Aldea Infantil: Working with Fabricio

By Brett Fotheringham
June 30
This week I looking for what picture to post for the week and I came across this picture of Fabricio which had been taken by one of the boys with my camera. Fabricio is three-years-old and suffers from a variety of conditions. He is partially deaf, blind, and cannot sit up very well unless assisted. His muscles are very weak and as a result he is very difficult to care for here at the Aldea. Working with Fabricio however is the best thing in the world! Whenever possible, the other volunteers and I do exercises with him in order to strengthen his legs, back, abdomen, and neck. I know that if only he had more people working with him, more often, then he may be able to walk, but I fear as time goes on it will become more and more difficult for him to walk as his body grows in size while his muscles do not. At any rate, I figure every time we do exercises together, he gets closer to being able to sit up by himself, which is a gateway for crawling, which in turn, is a gateway for walking. Fabricio is the best little guy in the universe and I absolutely love him. Sadly this picture doesn´t capture one of his happier moments, which I shall be sure to try and capture this coming week, but despite all the adversity in his life, Fabricio is a happy child who is in dire need of simple physical therapy from doctors and volunteers alike. I look forward to working with him this week as always, and seeing the progress he can make. Until next week, Chao!

Note: Many of our interns have had concern for Fabricio and have helped in any way they could while at the Aldea. More posts about Fabricio are here. Take a moment to think about what you could do to help Fabricio. Visit our website to learn more.