Slipping her fingers out of 22-month-old Welcome’s grasp, he
hesitantly took a couple steps before turning back to the person who’d just let
go and burying his head in her embrace. After a bit, she did the same thing,
and Welcome toddled to Mama Cindy…all by himself! He was rewarded by cheerful,
encouraging words and applause by his 4 lady observers. This happened several
times until he realized that he didn’t need to hold on to anything. As his
confidence grew, so did the distance he walked. All of us were giddy with
delight at this milestone in his life. He was walking! Cameras were quickly
taken out as soon as we remembered them.
It was about this time that Garrett walked over to the baby
house to ask Cait what was planned for supper. Excitedly, we told him about
Welcome’s remarkable achievement. His response: an unimpressed head nod and
quizzically raised eyebrows, followed by some snide comment of how he’d been
walking for 19 years now. Dissatisfied with his unenthusiastic reaction, we
urged him to come in and see Welcome walking for himself. Garrett eventually
gave in. Opening the door, he screamed in a high-pitched, girly voice, mocking
us, as Welcome walked towards him. Just as he was about to reach Garrett, who
was still making that strange squealing noise, Nico (a big black dog) poked his
head inside the still-open door, scaring Welcome and causing him to scream and
cry. Garrett tried to pick him up as soon as he fell down from fear, but he
only cried louder. We all thought the situation was hilarious, but it’s
probably one of those stories where you just had to be there to understand the
humor…
The fact that Welcome
is now walking is remarkable because it shows how much his health has improved
ever since he came here to Micheal’s Children’s Village. When he first got
here, he was 15 months old and extremely skinny because of HIV, TB, pneumonia,
and malnutrition. Now he is getting chubby and has enough muscle to walk!
Truly, God has brought about his recovery.
We are back in White River, South Africa for the rest of our
trip. We love this place, and God has blessed us by working out our visas so
that we could come back here for more than the originally planned 3 or 4 days
in May. Cait and I help out at the baby house by taking care of Welcome and
3-month-old Joshua from 6 in the morning ‘til 5 or 6 in the evening, which I’m
really enjoying, and Myles, Garrett, and Jenny are helping repair a ransacked
house that will soon house missionaries and visitors.
Joshua lived in the hospital for the first couple months of
his life. His mother had abandoned him after birth because she had HIV and didn’t
want to deal with a HIV+ baby. When Cindy noticed Joshua on her visits there
with Welcome, she asked why he was there. That’s when she learned that he’d
been abandoned and had no one to care for him. “Well, we have a place for him,”
she said. After waiting a month for all the paperwork to be done, Joshua
finally came here. He is strong and healthy. The same day Welcome started
walking alone, we heard the good news that Joshua does NOT have HIV!
Hallelujah!
You can go to caitlynevangelista.myadventures.org to read
more about Welcome and to see a video of him walking.
These are those awesome memories you’ll cherish when you get home. Make sure you journal this! You’ll want to look back and remember! oh and Garrett’s a jerk… LOL
You have always loved children, I know how much it tears at your heart to see little ones hurting & how much it blesses your heart to see little ones joyful!