Little Ola

Little Ola desperately needs a home. I was referred this little boy by 2 people on the same day, and have seen him twice so far. He was abandoned at the Children's Hospital over a year ago, when they thought he might have been about 1 year old. So he's now maybe 2 or older, and he's still there.

He more than likely has a medically caused developmental delay, however a big cause of his delay I'm sure is due to his lack of stimulation, rarely being handled, let alone loved. He cannot roll over, play with his hands together, bring his legs up to his chest, sit up, or stand even supported.
He monotonously sucks his left thumb and thats about it. I'm not even sure if he cries.

I so desperately want to get him a new home.

The times I've been there it has torn me to find him in bedding and clothes soaked in urine, smelling like rats and watching the cockroaches run over the sheets like they are in a playground. It's horrid. How can anyone be left like this. But the nurses have sick patients to deal with, and Ola is not acutely unwell, he is just delayed. All the other patients have caring mothers at their cot sides, but not Ola, his bedside is empty.

Today, I spent ½ an hour treating Ola with simple positions like allowing him to lie on his belly to try to work is neck muscles, and putting him on his side to play with his hands and feet that he is unable to draw together to midline while lying on his back. These are all normal things a baby would get the opportunity to learn as they are handled, Ola has never had these chances as he is always left on his back in his cot.
After ½ an hour he was exhausted from all the work I was making him do! He doesn't often get the challenge of work! So since I really didn't have to get anywhere more urgent than this baby needed love, I decided to take him the the window for a little look as rested his head on my shoulder and had a cuddle. And there we stayed for the next ½ hour. Occasionally looking me in the eye, then glancing away again. The he'd turn his face back towards me and his big dark glassy eyes shone the reflection of my face, I prayed for him and I held him close, our breathing deep and slow, it was like he was SO appreciating the cuddle, the closeness, the body contact. Gradually his eyes dropped, and asleep he fell – probably the first time in a very long time that he has fallen to sleep in someone's arms.

The hardest thing was to lay this precious treasure of God's back into his bed of cockroaches and walk away.

I will continue to see him as often as I can, and in the meantime am looking for a new home for Ola. Please pray with me.