7/13/10 Thoughts on the child

It is Tuesday and Melody and I are deciding to take a day off from surveying to finally catch up on data entry. We talked to Dr. Esther and Dr. Feifer last night about the mentally handicapped boy we saw naked and locked up. They concluded that the mother was trying her best as a single mom with 4 children and that she has no other choice nor resources to give her son a better life. His image of crying naked on the floor or against the barred windows is still engrained in my head and haunts me. I don’t want to think about it, but is this going to be his life for another 10 years? What will they do when he becomes a teenager and grows bigger? Will he roam around the town alone like many other people with disabilities? I guess this is where I realize how young and naïve I am. I want to try to fix this situation by working with his mom or throwing money at the situation. I keep wanting to see if we can pay for him to go to an expensive special needs school in Dar es Salaam which is the capital and a few hours away. And I keep thinking about how many are like him in this town, this country, and other countries. Its just so hard to walk away from this and forget about it and accept the fact that until he dies he will be lonely everyday and locked up treated worse than the goats and dogs around here. I plan on visiting him as often as I can, his home is about a half mile walk from our hostel. I have a ball to give him, but am hoping to find more safe toys but Shirati does not exactly have a toy store and most kids play with worn down soccer balls, rolling tires around, or bottle caps.