UPDATE: Since the initial time of writing, Anna has been adopted by the missionary couple on our border! She is safe, happy, healthy and very loved!
In January of 2011, we heard about *Anna, a baby girl with Down syndrome that was being left in a hammock all day while her alcoholic mother went on drinking binges. The neighbors heard a baby crying from their bamboo hut from hours on end. At 13-months-old, Anna weighed about 10 pounds and her development was close to that of a newborn. Her only food was sporadically given breast milk with alcohol still in her mom’s system.
By the time we got word of Anna, she was in a near-death situation. In addition to severe malnutrition, she also had a congenital heart defect that required open-heart surgery. Too unstable for an anesthetic, she needed to gain weight before the operation could be performed. Her mother missed her doctor’s appointments and didn’t follow through with the feeding plan they gave for her to put on weight.
After a full intervention, her mother relinquished her to the care of Life Impact. Since this was an emergency situation, she was placed in the care of a new missionary couple who had just come to work with Life Impact. It was love at first sight and Anna was instantly considered their very own. The first day the couple had her she was very lethargic and could hardly pick up her head. As she ate and absorbed more nutrition, she quickly got stronger and more energetic. It wasn’t long before she was rolling over and playing.
By April of 2011, she gained enough weight to have surgery. Two weeks after a successful operation, she began to sit up on her own for the first time. Since then, she has been growing and developing rapidly. She is healthy, happy, and couldn’t be more loved. Her new missionary parents are praying that one day they would be able to legally adopt her.
Here on the border, we not only rescue children from exploitation and abuse but literally intervene for their lives. This is a child who would otherwise be dead if we weren’t available and in the right place at the right time.
Please continue to pray for us that we would always be in the right place, at the right time on behalf of the other “Annas” that need rescue and intervention! Thank you for your support that keeps our door open and enables us to intervene for these treasures in darkness!
*Name changed for her protection.
