John

John’s Story:

“Arrived August, 2012 – John was left near a clean water spring. In Step was contacted by the children’s department to pick him up. John is suffering from cerebral palsy, but other than that, is incredibly healthy... We are investigating where he came from and believe that we have found his family. The investigation is on-going. We hope that John’s story will have a happy ending” (www.rehemainstep.com)

The most recent information we have is that Child Serves has found John’s family.  The eldest son impregnated a girl, and she came back to the family because she could not care for the child because of his Cerebral Palsy.  She left in the middle of the night and the family did not want John and abandoned him near a spring.  The family is more than capable of taking care of John, but because children with severe needs are outcasts, no one wants them.  The family claims that the child has no relation to them, but John is the spitting image of the eldest boy and his father…

John also has some mental retardation and is non-communicative.  He makes long sounds and grinds his teeth and reaches for your hand when you come near.  John has pretty good movement of his head and his right arm and hand.  His legs bend well, but John prefers to keep them bent.  He forms a fist with his left hand, and his left arm stays bent up towards his head.  John often slaps his left fist with his right hand or slaps his head or punches under his chin.  I’ve been working with him by unfolding his left hand and massaging it, bending his legs and left arm, and helping him sit up.  I have hopes that he will be able to sit up on his own someday.

In addition to working with kids, today I started working on scrapping and sanding the inside walls of the health clinic along with my mom, Rebecca, and Danae.  We need to scrap all of the walls to prepare them for paint later this week/beginning of next week.  The building is cinderblock construction with a concrete skim coat (very similar to the buildings I saw in Mexico).  By sanding down the bumps of the skim coat the walls get a more uniform look.  The first floor of the building is for the health clinic that will be open to the public as well as used for our kids/staff.  The upstairs/second floor is for mission teams to stay and there will be two dorm rooms, a kitchenette and sitting room, two bathrooms/shower rooms, and a room/bathroom for the on-site doctor.  We are pushing hard to finish the clinic as we have a shipping container coming at the end of this month with medical equipment to outfit the clinic.  We still need to run the plumbing, build a water tower and drill a bore-hole to pump water into it, install windows, tile, and fixtures.  We do not have complete funding to finish everything yet, but we will get as far as we can with what we have.  Right now we’re focusing on finishing two bathrooms, and exam room, and the office and waiting room in the first floor clinic so we can get up and running, and finishing the two dorm rooms and two bathrooms upstairs so teams will have a place to stay when they come.  My dad is working out how much money is needed to finish each remaining room so we can send out a plea for more funds.  If you are able to donate even a small amount towards finishing the clinic, money can be sent to Rehema InStep Ministries, 1117 3^rd Street, Anacortes, WA 98221 or check out www.rehemainstep.com to donate online.