This is Jonel.

He is 14 years old, and he was shot in the Kenscoff mountains, an area called Kay Jaques (kajak in creole) two weeks ago, during a bandit attack.

He was shot in the back, and is now paralyzed from the waist down. He and his mother arrived at our hospital just today.

His mom is a very small but rugged country woman.

But she could not carry him far every day, just a small distance.

She would shelter him in a hidden place at the end of a day, trying to get out of the mountains.

Dodging roving bandits, sleeping outside in the cold rain, leaving him occasionally to look for yams or potatoes and abandoned gardens,

it took them 15 days to reach us, and he has been that long without medical care.

Although I didn’t want to take a picture of his face, Jonel is wide eyed and curious, radiant and worried.

We sent him to the surgeon for evaluation, but he is too malnourished, and his anemia is too severe, and the sores on his heels and his backside need a lot of care before he can have surgery.

So he is here with us while we build him up to a state of health, where he can withstand surgery, and then we will see what kind of life is possible for him as a newly paralyzed boy.

You probably don’t need a lot of help imagining how extensive is the suffering of people in the country like this,

But it may help your prayer to be more focused if you know that behind the prayer is the face and the fate of a young boy.

I say once again, as I wrote in my lent message, for as hard as it is, how good it is for us to be here for the sake of so many people, and for our sake as well.

Please join us in praying for Jonel and his mother, and all the people of Kenscoff

We will certainly, certainly, certainly do our best for them.