'MISION MEXICO, DANDO AMOR, VIDA Y ESPERANZA.' AC

TAPACHULA, CHIAPAS, MEXICO.

JANUARY 2006

Hola a todos,

We here, 'on the other side of the world', hope you had a wonderful Christmas and New Year and we pray that the year ahead be full of blessings.

Thank you so much for all the emails, it was so good to receive them.

We would like to take this moment to thank you for the donations of gifts and money for Christmas. Once again our Christmas was very special, 'Muchas, Muchas Gracias'.

Our Christmas and New Year gave us a chance to unwind, de-stress and relax even though we spent that time with our 32 children! It is hard to imagine how one can relax when surrounded by so many little ones, but we did. We spent eight days at the beach where the children had room to run, swim, play and do beach activities.

We were fortunate and very thankful to have four volunteers from the US help with the supervision and running of everything.

The children's swimming and surf skills have improved so much. Many of them are now standing up on the surfboards (boards that have been donated over the years). It is difficult as the surf is never good but most of the older ones are managing to stand and come in on the whitewater.

José (14yrs) and Merril (13yrs) are probably the best as they are managing to come down the front of the wave and manoeuvre the board a little. Moacir (16yrs) has had great difficulty as the boards are too small for him but he is managing to do a few tricks on the fatter, surf life saving 'nipper' boards.

These activities are quite strange here. Even though the beaches are packed at Christmas and Easter, nobody really goes out past their waists. Not too many people in Mexico can swim and surfing at Playa Linda is unheard of.

Many people stop and watch as the children enjoy the experience. There have been others who tell us that it is too dangerous and that the children shouldn't be out there.

It is a worry watching them, as the beach is dangerous and many people have drowned in this area but we want the children to learn and gain the knowledge they need to make the beach a safer place.

During the Christmas break the children were enjoying the surf when one of the older boys, was pierced in the foot by the spine of a fish. Bruno had to be helped out of the water and carried up to the house. The pain was intense. We took him to the local Navy base where they gave him three injections for the pain. The poison was localized in the foot and within a few hours he was okay but it was a frightening experience as we didn't know what we were dealing with.

We do need to learn about the dangers of the local marine life but it is hard to find this information here.

 

 

Just before Christmas the 14 older children were invited to a 15 th birthday celebration.

The 'Quince Años' for girls is a very important celebration here in México and the celebration is usually very extravagant.

Our daughter-in-law and, future daughter-in-law's family accepted three children into their home a number of years ago. The children were quite wild, so to speak, and were being raised by a very old lady who was extremely poor. One by one the old lady gave away the children before she died.

Margarita and Leopoldo accepted the children into their home and have done a wonderful job in raising them, the eldest, now 18 years old.

'La fiesta' was not the normal extravagance one sees here but it was lovely, more to my liking.

It was a very special occasion and the kids went to great lengths to make themselves look good, using clothes that we had here. As they were ready to leave I looked at them and thought, 'Wow, they look great!' (and, of course, got the camera out and took lots of photos!!)

Alida looked absolutely beautiful in her pink evening gown, this shy girl, the center of attention.

All the boys behaved in a very noble manner and as their names were called to waltz with the 'belle of the ball' they didn't hesitate to step forward in front of a crowd and dance with Alida even though they had never waltzed before.

As all the 'jovenes' (youth) began dancing, I sat there watching them and tears filled my eyes, thinking of where they had come from and where they are now; the poor illegal immigrants, the street kids, the abused kids, the abandoned ones, the orphan and the two who almost lived lives of prostitution. I felt so proud of them.

 

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We have had some children come and go since we have been back. These are children who need temporary care.

One was a little boy, 6yrs, who arrived covered in bruises. He had a black eye and his face was bruised. He had bruises from a strap, on his legs, arms and back. He was such a handful though, as he was hyperactive. He is now living with his grandmother.

Another was a girl of 14 years who was pregnant to a drug dealer from Honduras . She has now been sent back to the city where she came from.

There was a 7 year old who said that his mother drowned in the river during the hurricane and that he had watched her being washed away but, he had really just run away from home and lived on the streets. He had been living with his aunt but felt rejected as his mother had abandoned him.

