Day in the Life of Walking With Children’s Children
We value the privacy of our children and therefore, no pictures of actual Walking With Children children will ever be shown on this site. The following is written by Walking With Children Founder, Chris Frederick.
Walking With Children opened its doors on April 1, 2006 to our first child, a 14-year-old boy, Miguel Angel.
I have known Miguel for more than five years and cared for him while I was working at Montaña de Luz. Due to problems with his HIV, weight loss and behavior challenges, both Miguel and Montaña de Luz asked if Walking With Children would assume responsibility for him.
Miguel has been an orphan since the age of two. The woman who cared for him from ages 2-9 was not a blood relative but assumed responsibility for his care until she brought him to Montaña de Luz. While he was there, she visited him approximately five times. He no longer has contact with her or her family.
Currently, Miguel is doing well; he has gained weight, his CD4 count has gone back up. He is enrolled in a private school where he is learning many new subjects including English. He is taking a martial arts course and sees a psychologist weekly. The visits are helping Miguel learn new strategies for dealing with and reacting to the many life challenges he has had to face in his short life, along with the underlying fear of abandonment that has been exacerbated over the past year.
In the last two years, our Fundraising Director Jaimes has bonded with Miguel and begun to serve as a strong paternal figure. Having Jaimes back in his life on a regular basis at Walking With Children has helped Miguel tremendously.
I have every hope that Miguel will continue to develop into the young man he is destined to be. With the support and services of Walking With Children, along with the committed lifetime support of a strong father figure like Jaimes, I believe Miguel is being given every opportunity to realize his dreams.
I am sure most of you understand what this means for Jaimes and I to be reunited with Miguel and we ask that you continue to hold us up in prayer. As well, we ask that you pray for the next child who will be admitted to our center.
October Update on Miguel:
I am very happy to report that Miguel is making positive advances. He is showing more initiative in his school work, turning in homework and studying for exams.
His behavior as it relates to interpersonal relations is showing more maturity. He is even working on resolving past issues by asking more questions about who his parents were and how to contact extended family. He is starting to form his own identity as a young Honduran male.
We have been working together on a budget for him as he will be expected to share in basic household expenses while saving some money in the bank for his future education and fun personal items. He has two friends that will hopefully be working with him as baggers at a local department store and are the second reasons for Miguel being motivated to work.
Thank you for your prayers as Miguel is showing much improvement in a short time. We anticipate ups and downs as are normal with life as an adolescent but for now the sun is out and he is growing up.
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