There is a young boy of about 12 who wanders near Gloria’s house, because her son Luis often gives him food. The boy’s mother is dead. His father has abandoned him, and will not give him a last name. He has a first name only, which makes it difficult to access what few services there are. He is not sure of his birthday. He has never been to school. He wears cast-off clothing, and no shoes. He sleeps in an abandoned shed, or wherever. No one is sure.
Luis asked if the boy could be taken in by their family, and Gloria regretfully said no – they have all they can do to keep themselves afloat. Gloria did take the boy to the church, to see if the priest could help. The priest said he would try.
There are so many lost children.
Tags: global culture
March 6, 2010 at 10:32 am
Is this a true story? If so, why not take him to the orphanage?
March 6, 2010 at 10:57 am
How sad. What is the status of social services / support / housing for someone like this? It’s a very young age to be without parents and a home.
March 6, 2010 at 8:15 pm
For Barbara: This is a true story.
I asked Gloria why no one has taken the boy to an orphanage. Here is her response: “There is an orphanage in Panama City, but this boy has always lived here in the village. In a sense, he is a child of the village. It would be very hard for him to go to Panama City where he would be among strangers. And, the man who is his father is here. Although the man has abandoned him and will not give this boy his name, at least he sees his father in the village and knows that this man is his only relative. Without that, the boy has nothing.”
For Phyllis: there really isn’t anything. I asked Gloria about the possibility of my hiring a retired teacher to teach the kid to read and write, which Gloria is going to investigate. She also said that if I could help a little bit financially, she would ask her husband again about their taking the boy in. That would be a very good solution, as they are good parents. She said the boy would be accepted into the first grade, but I can’t see sending an illiterate 12 year old to sit with a class full of 6 year olds. Can you?
March 6, 2010 at 8:28 pm
I don’t know where your village is, but I visited an Orphanage in Penonome December 23, 2009, and it was absolutely wonderful! Many of the children had parents that couldn’t care for them. They were well cared for at the orphanage, and loved a LOT! They had a WONDERFUL XMAS too! Geez, I thought the animals had it bad here! Cruelty laws were at least recently past for animals. Doesn’t the boy have some other relatives? How did he go this long without going to school? I’m sorry I have so many questions. I’m from the US and only been here going on 9 months.
March 6, 2010 at 9:32 pm
Barbara, no need to apologize for questions … and I have no idea myself how this boy could go so long without ever going to school. The boy does not appear to have other relatives, at least who are willing to claim him.
Rio Hato is about a half hour east of Penonome.
You say that you’ve been in Panama for about 9 months. What brought you here, and what are you doing? Do you live in Penonome?
March 7, 2010 at 5:27 am
I came here for a number of reasons. The number one reason was I love the tropics and it went on from there. I have a rescue dog, Baby Doe whom I met in El Valle where I originally landed in June 2009. We met after my being here just 9 days, so I am now pretty much tied to the home. I have asthma and El Valle was too wet and I couldn’t breathe well, so I moved to the beach area and am breathing much better.
March 7, 2010 at 9:29 am
I prefer the beach area myself, although it too gets humid in the rainy season. This is a tough country for anyone with a heart for dogs – there are so many that need to be rescued. Baby Doe is one of the lucky ones to have found a home.
March 7, 2010 at 11:15 am
Hi, I can breathe good with the high humidity, I just couldn’t take all the wetness of the “water” in El Valle. Yes, I know what you mean about the dogs, I see many of them. In fact, there are 3 strays down the road that were abandoned 3 years ago when Hotel Rio Mar went out of business and I am feeding them and would like to get one of them to a vet as he appears ill. World Vets has been coming here for a year+ and along with Panama vets is responsible for spaying/neutering and bringing back to health 20,000 animals here in Panama.
