Downs Syndrome

Today we met with pastor Stanley Foljer and his family for prayer. He brought his ten year old son Danny who was born with down syndrome. danny has had a difficult time because, as mentioned before, health care is severely lacking for the lower income/lower caste people. Stanely said that when they diagnosed Danny they simply told him that Danny was retarded and sent him home. Stanely looked for a special school for Danny for years. Finally after keeping Danny home for five years, he found a school which could meet Danny's need. The school cost 2000 ruppees a month which equals 50 American dollars and is 3/4ths of Stanely's monthly salary. He has found a donor to help pay for Danny's tuition for a year and is very thankful for this. He is receiving some occupational therapy as well but all of this falls short of the care Danny really needs. In America he would receive speech, physical, and occupational therapy. He would not have to pay for a special school and he would be given much more info on how to care for Danny. As it is Danny is a struggle for their family because special needs children are veiwed as a curse by Hindu's so when a Hindu meets them they think they are bad luck. This also effects their ministry because Danny can be very disruptive in church and this scares people. They do not understand his developmental delays. This has shown me that we must pray and act to help the situation of special needs folk here. There is a true need for education and medical care. We will pray for God's guidance on how to proceed from here. We will also continue to love Danny and his fmaily and learn how we can support his family and ministry.