Getting to Know Rosa

 This is our new friend Rosa.  Cute kid right?  A little dirty?  Take a really good look at the picture.  Selfishly I don't want to be the only one who has the image of this little girl burned into my retinas.  I refer to her as the Poster Child for poverty.  I can see it, can't you?  The above picture, cropped so as to only show her. 

Rosa lives in the community where we were drilling the well.  In fact, Rosa's house is the one closest to the well.  There is a part of me, a really big part, that believes that that may be the only advantage this baby may ever have in her life.

Miss Rosa is two years old.  She has at LEAST 5 older siblings.  We think both the mom and dad live in her house - but not 100% sure about the dad.  We never saw him.  We think there were maybe a couple of other  adults living there, maybe, but again, not quite sure.  So, estimates of maybe 7 - 10 persons living in her house.  But her house was not like the 'rich' folks house that I pictured yesterday.  It is smaller - it is more poorly built - it makes the houses in the most disadvantaged areas in San Antonio look like palaces.

Rosa was ALWAYS with us - every day - every hour.  During those many days and hours, I saw her smile exactly twice.  Here goes Karen, exaggerating, right?  No, I promise you, I saw her smile twice.  I shoved my camera at someone (Emily maybe) to take the picture above, because when I bounced my knees and gave her a bumpy ride, we got this, the 2nd of Rosa's smiles.

We kinda thought that maybe she had a hearing deficit - because she rarely spoke either.  But I noticed her copying some of the kids who were walking down the path saying "Beep Beep", and I softly called her name a few times to see if she would respond, and she did.  Why doesn't she talk?  Most kids her age are have reached full magpie status.  They love to imitate and spout out all the things they have been taught...here it is, my 'aha' moment.

What has she been taught?  I only saw her mom with her once, and there was very little interaction.  And no smiles.  Who sits on the floor with Rosa with the board book teaching her her colors?  My guess is nobody.  I am not sure Rosa owns a book.  Does she have a See n Say teaching her that "The cow says Moo!"  Don't think so.  I believe that Rosa leaves her house every morning, and just wanders around.  Her older sister (who is a whopping 3 years old - whose intensely sad story you will hear later) kinda watches her.  Not in a supervisory way at all, more of just an awareness that she is with her.  Not enough to keep her from walking through the hot coals of the trash fire that is in the middle of the path, or falling into a ditch, or any of the other pitfalls that are all over the community.

And Rosa is REALLY REALLY dirty.  If you have read the blog, you have heard references to her.  She is the one that came to us the first day with caked green snot all in her nose and upper lip.  She is the one with literally colonies of lice in her hair - the one who got down on all fours and scratched the top of her head with the dirt.  Her mom bathed her one day, and she showed up with wet hair, and her scalp was bleeding in places, and scabbed over in others.  She has some kind of sores on her body, as do the other 3 siblings that we got to meet.   Notice how she looks in the picture above.  Now, realize that that picture was taken at about 8:30 in the morning.  That was her best for the day.  Those were the same clothes that she had worn the day before, and, I am assuming, slept in.

She walks around scratching herself constantly.  She scratches her head; she scratches her hiney and her private areas.  During one of our hygiene lessons, we were having the kids wash their faces and hands.  I personally used 6 Wet Ones on her, turned them completely brown, and then gave up.  Theresa Turner came in after me and used several more.  I am not sure we ever got just her hands and face clean, much less any of the rest of her.

So that is a little view of my Poster Child.  Does anyone brush her teeth, or will she be like so many other children with their teeth already rotted out by the age of 5?  Does she own a toothbrush?  If so, I am betting there is no toothpaste.  We know that she is bathed occasionally.  Does she have a bed?  And if so, does she have sheets?  And if so, do those sheets ever get washed?  Does she ever get read to?  Prayed with?  Tucked in and told that she is loved?  She had a few bruises, but it didn't look to me like she was battered.  But, she is neglected.  Whose fault is that?  Is she just part of the cycle?  Is she being raised like her mother before her?  Is mom doing her best?  Who knows.  I am not here to pass judgement, just to inform. 

I have another whole blog session coming up about her sister Katarin.  A story of a very sad event that we witnessed. 

My hope is that you realize that these little girls' stories, though probably amongst the most extreme of what we witnessed, are not unique.  There are literally millions of little Rosas out there.  The question is, what do we do about it?

May my steps be worship.  May my thoughts be praise.  May my words, bring honor to Your name.