So far, he seems happy here at Jerusalem! He gets along well with the other children and is always looking for a hug! Once a child comes to Mustard Seed we do all we can to keep them within MSC's homes. Only in rare and dire circumstances will a child be sent somewhere outside of MSC. If you have any other questions please feel free to ask and I will try to answer in future blogs. Peace!