Blind Boy

Post date: Aug 29, 2010 11:34:46 PM

Yesterday we went to a nearby village to pick up Tsheygo. He is 10 years old. About five years ago his older brother was playing with a gun and accidentally shot him in the face blinding him. Tsheygo's mother left after he was born, his father left about five years ago. He is living with his grandfather. He is Akha and does not speak the Lao Language so he would have a difficult time at the blind school in Vientiane. He is now with an Akha foster family in our village where he can begin school this week and learn Lao. We hope to send him to blind school next year. In these pictures his relative says goodbye. He left the village with only the clothes he was wearing so we took him to the market to buy a school uniform, other clothes, bedding, and a mosquito net. Here he is with his foster mother.

The latest update from last night is that he ate a whole kilogram of apples that he asked for at the market, and that he is crying a lot. Today we will begin to help him with his mobility by teaching him to walk with a stick and introduce him to some of the toys in the Children's Development Center. We hope he will quickly make the adjustment to his foster family and the children in our village. They belong to many difference ethnic groups and speak Lao as a common language.