Burning as Discipline

There is no doubt I am a firm believer in discipline one's children.  I was spanked as a child (not often but a few times) and I am relatively normal.  It did nothing to me physiologically.  However, abuse is a whole other story.  I am also in favor of abusing those who abuse children.

One morning a beautiful little girl was brought in by a neighbor.  She said that she heard the girl screaming and ran to check on her.  Upon arriving, she could see the girl was badly burned.  She had 2nd and 3rd degree burns on both hands.  She couldn't grip anything, hold anything, and seemed very sad...  The story we received from the neighbor was that the 5 year old girl was hungry and took a bite of fish her mother told her she couldn't have.  In her anger, the mother submerged her hands into boiling oil and held them there.  We were able to build a relationship with her, though she didn't talk much.  She would answer ever question with "Yes."  Eventually we would ask, "Who's beautiful, who's intelligent, who do we all love so much?"  She would answer them all with a smile and "Me."

One day she entered and had a small burn on her arm.  She told us her brother lit a match and placed it on her arm.  She was conditioned not to cry.  She would sit calmly and grimace a few times, though we knew she was in excruciating pain.  She had learned that crying would only bring more pain or that it didn't matter if she cried, no one cared.  She told us one day that her Mom didn't love her.  That was hard to stomach.  She's certainly not the first abused kid I have ever seen but she was the most aware of what was going on and that her parents didn't care.

The neighbor brought her every other day so we could treat the hands.  We would shower her with love and affection and then we would give her water and something to eat EVERY morning.  She told me every day she hadn't eaten.

It's now been 2 weeks since she was released but Sheryl happened to see her in the village shortly after her release.  She came running to her and hugged on her.  Sheryl was also able to speak with her father and explain how she needed to be cared for, loved, and provided for.  That this little girl was a gift from God.

She was one happy girl with all of her gifts on her last day of treatment.