Baby Doe is a feral dog, and in March 2009, she weighed 10 to 15 pounds when the gals from the spay/neuter blitz spotted her and started feeding her. Baby Doe would not go to them, they tried to make up to her and take her in, but Baby Doe would not go near anyone. June 2009, they noticed Baby Doe was pregnant, and thought she would die if she had the pups as malnourished as she was, so they caught her, tranquilized her, and took her to Panama City, aborted the pups, late term, spayed her and brought her back and put her in a home, but she didn’t want to stay, so she took to the street again. They already knew a HUGE Doberman was the father of her pups. Baby Doe is a small Italian Gray Hound mix., Red color.
Baby Doe found her way to her husband/lovers home which was across from the Cabana I rented in El Valle. It was pouring torrential rains and she stood there looking in on the 3 dogs that were well fed. She howled and cried telling her husband/lover, “We lost our babies, we have no babies.” I waved her over to my cabana and offered her food, a roof over her head, and when I gave her a blanket to lay on, she looked at me as though to say, “All this for me?” There was such anguish and concern in her eyes as she looked directly into my eyes. She came to me when she wouldn’t go to anyone else, maybe because of the proximity to her husband/lover, maybe because of our rapport, I don’t know. I do know Spirit works in mysterious ways!
Baby Doe and Dobie have a TRUE love story. He would come over to the cabana and take care of Baby Doe, clean her ears, scan her body with his nose, like he was a doctor checking her over. He found her swollen spleen and looked at Baby Doe as though to say, “Hon, this is not good.” The vet later told me about her swollen spleen. Dobie beat up all the dogs that came around Baby Doe and I. He also protected the cabana from people entering. I was afraid of Dobie at first because of his size, his shoulders come to my hips, and he always stared at me. At first, I thought he didn’t like my meddling with his “street girl.” But then I realized he only understood Spanish, not English. When I first “leashed” Baby Doe, Dobie grabbed the leash and ran away with it. Baby Doe has anxiety and does not ride in the car well, so she has to wear diapers. The first time I put a diaper on Baby Doe, Dobie ripped it off.
I am a bit of an animal whisperer so I am very observant of animal behavior. As we walked the streets, I watched Dobie teach Baby Doe where and how to eat, how to roll in horse shit to cover her odor. Baby Doe chose Dobie to protect her because he is big and strong. She was weak and other dogs picked on her. Dobie is from a wealthy Panamanian family and lives on a big estate. Baby Doe was a homeless dog, she is deformed due to the malnutrition.
One Sunday, a group of people got out of cars, down the road, and walked up our way, stopping at driveways. They were out preaching the Gospel. Baby Doe and I were out on the road when two women walked by us. We said our usual, “Buenos dias Senoras,” and smiled. The women approached us and the youngest (about 50) introduced us to her Mother, who appeared to be about 70. They said they were out to share God’s word with the people. However, I didn’t see a one of the entire group approach many homes. It’s not exactly like you go door to door knocking in El Valle. They were from PC. They were more like walking and enjoying the scenery. Most of them were reluctant, if not afraid to walk down driveways. Dobie’s gate was wide open and I saw 3 different groups stand there and deliberate whether or not to go down the yellow brick road. Nobody did!
I told the two women some of the story about Dobie and Baby Doe and what was done to save Baby Doe’s life. I told them how much Baby Doe depended on Dobie and how Dobie takes care of Baby Doe. I pointed out how big and brave Dobie is and how small and weak Baby Doe was and even now how she looks frail. I showed them Dobie’s big beautiful estate and told them where Baby Doe lived and how she found her way here, how she cried and howled for him in her weak little voice, how she lived in bushes and how she now lives in 1 room. I told her this is GOD in ACTION! The biggest bravest Doberman in El Valle taking care of the weakest little scrawny street dog that was almost starved to death. He doesn’t care that he is a purebred. He doesn’t care that Baby Doe is a mutt, a deformed mutt. He doesn’t even think about these things. She cried out to him and his heart went out to her. They truly love one another and they show affection to each other. The youngest lady was crying after hearing the story. I said, “Now go, and tell the people what God really is like. For this is God in Action!”
Today, Baby Doe weights 35 pounds, has shining eyes, is healthy, happy and lovable. She is deformed and likely will not live the typical 15 years due to having suffered malnutrition, but whatever years she has, Ill do my best to make them GOOD YEARS, because she deserves it!