Our poor little Nakshathra fell off her bed in the middle of the night and split her chin open on a broken piece of tile that was laying on the floor. (Nithin often brings in rocks and broken tiles from outside to play with.) She was taken to the hospital this morning but arrived home without a suture. (I'm no doctor, but I'm pretty sure she should have had at least a few stitches.) The saddest part about it all was that she didn't tell anyone. It happened in the middle of the night and she didn't make noise, wake us up, or even wake up any of the other children sleeping nearby. We wouldn't have even known that it happened if I hadn't noticed blood splattered on her feet when I sat down to study with her this morning. There was blood on the bed and evidence that she had tried to clean it up without anyone knowing about it. It breaks my heart that these children feel as if they don't deserve to be taken care of. Just the other day, Maria refused to let us know that she was feeling ill, even when we asked, she insisted she was fine, until we heard her vomiting in the bathroom. Later today, Bendang, one of the other caretakers, told me that last year Nakshathra and her brother Ganesh (who were street children after losing both their parents and later their grandmother) were taken from their healthy home here by their older sister and her husband for 'a few days.' A year later, after living on the streets, she returned them, thin and sickly, to New Hope. I can only imagine the things that sweet, quiet, caring Nakshathra has had to endure in her short life. What other nine year old do you know that would take a fall in the night and not call for someone? I hope that we can instill some confidence and sense of self-worth in her, because she is a wonderful and happy little girl. If only she could act like it.
(My apologies for the graphic photo, but it does look like she needs stitches right?)
A Happy Nakshathra!
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