A smile after 4 days...

On Tuesday, almost at the end of the afternoon, two people came on a motorbike, carrying a child. They told us that this child had been found in the compound of one of the men, the night before. There was a plastic bag with him, with some dirty rags. They took the child to the police and they were send to Amecet. They came from a village, one hour drive.

 When I looked at the child, I was shocked, very dehydrated, malnourished and miserable. We tried to get some information, but the men couldn't tell me anything, no name, no age, no family history, nothing. We took the child in, gave him a bath and tried to feed him. We wanted to give him a name, one of the Children Rights is that every child has the right on a name. We decided on Richard, when we asked him, he reacted on Richard, so Richard it was! We weighed him and his weight was only 4.4 kg. Maybe he was 3 years old??? But later when we saw that he had already his permanent teeth in front and even some molars, we realised that he would be 5 or 6 years instead of 3 years old. I could cry, how can you just abandon a needy child like that?

The last couple of days we have been trying how to feed him, and we see already a progress, We don't know what is wrong, maybe a bit spastic? We took him to the doctor and they did some test, he is HIV- and he had malaria. We treated that. We also have been working on his smile!! Trying to find things he likes, toys, holding him, food, milk etc. And the smile is there!!! 

This is encouraging, he smiles and he is so sweet. He sleeps a lot, but he has gained a little bit and this is all in 4 days!!! Simon has been out in the village, trying to get some news, but all in vain, up till now. I have a feeling we will have quite some more days to enjoy this beautiful smile.....