Abandoned by his mother, beaten by many in his community, left to fend for himself in the garbage piles– this is Sylvester’s story.

Sylvester is maybe seven years old, very small, developmentally delayed, non-verbal, not potty trained and suffers from seizures. The popular Liberian belief is that he is ‘not correct in his mind,’ and thus less than human, not worth caring for, feeding or loving. Thankfully, one of the orphanage directors we work with did not share this opinion. She found him and saw no one else would protect him, so she did. She scrounged the community looking for his family and instead only found a frightening story about abuse, neglect and abandonment. She couldn’t leave him to suffer alone so gave him another chance at life.

Sylvester is currently living in a foster home specializing in care for children with special needs. After a doctor’s examination, he started on medication for his seizures. He is growing, becoming healthier, and is very affectionate. Though he still doesn’t talk, he doesn’t have a problem getting his point across.