There was a 12 year old boy who climbed the back wall, which is quite high and escaped after only 2 hours here. This place is not a prison but there are bars on all the windows and doors and the front door was locked. Older boys are always difficult.

We have a little 4 year old boy, who was abandoned by his young, alcoholic, prostitute mother. He will be going to live with family.

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The city has recovered from the hurricane, though you can still see remnants of the disaster along the river area. There were many homes lost and there are still people missing. The show-ground is still housing many homeless. The annual fair is in February so I don't know what they are going to do with all these people then.

 

We have a little boy named Samuel who is around 2 years. You may remember, he is the one who was starved and arrived here after ten days in hospital, a bundle of skin and bones. His eyes were crossed and we thought it may have been related to the malnutrition but have since found out that it would have been from birth.

Sam underwent an operation recently which has straightened his eyes and he looks gorgeous. Dr. Ricardo Rosales Tirado performed the operation here in Tapachula free of charge and we only had to pay for the medications needed, the nurse and anaesthetist . We are so thankful for his kindness and generosity.

 

Today is 23 rd January.

Yesterday we had a nasty shock while at the beach. Everything was going along fine, the children enjoying their day and it was really quite peaceful until one child threw some sand into Alejandra's eyes (2yrs). Ali started screaming so I attended to her with some water I had in a bottle. While I was fussing with Ali a volunteer was watching the children and had a little play with Alex who is 4yrs. Alex started grumbling so he left him lying in the shallow water which was only 2-4 cm deep. The volunteer turned to another child but apparently Alex didn't move, his face now in the water. Moments later another child pushed him and told him to get up but he didn't move. Lety then lifted the limp body out of the water, calling out to me, 'Mum something is wrong with Alex'.

My heart was in my throat as I ran to him saying 'What happened, oh my God, no!'

I grabbed him and checked to see if he was breathing but it was so hard to tell. At first I couldn't see his chest moving and I couldn't feel any air from his nose because of the sea breeze. Then I noticed that he was breathing but it was very shallow. It was as if he wasn't taking in enough air. I then checked to see if he had anything stuck in his throat but found nothing. His eyes were rolled back to the right hand corner and he was completely limp. He didn't respond to anything but eventually I asked him to squeeze my hand which he did but very weakly. We tried to get him to take a deep breath but he didn't respond.

Alan, our son Aaron and the volunteer stayed with the other 32 children while Moacir, Lupita (future daughter-in-law) and I rushed Alex to the Navy base where they attended to him, giving him oxygen.

I sat on the step outside with my face in my hands crying, praying that he wasn't going to die or have brain damage. I tried to work out how long he may have been without air, 'was it seconds or minutes', I asked myself.

We were outside for what seemed an eternity, not knowing what was going on. A marine saw our distress and came and sat with us and prayed for Alex.

A long time later they called us in and told us that Alex was going to be okay but had apparently suffered an epileptic fit while in the water.

I cried with mixed relief. The limp body was because of the fit, not because of a lack of oxygen. He had taken in a bit of water, but not much. We had no idea he was an epileptic.

Then, it all started to add up! A year or so ago we had rushed him to hospital because we thought he had something stuck in his throat. He was limp then also and his eyes were the same. And then we recalled, it happened a couple of other times also but on a smaller scale.

Each time we thought it was related to food. That he had gorged himself and something had got stuck. And, each time he has brought up food.

Often we have children who literally stuff themselves until they get sick. Many of the children have been deprived of food and some have been starved so they eat as if it is going to be their last meal for some time. It takes some time before they settle down and realize that there will be another meal following. He probably vomited each time because of me trying to fish something out.

Alex is a little boy who has suffered so much. He has scars all over him from knives and cigarettes. The epilepsy could be family related but it is apparent to me that he would have suffered blows to the head also.

He is going to see a specialist soon.

Well, it is time that I closed but before I do I would like to tell you about a calendar that a group of wonderful people in Noosa have organized and got on sale for $5.00 each to raise money for the refuge. As quoted in the NOOSA JOURNAL; 'It is only a little calendar, selling for $5.00, and doubtless many bigger and much gaudier calendars are given away free by businesses - but none tells a story like this one.'

If you are able to help with the selling of the calendars please write to us and we will forward on the email to the people concerned. Thank you.

 

God bless you all,

Pam and Alan Skuse