Blogging from Bolivia
Wednesday, December 2, 2009
By: Michael Nyenhuis

Rosminda's Smile

I had my heart broken today when I saw 14-year-old Rosminda’s smile. She has lived a life none of us would want, but she smiled at me nonetheless.

Rosminda lives in a rural area near Shinahota, Bolivia, a dripping-wet town cut out of the humid jungle. She was born deaf and has never heard. Her parents, uneducated and with no access to services to help their daughter, kept her isolated as an infant and toddler. Then, when she was 4, they abandoned her. Rosminda’s grandparents took her in, but they, too, have been frustrated, angry and weary with her because they don’t understand her. They kept her isolated as well.

And, so, during her first 13 years, Rosminda never had been to school, never socialized with other children, was never given anything useful to do. She was cut off from the world, treated much like an animal.

Then God sent David Pascual Villca. David is only 19, but he has been trained already as a MAP International health promoter. One of his specialties is working with people who have disabilities. When he learned of Rosminda one year ago he went to see her and has been working with her and her parents since. David took me to meet Rosminda today.

Rosminda’s smile – she does smile a lot now – broke my heart. I could not help but think of all of the years, opportunity and potential that had been lost before David came around. I found myself mad at God, her parents, her grandparents, Bolivian-society, the church, myself and all of us for having allowed her to go through a hell for 13 years. How could such a beautiful girl be left with such a life?

But then, slowly, my anger was replaced by thankfulness for David – that God had sent him and that MAP had prepared him to be in this place at this time to serve Rosminda and her grandparents. In the past year:

• Rosminda and her family have learned to communicate in new ways
• They are all learning sign language (David is teaching it to them as he learns it himself)
• She has learned to sew (David taught this as well after teaching himself)
• She is attending school for the first time, socializing with classmates and making friends
• Her grandmother is staying home now to work with Rosminda more.

In short, she has a new life. I told David this: “You, truly, are being the hands and feet of Jesus to her. She was treated almost like an animal before and you are now helping her discover the life God intended for her.”

She does not hear, but she can live. Rosminda is getting that chance.