Encouragement to the Discouraged is a Focus at SIHG

There are many areas of a child development that we must stay alert to so that we may be able to create a difference for in their lives. With the children at SIHG we are challenged to address the elements of each need and in a specific order.  Sometimes this is hard to keep in perspective, as there are many needs and the desire for results can create impatience. We often can feel that a child should be at a particlular stage that would keep them within the scope of what is considered the "norm".  We do our best to provide for each of the elements of a child's life with love and compassion as well as patience. However, we do not have "normal" children in our care, we have "special" children.

These children who come to SIHG, arrive with severe neglect, and trauma in their lives. Our experiences vary with girls raped at age 9, or babies left under a tree, or in some cases, left for dead. At times we have had children who have had such severe abuse, the child then fears a touch of any kind. Others who enter the home cannot be left alone, for fear that the caregivers wlll disappear. Some children having never been to school and at age 10 struggle with having any hope that they will ever catch up to their age-mates. Some do not believe in anything or anyone, and are unable to find a framework within their life that well provide hope and meaning.