Daniello is now 12. His real name is Daniel but we already had a Daniel so we all call him “Daniello.”

We found him during a Mobile Clinic in the mud-hut village of Old Letant. His father died when he was hit in the head by a rock. His mother died soon after that and so the village people took him to Old Letant and dropped him off. But, the people there are poor and cannot feed their own family, so we took him in.

Daniello has always been “different.” He is sweet and hardworking, but he has always kept to himself. He never plays with the other kids. When we put him in school, we never realized how bad his social skills were. I came to his class one day and found that the teacher had “tied him to a chair,” because he kept leaving! Of course, I was upset and threatened to fire the teacher but as the years went on, he had more problems.

He was in third grade this year. His house mother here at the orphanage and several others came and told me that when he is let out of class with the children for recess, he disappears! They find him at the Birthing Center or hiding under a container and it takes two workers to find him! If I took him to a place for children with mental illness here in Haiti, he would die. I visited one place years ago and children were chained to their beds.

So, I took him out of school. I am letting him do work with one of our older men. I told him that each month I will put some money in a safe for him and one day he will have money when he is older. He loves to work!

We love Daniello! We will do all we can for him. It is a heavy burden to have a large orphanage here in Haiti, especially with seven children who have medical problems, and in a country as dangerous as Haiti, but it is well worth any small sacrifice we make. And yes, we love Daniello!!

Sherry