Fatu Charles

Fatu Charles is a six/seven year old girl for the village of Golala. Last year she was burned on her shoulder very badly by a kerosene lantern. Because the burn was not dressed properly, the scare tissue grew and connect her arm to her side from her arm pit to the middle of her upper arm, making it impossible to lift her arm. As her body grows, the scare tissue does not and continues to stretch across her shoulder making it very painful.
We first met Fatu this summer one our first visit to Banta. This was not long after the incident. Sadly we had not been able to get her help until now. We are planning to take her to a hospital that is funded by an Italian NGO and so the process will be free.
Now, this child is something else. It is quite an experience bringing a child who has never left the village to the city. Everything is so new to her and she is so curious about everything. The whole way back from Banta(8 hours), her eyes were wide open, taking everything in. The first time she used the toilet, Sarah flush and she jumped back, afraid, then she looked again and started laughing. We took her to see Mama Angie(the country director), and she fed Fatu. There were fish bones in the meal and do you know where they went, on the floor, where else! Oh, how she has made us laugh. She is the goofiest girl.
It is so interesting to observe this child. Many times in this country children are not nurtured in the way they should be or allowed to be the children that they are. Consequently, they do not have the opportunity to go through all the stages of development, which all children/adults go through, whether or not they are in the right order or at the right time, they go through them. Now that Fatu has been brought to a safe place where she is encouraged to be herself, it's almost as if she has reverted back to being a two year old. She has been talking none stop and most of it is just gibberish, like a two year old who is experimenting with sounds and trying to talk(she also only speaks Mende, so she could be saying something meaningful and we just don't know).
Yesterday we took Fatu to the beach. At first she was scared of the water but after a while we couldn't keep her out. Needless to say, she has kept us quite busy since we've been back and kept of laughing constantly. But she has been a joy to have around. Please pray for Fatu this next week as we take her to the hospital, that the doctors would be able to complete the procedure and that the recovery would be speedy and painless.