For Jonathan Sake Outreach Day 8- Phoela (Ananiah)

Meet Ananiah, her uncle started bringing her the outreach program this past year. She is around 2 years old and is unable to walk or talk and suffers from malnourishment. I have seen her at House Of Hope receiving food and supplements for her malnourishment. Her mother passed away shortly after she was born and so Ananiah lives with her Aunts, Uncle, & Grandma.

Unfortunately her family is not very consistent bringing her to outreach as Ananiah has A LOT of potential and the ability to learn to walk if she is worked with consistently. Currently she can stand while holding on to an object or your hand. She can also walk with hands held but reluctantly. Ananiah is not a fan of therapy for 2 reasons…first she is scared of “blancs” aka white people and second she doesn’t want to work. She really needs to work on strengthening her legs and increasing her core-strength for improved balance before she will be able to take independent steps.

I had the privilege of visiting Ananiah’s uncle’s house this summer. I showed them different ways to work on standing at their house and encouraged them to take 30 minutes a day to work on standing and walking with Ananiah. I informed them with consistent practice she would be able to walk. I learned that she is motivated to stand by coloring and bubbles :0)

In the afternoons/evenings I like to take walks on the mountain behind the mission. I frequently pass Ananiah sitting/playing in the dirt in front one of the houses on the route we walk (I am guessing it is a friend of the families hosue). I always stop and say hi (even though she tries to hide from me). When there is a family member around, I remind them of how important it is for her to practice standing/walking everyday outside of outreach and that we miss them at outreach and hope someone can bring her the next week. One day her aunt told me she can’t walk and never will. I was glad I had a translator with me and was able to talk her aunt and help her see Ananiah’s potential. I then took Ananiah’s hands and demonstrated how she could walk with hands held. I was so glad to see them at outreach the following week.

Please keep this family in your prayers as they care for Ananiah. Pray that they will see & understand the benefit of taking a few minutes everyday to work with her & make the effort when possible to bring her to outreach.