We call him a prince because he seems to have a domain of his own--he has a northern and southern kingdom. He was six years old when I first saw him. He came in the back of a pick-up truck. He had just had a very bad burn injury and was in a lot of pain. I remember him crying that first day and threatening to have his uncle, a police man, come a shoot the nurse who was treating his burn wounds. He needed urgent care and was in for a couple years of painful therapy. He was really strong and proved to have a lot of will power to improve.I remember when he went with us a village about 40 miles north of our medical base. We were getting ready to leave and he told us he was going to stay there because his grandmother lived there--he wanted to spend time with her. He was then left in the care of his grandmother.
In about 10 days he shows up at our medical base. He was on public transportation and just came into the main base office and said--you will have to pay the driver. We paid the driver and we realized he had his northern domain (where his grandmother lived) and his southern kingdom (our medical base). We started calling him Prince Daud that day. His name is Nino or Daud (David) and he is now 11 years old. He has a special place in all of our hearts because he has been in our care for five years. He has made remarkable progress.
He generally doesn't smile but if you can get him to laugh it is contagious. He will get an entire room rolling on the floor. We love him and want him to prosper. He has a good heart and is pretty smart--even though he seems to miss more school than he attends. He is one of the little ones that will be with us for years to come. He comes and just pulls up a chair to the dinner table--he is welcome and he knows it. I hope to see him grow up to be a good man. I do know he will not be crippled or useless. He is normal and has little evidence of his burn.
He painted his face like a cat in the photo--you never know what a prince might do.
