I don’t know that you would call it a tsunami, but we have
definitely seen some major waves landing on the shores of the Miriam Home! They began three weeks ago, just days after Larissa and Paola returned to their homes; the familiar white car from the juvenile authorities arrived with Joao (8 years old) his sister Heloisa (6) and the baby of the family Mateus (3). They came to us from a nearby town when their mother was arrested (their father is already in jail). The first days here were difficult, the abrupt separation from their mom was traumatic, but in a few days they began to settle in and feel more at home.
The second wave hit just while Joao and company were adapting. This time it was a family of four: William (9) his sisters Talita (8) and Tainara (3) and their smallest brother (though not youngest) Maicon (5). The children arrived because they had been left locked in a room in a
boarding house while their mother was out with friends. Their father works as a laborer on a farm and is only able to come home every two weeks. The first days in the Miriam Home were challenging for this gang too, but for different reasons. Maicon spent his first night, not in the home, but with Pr. Silvio in the emergency room because of severe stomach pains. After hours the doctors decided he had a severe case of intestinal parasites, and because he had been eating very little for a long time, the good meal he had at night brought on a crises.
The same day William’s group joined we received a much smaller wave, just two precious little girls. Ana Louisa (4) and Ana Laura (four months) from a near by town. These two girls nearly broke our hearts. They are lovely children, but they are being raised by a single mother who had just been arrested. Ana Louisa was with us for less 24 hours. Her father was contacted and came to claim her. Baby Ana Laura has a different father. We
don’t know if he knows about his little girl, because we don’t know his name. At four months of age Ana Laura had not even been registered yet. Something that a mother normally does in the first week was done by our social assistant soon after Ana arrived in the Miriam Home. During her first week Ana stayed with Aunty Odette (one of our house moms who is just finishing up her maternity leave. Ana Laura is almost exactly the same size as her baby boy, Daniel), getting a little more focused attention, but she is now in her crib in the Miriam Home, the youngest reining princess.
Editor’s note: To read about yet another WAVE, as Jonni describes it, click here. You can read more news as well!
