Dear Editor,
On a foggy morning before sun-up in Georgetown, I got out of bed. After which I then drove to the seawall and started running. While running I saw Abraham (not his real name) and his mother. I stopped running when I saw that Abraham’s face was badly damaged and needed immediate medical treatment. When I inquired about his injury, his mother told me that her sister had thrown hot water on Abraham. I asked the mother if I could take him to the hospital, and she said yes. I took him to Mercy Hospital, and they provided medical treatment for his injury. After I returned him to his mother, I asked her if I could keep him and take care of him, and she agreed.
His mother is severely mentally ill. Before Abraham was born, his mother had already lost her mind. His father was never in his life, and died when Abraham was six years old.
After I left Guyana, I paid a family member to keep him and send him to private school. But he wasn’t an easy child to care for. Abraham was not a saint. At six years old, he was still not toilet trained and was giving the caregiver a lot of stress. After two years at her home and due to the stress he caused her, she couldn’t keep him any more. He was then moved to an orphanage.
From the start of his education, I’ve been asking teachers to get him into a special needs school because he wasn’t learning anything. However I got the runaround. Even though he failed the SSEE badly, he was still placed in a secondary school. Instead, I took him out of that school and put him in a special needs school. He has severe learning disabilities; even though he’s 14 years old, he cannot read, write or say his ABCs. He’s also unable to write his name, count to 25 or say the days of the week.
I’m writing this letter because I would like someone to test and evaluate him academically to see why he’s not learning, and what we can do to help him.
For more than a decade, I’ve been trying to adopt him and bring him to North America so that he can receive professional help with his disabilities. But I wasn’t successful. Every school break, my four daughters who are close to Abraham in age, would travel to Guyana to visit Abraham. They have considered him to be their brother since they met him when he was just four years old. They keep encouraging me to bring him to North America. After trying unsuccessfully to adopt and bring him to North America, I gave up trying a few months ago. Therefore I’m now looking for someone to keep him.
One of the reasons that I’m looking for a family to adopt him is because lately he has been asking me to find a home and family for him. He said that he doesn’t want to stay at the orphanage any more. I was surprised by this request because in the past, he had never wanted to leave the orphanage. And I thought it was because he had become institutionalised. But now that he wants to leave I have nowhere or no one to keep him.
So I thought I should go public with his one and only wish in life: to have a home and a family.
Editor, we must never forget the words of Jesus regarding helping the poor. He said, “For I was hungry, and you fed me. I was thirsty, and you gave me a drink. I was a stranger, and you invited me into your home. I was naked, and you gave me clothing. I was sick, and you cared for me… I tell you the truth, when you did it to one of the least of these my brothers and sisters, you were doing it to me.”
Here’s my contact information: 675-3062 (Cell), email address
quallis1_s@yahoo.com
Yours faithfully,
Anthony Pantlitz
