Birthday: May 26, 2008 Sponsorship #: 2019-00-031HC

Maykel is a lively eleven year old with Cerebral Palsy who will steal your heart. He absolutely LOVES life and he LOVES his friends. He lives in Galette Chambon with his mother, Lodani and his three brothers and one sister. His mother says that when Maykel was born, she had no idea that he had any problems at all with his development. However, at about 13 months old, Maykel began to have seizures. She took him to a doctor and he was diagnosed with Cerebral Palsy. His development slowed significantly, and at the age of five, he still couldn’t talk. He did not walk until he was almost 9 years old. One day, when there was a team at Hope Center, someone saw that his brother, Jovensky, was not at school. He had a skin infection on his head and he was not allowed to return until it was healed.  At school, the children eat every day, but because he was having to stay home, he was hungry. His siblings would save a little bit of their food in a jar and take it home to him, but it wasn’t enough. We decided to go back to his house and see what the situation was. When we arrived, we found that Maykel and his four siblings were all living alone and the fifteen year old brother was taking care of them. When all of the school age children went to school, Maykel and his sister would stay with a neighbor. We asked why their parents were there and we found out that about 10 months earlier, their father had beaten their mother nearly to death. He was having an affair and she confronted him. When he beat her up, he told her that if she ever came back to his house, he would kill her, so she was afraid to go see her children. She moved in with her sister and the children would come visit her, but she could not keep them there with her or he would kill her. The father was rarely home because he was always staying in Port au Prince with his girlfriend, so the children were on their own. We asked her if she had any land of her own, and if she had her own house, could she have her children back and she said yes. We then decided to look for a team that would build Lodani and her children a house. It didn’t take long to find someone to build it. After Lodani and her children moved into their house, a team from Mobile, AL, came and taught Lodani how to sew diapers and feminine hygiene kits to sell. After that, a team from Georgia Tech came and installed a solar panel and inverter on her house so she could sew at home. Lodani is now making a great income to support her family, but most importantly, her confidence in herself and her faith in Jesus has grown tremendously. She and her children attend a local church, and all of her children are in school….except Maykel. Maykel desperately wants to go to school too. However, for Maykel to go to school, we must hire a special needs teacher to help him one-on-one. He has never been to school, so he doesn’t know how to read or write. His special teacher will teach him many skills in addition to academics including speech and helping him with his physical therapy. Because we need to pay for private education and specialized supplies, we are allowing Maykel to have several sponsors. This will provide the funds to not only give him his basic educational supplies, but also provide for future medical and therapy needs. We are praying that God will move the ones He has already chosen to support Maykel on his quest to be mainstreamed into a regular classroom once he is able to reach a more age-appropriate level of education. We are so thankful for Maykel and his entire family as we have been able to be a part of the miracle that God is working in their lives. If you want to join us in being a part of this plan, please commit to pray, and if led, commit to supporting him.

Click here to sponsor Maykel!