Tuesday, April 17, 2007

'My 4th child'



We have a boy from Honduras staying with us. He is 13 and doesn't speak English and I didn't speak any Spanish 2 months ago. I can now carry on conversations with him...a little.

He is here for medical treatment. He was burnt on his legs. He had fireworks in his pocket. The 1st hospital turned him away (no resources). The second kept him for a month, no painmeds- daily scrubbing of his burns, but that is all they could do- scrub the burns. He needed skin grafts- so he came here to the states. he was in the Shriner's burn hospital a month, at my house a month, back for more surgeries for a week and then back to my house.
He burnt his legs Dec 24 (which is the day they celebrate Christmas in Honduras according to Manuel). He came to the States around January 26 and he came to my house Around Feb 27.

He has 4 sisters and 2 brothers. He is the next to the youngest child (and youngestson). His oldest sibling is 28. 3 siblings have moved out. One is 19, married, pregnant qand living in an add-on room with the family. (she recently moved out with her husband. The baby is due in July).I think the house is just one room- no walls to partion the areas. He has mango, apple, orange, nance, and guava trees in his yard. No running water in the house, but a faucet or pump in the yard. NO restroom in the house. The kitchen in an outdoor kitchen. It is like a roofed patio.

I have been teaching him a little bit. I homeschool my 3 boys and have been doing a few lessons with him. He is good at math and reads well enough. But he has very little science or geography knowlege.
He has been healing nicely snce his second graft surgeries in April. His expected date to go home is early September.
Here are some links we use:
ESOL games Manuel plays these
Online Translator We can converse back and forth with this when we get stuck with our bilingual knowledge.
Make your own Wordsearch (and more) I use this puzzlew maker to make worksheets to go with his English lessons.



Manuel-----Connor----Gavin----Ki

Click on the Tag Word 'Maunel' and it should take you to a page of all posts with Manuel

7 comments:

LAA and Family said...

I've only taken quick looks at your blog lately, as I'm doing right now. I've been wondering who Manuel is and how he came to join your family. I'm glad I came across this post! You are a terrific woman for opening up your home and helping him out! (I'm printing out some of your activity and spelling ideas from more recent posts - what a gold mine of info - thank you so much)

Jenny said...

What a huge heart you have! You are such a blessing and it's wonderful to read about how you have brought this child into your home and are helping him to heal and showing him such love! Thanks for sharing...I'll be back soon!

Crimson Wife said...

What a wonderful learning experience for you all! Good for you for putting your faith into action :-)

Thanks for sharing this at CoH!

Sherry said...

Wow! What an experience this must be for you and your family--and for Manuel! Bless his heart. I can't imagine what he's been through with that kind of pain. Being able to stay with a loving family must make all the difference for him.

Garden State Kate said...

I was so happy to hear Manuel is doing well after his week back in the hospital, I have not had enough time to read all the blogs I want to lately. I can only agree with everyone's comments on how wonderful
you all are to open your home and hearts to him.

Janet Rose said...

How did his treatment go? This will be an experience you'll always remember, I'm sure!

Jenilee said...

what an incredible story! and how amazing for your family to help him in that way! thanks for sharing your story with us!

LinkWithin

Related Posts with Thumbnails