RHFH makes an effort to keep as many families together as we can.  We search and search for families that have not been back to see their children at the RC.  Our first step is to take the admit picture of the child and adult and put that picture outside on our gate.  We list the child name and the family name and village and people walking by look at these pictures.  I would say 90% of the time we find the family this way.  The others we cannot find we send a letter from RHFH up to the village to the family.  We wait.  If they still do not come we ask the local judge to write a more official letter to come down to see him.  I currently have about 10 children that have been here from 9 months to almost 3 years that I cannot locate the family.  I decided recently that I would hire someone to find these lost families.  I have hope that they are out there.  There is someone-a aunt, grandma, grandpa, cousin someone that we can find.  So far I have found four of these families.  I want to share Mitha’s story with you today.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Mitha came to RHFH in Jan 2009.  She was just 6 day old and weighed 6 pounds.  This is her grandma in the picture below.  She is the one that brought her.  Grandma said that the mother was not well.  She had seizures and was not mentally right.  The father was of course worried about Mitha’s leg.  She was born like this.  She has no bone from her knee cap to her foot.  We decided to take her into the RC and care for her until we could get surgery for her.  We never saw the family again.  We could find no one that knew of the grandma or family.  So this past week we send an employee to see what he could find out.  He left about 5am and took a motorcycle as far as he could drive.  Then went by foot for several hours.  He showed the picture below to everyone he saw in the area.  He walked and walked and walked.  Finally he found someone that knew the grandma.  They said-see that mountain over there.  They live at the very top of it.  The very top.  He walked and walked and walked to the top of that mountain.  To a place he had never been to before.  He found the family! 

Mitha’s dad, mom and grandma were all there!  Mitha’s grandma had a stroke not long after Mitha came to RHFH.  She cannot walk sit on her own.  She was tied up to a post in the yard.  They did this so she could sit up some during the day.  The mother can not walk well.  She had a seizure and fell into a fire and burned her leg several years ago.  The burn scared in  a way that she cannot fully extend her leg.  The dad was very excited to sit and talk.  This is his story.  He has not left the mountains for 20 years.  Every single day he takes care of his wife, children and mother.  He washes, cooks, and works in the gardens.  He sells his produce in bulk to other farmers to sell in the markets.  He never goes far from his house.  He said the last time he went to Port-au-Prince he was a young man with no children yet.  When asked by others how many kids he has-he has always told everyone that he has two daughters.  He thought Mitha was dead.  He never felt like he could say three.  We asked why he had never tried to come and check on her. He said he had never been to Cazale and lost her admit card.  He did not know how he could come down to find her, he did not know where to go.  He had not left his village in 20 years!  So we told him she was alive and that he had to come.  He thought about this.  How could he leave his wife and mother for a day?  He finally went and found a neighbor and told them the plan to visit Cazale to see his daughter. They were very excited and said one of them would spend the night with the family.  Our employee called us from the top of the mountains and said they were on there way down.  They arrived late in the evening.  Mitha’s dad had never rode a motorcycle and had not even seen a car for 20 years.  It was an interesting ride.  He arrived and we met. I am sure he was a little nervous about everything.  We brought Mitha into the room.

Finally it sank in.  Here was his daughter, she was alive.  He was so happy. Mitha sat on his lap and he talked to her.  Told her about her sibling and family.  She, of course, had no idea who this man was.  But she sat with him.  We talked for awhile.  He gave us permission to do surgery and get Mitha fitted with a prosthetic leg.  I asked how he was going to be able to care for her and make sure she follows for her appointments as she grows to get her legs switched.

He knows that he is an old guy.  He knows his wife and mother cannot care for Mitha and other kids.  So when he dies he has a home for each of his children to go to.  Most are going to live with aunts.  He is going to go back up and find a family member willing to care for Mitha when he dies and follow up with her appointments.  We are very happy that we searched and looked for Mitha’s family.  We will be making plans for surgery soon!  God is good!