A four-legged man

Sorry I don't have pictures of him, but I thought it was a good attention grabber. "The four-legged man" is actually Miguel, a 35-year old man that lives close to our Chiminisijuan clinic. Miguel wears shoes on his knees also as he crawls around on all fours. He was born crippled from birth, but doesn't seem to have let it get him down. He's really nice, has a pretty wife and baby, and a good horse that carries him around. Mostly it was just interesting to see someone like him in this culture and how he interacts with the people around him. From only meeting him once, it seems he is very much accepted by others...

The reason I'm writing today though isn't because of Miguel, but for our little hydrocephalus baby, Helen. I've written about her before, and we have continued to see her in clinic as part of our nutrition program and make house visits. 18-month old Helen's head is 53 cm in diameter, much larger that the average adults, and she has a severe hemangioma (not particularly dangerous but only adds to her disfigured appearance). Anyway, my goal is not to just tell another sad story, but to ask for prayer. Helen's mom has taken very good care of her, even to the point of waiting in a hospital in the City for a month--without an operation--until her family ran out of money. Now, there is a group of American neuro-surgeons coming to the City in October and we are trying to get Helen in for a surgery to drain the excess fluid off of her cerebrum. The hard thing is that Helen's dad left the family for another woman this week, her mom can't read, and they need help in the City to get around. Duane plans to fly Helen and her mom in to the City today or tomorrow for a pre-evaluation (I may end up accompanying them to the hospital). Our hope and prayer is that the doctors are able to do something for Helen and that all goes smoothly.

In other happenings....David and Joseph are still chugging al0ng in the US. They will get Martin on the road hopefully today and then either come home in the next few days or stay to get a load organized to bring down a truck and grain bins for storing the corn that's coming. This Friday we are meeting with the pastors and maybe mayors of Canilla and San Andres. Yesterday we had a meeting with Armando (our pastor friend from San Andres) and he is on board for helping with the corn project. He and I got a list of villages and a game plan organized for visiting and accessing the most needy families in those places in the ensuing weeks. It's exciting, but I'm reminded of how big of a project this could be and how important prayer is.

Lastly, I've learned that I don't like the "negocio" method of car swapping here. I'm looking at buying a Jeep from a guy down the road that is in good shape and has all the paperwork in order, but agreeing on a price is frustrating. I go up, he doesn't go down. He goes down, I don't to go up any more. We'll see what happens.