Jean Pierre

This is my friend, Jean Pierre.

At one of the sites we frequent, there is a wonderful guy who is in a wheelchair.  Here in Haiti that means that he has been completely outcast.  Little attention is paid to him since the accident he had that put him in this wheelchair.

I had the opportunity to spend time with Jean Pierre recently when a woman from the Victory Church in Tulsa came to visit and assess his current situation.  Frank translated for us while Darlynn spent time moving his limbs and observing his capacities.

Frank, Darlynn, Jean Pierre

Jean Pierre was a very young boy when he ran away from home because his sister was abusing him.  He became a street kid where he wiped car windows for money.  One day, he was flying a kite in the road and a car hit him in the back.

He was never taken to a hospital.  Instead, he was taken directly from the scene to CAD, a foster care-like housing facility.

He has a gentle spirit.  Jean Pierre’s smile reaches far, but when we spoke with him, he was very shy.

“Jean Pierre, when did the accident happen?”

“I don’t know.”

“Ok.  Well, how old are you?”

“I don’t know.”

This young man is mentally capable, but has been oppressed for so long.  They say he CAN walk, he just hasn’t been mobile because his body healed incorrectly from the accident.

We looked in his file to find that he is 20 years old and has been at CAD since 2001.  That means the accident was 11 years ago.

Darlynn touched his muscles ever so gently to massage them…pain.  He tried to straighten his legs…dead locked at basically 90 degrees.  We checked the range of motion in his arms and asked him to write his name.  It took him 3 minutes to write 5 letters, but then he started to draw and it was beautiful.  A true artist.

He is so special. I am hopeful working with Darlynn will help him.