Dave and Lori Hernandez Just another weblog Sana is a boy in desperate need of your help—you can literally save his life. He does not have some debilitating disease that will claim him—his plight involves spiritual darkness.
Sana was born as a set of twins, being the second baby to be born. Upon reaching two years of age, he was given to his grandmother to be raised and led an active, normal life up for two years. At four, however, Sana began to have epileptic seizures. He was initially given medication with some effect, but his grandmother wasn’t able to follow the directions and soon after stopped administering it. Consequently, seizures became more frequent.
In Sana’s tribal culture, any abnormalities/deformities (cleft palette, seizures, etc) are believed to be due to demon possession. Those with handicaps are believed to be demon-human hybrids, and are many times poisoned as newborns. In Sana’s case, he was not poisoned since he appeared normal up to age four. While they believed he was a demon, instead of poisoning him they have kept him in a dark, isolated room. While his grandmother has sometimes given him some food, his family has in essence been starving him. The combination of his isolation and starvation has left him a weak, emaciated mass of skin and bones, covered with bed sores and depleted of his capacity to speak. He is now 11 years old.
A missionary found out about Sana and took him in to at least nurse him back to a level of health. She observed Sana trying to eat his hands and feces and has had to restrain him to stop him from continuing. With prayer, food, medical attention, medication and physical therapy, Sana’s condition has improved tremendously! In three-weeks, he as gained over pounds, is gaining muscle mass and tone, and is becoming more alert and trying to speak again. He is improving a little bit every day, but it is going to take a lot of work to bring him back to a normal life.
Unfortunately, Sana’s life is still in danger. The missionary cannot take care of him indefinitely, and he will need to go back to his family in a few weeks. His family, however, apparently does not want him back, and there has been talk of selling him to another tribal group to be killed as a sacrifice to their god.
Sana needs a family who will love him unconditionally. Can you help?
We must remember that he is a precious child of God. James 1:27 gives us the Lord’s desire for us in relation to Sana, “Pure religion and undefiled before our God and Father is this, to visit the fatherless and widows in their affliction, and to keep oneself unspotted from the world.”
