“Whoever receives a little child like this in my name receives me.” Matthew 18:5
In July, our rescue team for our life-saving Kalaniot Children’s Home were informed of two siblings who were living in life-threatening conditions and in need of being rescued immediately. Living in the home were Aaron, who has been diagnosed with mild Cerebral Palsy, his younger sister Natella, and their mother and stepfather. Without hesitation, we moved into action and set up an emergency site visit to check out these concerns.
When our rescue team entered their flat, what they saw was a scene out of a horror movie. The living conditions were horrific and there was no food to be found anywhere. Natella appeared to be malnourished and looked as if she had not been bathed for weeks and when we couldn’t locate Aaron, we were informed that he had been placed in a special boarding school for disabled children. This immediately raised a red flag, because institutions such as these, are most often places to hide children with disabilities from the public. After speaking extensively with the parents, they finally agreed to allow us to take Natella to live in our Kalaniot home. Our next mission was to urgently try to find young Aaron so that we could rescue him from what was most likely a repressive situation.
About a week later we finally located this darling boy and after completing the necessary paperwork, we were given permission to become his temporary guardian. My family, you should have seen the look on the faces of these sweet children when they were finally reunited! It was just so touching to see them run into each other’s arms and hold each other tightly while crying. Thank God, they are now safe and living together while under our loving care.
Aaron and Natella will have a very long road ahead of them in their process of healing from the extreme trauma that they have both suffered from. After working extensively with the children, our therapists found out that Natella was being badly abused by her stepfather and Aaron had been confined to a room by himself while living in the institution.
I am praying that you will join me in wrapping your loving arms around these two sweeties and letting them know that they will be loved and cared for every single day. Together, with your love, we can raise Aaron and Natella up and eventually bring them home to Israel, healthy and whole.
