Donald Recovering Update 5/8/25

Donald is Out of the Hospital

Donald is our little boy in Ghana who was abandoned by his mother and left with a

woman who in turn abandoned him when he became seriously ill. He was rescued by the

lady who is taking care of Kodua, another of our little boys, and he was placed in

a hospital where he has been fighting for his life for about a week now.

Donald has had a hard life ever since he was born in October of 2023. He was placed

in an incubator immediately after birth and has had a string of health problems

ever since. On top of that his mother was too poor to give him the kind of care he

needed and, frankly, she is too young and irresponsible to be in charge of a baby.

It is really no surprise that she left him and never returned.

Generally, our policy at P9 is to step in to help people in emergencies, providing

the basic immediate aid they need to survive without necessarily taking on a long-

term commitment to help them once their emergency is resolved. We have made

exceptions, as with Anabel, the little girl who was abandoned by her mother who

then passed away. Anabel simply has no one else to care for her and we are not

willing to have her thrown out on the streets at four (now six) years of age.

And now we have taken in Donald. Not only because he has been abandoned with no

mother, father, or family to care for him (his mother is an immigrant from Nigeria

and has no relatives in Ghana) but also because we have helped him so many

different times that he has become a part of our P9 family. He has struggled his

way through burns, injuries, and illness and he is still alive and kicking. He is a

tough little fighter and it is impossible not to admire that.

The good news is that Donald was released from the hospital on the 7th of this

month and John has taken him to stay with the lady who is caring for Kodua. She

will care for them both, at least for now. Of course that will take money, as she

must be paid and inevitably there will be expenses such as food and clothing. She is

insisting that we buy mattresses for both of them and they will probably need

mosquito netting for their beds, virtually a necessity in Ghana to keep from

catching malaria from mosquito bites. This is going to be a strain on our limited

funds and of course we will be unable to help many of the others who come to us in

need, but we will accept our responsibilities and do our best for the little ones.