Meet Babyson
Today it is our pleasure to introduce to you the newest member of All Things New…Meet Babyson! Babyson is 8 years old and he was definitely a surprise addition! In this post today, I am going to try and tell you how he came to live with us, a little bit about his background, and what we have already noticed about him and his personality (spoiler alert: he is definitely not shy). Before that, however, just in case you stop reading before the end of the blog, I want to ask you to please keep Babyson in your prayers. He has had a difficult life to date, both of his parents are dead, his other family did not treat him well, and he came to live with us with nothing except for the outfit he was wearing.
We met Babyson when the kazek (a local politician that lives close by in the Reserve) came to our house with his assistant, Babyson’s aunt who he was living with, and Babyson. They told me that Babyson had lost both of his parents a few years ago and that he had been living with different family members since then. Each of these family members had not treated him well and he was finally taken from them and put in his Aunt’s house. I asked her what she would do if we were able to take care of all of his needs (school, food, etc.) and she said that she still did not want to take care of him. The Kazek’s assistant pulled me aside and told me that he had been treated poorly for his entire life (an allusion toward some type of abuse but nothing specific). He made it very clear that Babyson needed to live somewhere else. I told them to give us a few days to talk and pray about it and to come back and we would talk again. To make a long story short, after doing a lot of research (including sending 2 friends to the area to ask around) and talking with our house moms and employees, it became clear that Babyson would come and live with us. The Kazek has taken full responsibility of getting birth certificates, death certificates, and all other paperwork needed to make this happen. Babyson moved in with us on Wednesday May 2.
Here are some things we know about Babyson so far:
- He has never had the chance to attend school and cannot yet spell his name (we may or may not be spelling it correctly because his aunt could not spell it either).
- We know that when we brought him clothes from the market on Thursday that he immediately put them on and told everyone that “it is the most handsome he has ever been.”
- When his aunt left he was not sad and they did not even speak to each other.
- We know that he immediately connected with Marjorie and has since announced to everyone that she is his godmother to which Marjorie said ok.
- We know that he is very outgoing and does not have a shy bone in his body. I am writing this on Friday and after being here for only a couple of days he has already been in timeout a few times, pinched Mivinsley at service his first night here, and has gotten into everything possible.
- We know that he is 8 years old (we have not seen birth certificate yet but that’s what we have been told) and acts and looks like a much younger child.
- It seems pretty clear that he has never formed a strong attachment to another adult which is evidenced by his clinginess with every single ATN adult.
- We are pretty sure when we had movie night Friday the saw his first movie, ever.
- He loves to eat.
After all of that, I want to paint a picture of Babyson that I will not soon forget. He came to live with us this past Wednesday at about 4:00. At 4:30 the kids eat dinner followed by free time where they can play or relax or do whatever. Many nights, at around 5:30, we go down to the kids house for an evening walk mainly with the younger kids and Wednesday was no different. When we get there, the younger kids love to be the ones to hold Elijah’s hand during the walk or to play with Sophie while she runs up and down the street. On Babyson’s first walk with us, he immediately grabbed Elijah’s hand and started walking him down the street with us. Just like that, he was a part of our family.
Over the last few weeks, if you are a part of All Things New, you have probably seen a lot of our posts about trying to raise money for a new truck. Something that you probably already know from experience in your own life, and what is always true with us here in Haiti, is that we can never really focus on just one thing. There are always huge decisions happening on top of each other, and this past week was no different. The funny thing is, in the midst of being excited about the prospect of a new truck, we were equally sad about what we knew about Babyson’s life to this point. He is only 8 years old, and he should not have to go through everything that he has gone through, especially without a family. Please pray as we try to make sure he is loved and cared for from now on.