alberto: since christmas, i have had the pleasure of getting to know the sweetest little boy named alberto. he has come to us from a nun who lives in santo domingo, sr. babs, who runs a sort-of ronald mcdonald house for kids that are sick. for the little time that alberto has been here, he has certainly touched the hearts of all the volunteers and pretty much everyone he has come into contact with. here is his story....about a year and a half ago, sr. babs met a man in the pediatric unit of the cancer hospital where she spends a lot of her time. she was with another patient when this man approached her and asked if she could help him with this child he was with who had no family. the child, alberto, was from haiti, and had been diagnosed with cancer and abandoned by his family. the man asked sr. babs if she could help for a little bit. she accepted, taking alberto into her home and finding a priest in the NPH home in haiti to cover his medical expenses. despite his promises to return, sr. babs has never seen the man from the hospital again. so, alberto has been become a part of sister bab's family. however, during christmas, sr. babs wanted to take a little break and everyone that was currently living with her had somewhere to go, except alberto. so, she called over to us, seeing if he could stay at the nph home for a week. well, he came and we all instantly fell in love with him. he's 14 years old, but i would never guess he's more than 10. he's so painfully thin, and extremely quiet and soft spoken, but is one of the sweetest kids i have ever met. he had a great week with us and had a lot of fun getting to be with so many kids his own age. i think for a little while he got to forget about how sick he was and just got to be a kid. needless to say, we were all very sad to see him go.
he was originally diagnosed with throat cancer. he has been through countless sessions of both chemo and radiation therapy that have left him quite weak. he has to eat extremely slow and often has to take a break to rest a little when he's tired, but other than that, i've never heard him complain about anything. sadly, about two month ago, we got another call from sr. babs asking if alberto could come back and stay with us for a while. it was sad in the sense that the reason she was asking is because the doctors have told her that his cancer has spread to his bones and the chemo doesn't seem to be helping anymore, so they felt like he could use a little break from treatment. so, sr. babs thought it would be good for alberto to come back here, to a place that was full of kids and things to do. his time here has just been great. i don't see him a whole lot since he isn't in either the house i work in or the house i eat in, but when i do get the chance to see him for a few minutes here or there, he always manages to bring a huge smile to my face.
he could really use some prayers though. he has to leave on monday to go back to the capital to be with sr. babs. then on the 26th, he will go back into the hospital for more tests. most likely, the results will not be good. it will probably not be a matter of whether he will get better, but how much time he has left. we are also hoping that, depending on what the doctors say, if he isn't going to continue with regular treatment, that he will be able to come back and live with us for a while. he hasn't yet been through any of the "regular procedures" of becoming an nph pequeño, considering his unique circumstance, so we hope the powers that be continue to make an exception for him. it's so hard to see him and know how sick he is.... and all you want to be able to do is just fix him. but i'm sure God has a plan for him far greater than anything we can and imagine and his ginormous heart and his optimistic personality have been an inspiration to all of us. if you can, please remember him in your prayers!
relaxing in semaná: i spent my weekend off with some of the other volunteers up north on the "semaná penisula". everyone in this country always talks about semaná and how it has the most beautiful beaches in the country, and it really does. i'll be honest, sometimes i feel guilty leaving every other weekend. don't get me wrong, the break is much needed and it's great to be able to see other parts of the country and sometimes get a hot shower (depending on the hotel), but i do feel bad leaving the kids and the tías. being able to do things like this (not only taking vacation, but even just being a volunteer in another country), is something that i often take for granted. the kids here are lucky when they get to leave the home and the majority of the tías never leave san pedro, much less the country. i don't know... i guess i should just enjoy and be grateful that i do have that opportunity. and we did have a nice time. it rained most of the weekend, which provided a lot of time to read and relax... but there were a few glimpes of sunlight, so we did have a little time to enjoy the beautiful beaches!"si comprehendis non est deus" (if you understand him, he is not God.) - st. augustine
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