A tale of 4 brothers...

I want to share something with you all that is a good example of the kind of things that go on in these kid’s lives.  There are 4 brothers who live at Casa Hogar Douglas that range from 3-8 years old.  Israel (Iss-rye-ell), Jose (Hoe-say), Ociel (Oh-see-ell), and David (Dah-veed) were all on campus last week staying in Caroline’s apartment with her.  Caroline is a staff member who lived at Douglas last summer and was the care taker for the little boy’s dorm, but she has since moved back to B2B.  She took these rowdy little boys into here home for the week to give the encargadas (care takers) a break.  These 4 little boys are insanely wild!  Last week they were on one of the buses flipping over the seats and swinging from the luggage racks. 

We suspected that little David (3) might have chicken pox when we found some spots on him on Thursday.  When he woke up Friday morning his entire face was covered with spots.  Because we have 4 pregnant women on campus, he could no longer stay.  The problem is that they also have a pregnant woman at Casa Hogar Douglas, so the boys couldn’t stay there either.  The lead encargada called the boys’ mom and told her to come pick them up because they couldn’t stay while David is sick.

The boys’ mother was abused by their father when they were little, so she got a restraining order and he was actually put in jail, something that is very rare to happen to abusive males in Mexico.  While in prison, their father killed himself.  His entire family blamed the boys’ mother for what happened and cut her off.  She went to the government in Mexico City, where she lived at the time, and asked them what she should do.  She was told that if she moved to Nuevo Leon (a state in Mexico), she could work in a factory and her boys could grow up in a children’s home without here losing her rights to them.  So this is the choice that she made to be able to continue to see her boys as often as she could.

The job that their mother has is very strict and she has no vacation time.  So taking in the boys meant that she had to stop working until David was well enough to go back to the casa hogar.  She attempted to take him back yesterday, but David’s condition had worsened and he now had blisters as well as infections.  She was instructed to take him to the doctor where she was given an antibiotic prescription that was going to cost her about $100 US, which she most definitely does not have.  So she didn’t get it filled. 

This mother lost her job today because she couldn’t work all week.  On top of that, she had to take David to the hospital because he now has them inside his mouth and throat and is refusing to eat.  There are two types on hospitals in Mexico.  Ones that are free and unclean with blood stains left on the floors, and ones that are like American hospitals, but cost a lot of money.  The last thing that we wanted was for David to go to a hospital where he was going to have to wait for, literally, days to be seen.  However, we knew this was where she was going to take him because it was her only option.

This is the point where Back2Back steps in.  After a conversation with Todd, the founder of the ministry, we are able to use as much of the medical funds as we need to help David get the treatment that he needs.  As far as the mom goes, she will place her boys back in the children’s home as soon as David is better and she will have to try to find another job.  While she is at the hospital, Israel, Jose, and Ociel are staying with her boyfriend.  We have no idea how many more emotional scars these boys are going to come back with, the most that we can do is pray that this man treats them with respect. 

These kids go through more in just a few years than you and I will ever go through in an entire lifetime.  Back2Back does a great job making each and every one of these kids feel like they are princes and princesses and that their Heavenly Father loves them more than they can imagine. Every last one of these kids is precious and special to us, that’s why it hurts so much more to watch them go through something that you can’t even help with.