Herbert is a vibrant, energetic, spirited eight year old little boy. His eyes light up when we come to see him and he leads us by the hand behind his house to see his pig. Although Herbert has Down syndrome and cannot speak he will grab my hand and make sounds as if he wants to tell me so much. Although he has poor motor planning and auditory thought processing when he was visited by Spring of Hope he was taught to bathe himself; he loved scrubbing his belly and kept going back to it over and over again when he was told not to forget his arms, his legs and other areas as well. After the bath he was assisted in washing his own shirt, I saw the water turn brown by the dirt from his shirt, and then I shifted my gaze to the Herbert’s mother, who was smiling and shaking her head. At that moment I knew that this was so much more then washing a shirt; this is empowering a child, this is giving one mother a break, this is one more step in the towards independence. This is hope.
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