This is Their Tuesday

Sunday February 12, 2012

Week one is complete. No travel guide book from Barnes and Nobel could have prepared me for what I was embarking on.

Tuesday, on his way walking to school from the other side of the Township with his best friend, a 1^st grader, Pabpallo , was hit by a taxi. As the two were walking across the street, a cab came flying around the corner, disregarded the stop sign, and hit the little seven year old so hard that he flew across to the other side of the sidewalk which was littered with trash while his little shoes stayed firmly planted on the ground where he was hit.

 The impact was so hard that Pabpallo’s stomach and spleen exploded out of his stomach cavity. 

As he lay there, his little friend stayed by his side as bystanders went for help. The cabbie was arrested and the Pabpallo was rushed to the nearest government hospital. He was in a coma for almost three days and has gone through two procedures thus far. He went into complete organ failure before his second surgery but is still fighting.

 By some miraculous miracle after they did scans, they discovered his has a fractured skull but otherwise NO broken bones. Principal Mike ran from the school after he heard about the accident and said the entire front end of the cab was completely smashed as if it had hit a hippo, no a little seven year old.

His mother is a wage worker and only gets jobs here and there cleaning houses as things come up and his dad is a laborer. If they don’t show up to work they don’t get paid. So they have been torn between sitting by their son’s side as he clings for life or going to work so they can provide for the rest of their family. The directors of our program went to visit little Pabpallo at the hospital to send our best wished and bring cards that all the kids and volunteers made. As they started to show him the cards his eyebrows rose in excitement and he put on the 1^st smile that his mom had seen since the accident.

As the little 1^st grader was fighting for his life with his best friend not leaving his side, Clifford a 6^th grader was also making his way to school. Clifford is an excellent student, always does his homework and behaves in class and is excelling at track at after school. He rode his bike to school and as he was approaching school, a gang member shoved Clifford off of his bike. But instead of just taking the bike and leaving, he threw a few punches. When Clifford didn’t fight back, the guy started hitting him even harder.

 Clifford was late to class which is very unusual for him, the teacher started class and when she turned around from facing the blackboard, she saw a battered Clifford, blood all over his white uniform shirt, black eye, and a fat lip sitting at attention with his homework out ready to turn in.

As the teacher was getting Clifford cleaned up, Principal Mike was notified that a little 3^rd grade girl was being sexually abused by her step father and started filling out the necessary paperwork .

This was just Tuesday. I continue to be amazed by these kids. They are fighters and resilient.