Joseph has a Family!

You will see in his photos and description below, that he cares for a little girl named Jessa. He is a sweet, nurturing, compassionate, and helpful  little boy and my prayer is that he will come home to a family who will be able to nurture him forever!

Joseph is 10 years old and his special need is congenital microphthalmia of both eyes, coloboma of iris. As you can see in his description below, his vision impairment does not seem to stop him from doing much of anything. He can see enough to do puzzles and paint!!

Here are the descriptions of him from the camp he attended:

“Joseph was a sweet and wonderful breath of fresh air during my time at Kid’s Camp. As a speech therapist coming to evaluate some other children at camp, I was not scheduled to see him. Joseph does not have language or speech concerns. In fact, he was very quick to pick up English words while helping me with several younger children as I played with them.

His energy and enthusiasm were contagious and he seemed very interested in socializing with everyone. Though he has a vision impairment, he quickly became interested in taking pictures with people’s phones- and had focusing, centering the image, and showing us all the picture down in no time! Interestingly, he was able to group people into pictures who “belonged” together- therapists, workers, etc. I loved seeing him work- and he loved showing off his pictures with English words he picked up: look at this, take a picture, here you are… Joseph is a true delight and made an impact on everyone he met!”

“Joseph was the oldest boy at camp and he had the most tender heart! He always wanted to help, whether that be clean the table, carry the trash, or play with the younger children. Joseph was always looking out for others. One day the boys were being silly before nap time and Joseph knew it was time for to get into pajamas. All of a sudden, Joseph is changing the youngest boys’ diapers and getting them into their pajamas.”

“During meals, Jessa needed a little extra help eating. Usually a staff member or orphanage director would feed Jessa, but Joseph decided to feed Jessa one day. He would hold her forehead up so she didn’t spill her yogurt and carefully wiped her mouth after every few bites. When she finished her yogurt, Jessa leaned over to Joseph and laid her head on his lap.”

“We had a volunteer come and paint with the kids. The volunteer painted an owl on the canvas and asked Joseph if he wanted to copy the painting. Despite Joseph’s low vision, he copied the painting exactly! When he was finished we asked to paint a cat too!”

“Words that come to mind when I think of Joseph are kind and helper. I was so impressed with Joseph from day one. During the first day at camp, while the rest of the kids took a nap, Joseph and I played quietly in the boy’s room. We worked on a couple different puzzles that were pretty intricate and did not have much variety in color. Though his special need impairs his vision, Joseph impressed me with his ability to match the puzzle pieces together. Joseph quickly showed himself to be a leader as he enjoyed helping the adults with daily activities, especially organizing the children and helping them get into the van. Joseph interacted well with the other children. He was warm and friendly to our volunteers and gave a lot of hugs! He made friends quickly even with volunteers’ kids that were only there for a day. Joseph really liked to borrow iPhones to take photos. He may be a budding photographer. Joseph picked up English phrases quickly and enjoyed practicing them often– especially “thank you”, “you’re welcome” and “picture.”