He wasn’t always smiling… You see, Jonas was beaten, tortured, and made to work like a grown man because he was a “restavek slave child!” We found Jonas while doing a “Food Distribution” in the mountains. His mother and father had died, so he was sent to a relative to work… and when I say “work,” I mean “working in the heat of the sun with very little food or water.” He was often beaten and abused mentally as well as physically.

We rescued Jonas and brought him back with us. He had never had a full plate of food, had never eaten three times a day, had never had a shower, slept in a bed, or had a toy! He had “never had a hug!” He was a child captive and made to work like a grown man.

When we brought him down to our “Children’s Home,” the hardest thing was “teaching him to hold a pencil in his hand,” or draw a “zero” or a number on a blackboard. Now, through lots of love and hugs, he smiles all the time! He is still in school with younger children but he can at last “be a child!” We all love Jonas… a lot!!!

Sherry