Barking Dogs in The Woodlands Texas - How to remedy

Technology is making a difference and giving residents new options to resolve issues with neighbors, especially with dogs that incessantly bark and interrupt sleep or lower the quality of living in the household. In no residential neighborhood is it acceptable for a domestic animal to be the cause of insomnia or inability to concentrate on activities within the home. Here in The Woodlands, we expect a quiet place to live, especially inside the home. So what can be done about a barking dog? Call the police? Nope. They should come only as a last resort, so I will give you some proven remedies to try before you would do this. There is no ordinance for this in The Woodlands or in Montgomery County, and it looks like there is no need for an ordinance to control this issue. If someone's dog barks, I recommend trying a new device. I think I would not even talk to the neighbor, just do it. Stressing relationships over a dog's bark is not required and not desired. Save yourself from conflicts with your neighbors. But if it comes to that, I will give some more advice later about an available service that could help with that issue in this article.

We have had no-bark collars available for years now, but that is a cruel way to try to quiet an animal. Electric shocks are not a natural way to control a bark. We now have a more natural means to do this, by sound. There are two methods that I know about.

One such method is new a new technology that was introduced to me by a neighbor. It is a birdhouse! Yes, I fell over too when she told me that. I sort of smiled and said, what did you have to drink this morning? Well, I guess that was not the thing to say. She was simply beaming with new found joy about this birdhouse. OK, I said, since she was being serious and so happy, how does this work? It emits a high frequency noise response to a dog's bark. It is directional, so when the dog barks, it is not responding to other animals which might also be affected by the response. The barking was killing me! she said. Now, the dog doesn't seem to make a sound. The neighborhood is quiet again and the dog is apparently outside the same amount of time. It would not shut up before!

Knowing this and having visited the supplier's website, as this neighbor suggested, I have discovered a new product that looks like a birdhouse, blending in the environment perfectly. What a perfect solution for The Woodlands. It is suggested that the batteries for it be purchased from the same source unless you have some 9v batteries hanging around the house somewhere, unused.
Ultrasound Dog Bark Birdhouse

OK, so you now have a problem with your neighbor. You went to the neighbor complaining and got into an argument about this or you said, "I should not have to buy one of these. It is your fault that I am having this problem and you should fix the problem!" Oops. Now you have to mend the fences so to speak, and you need some help with this. If you do need help out of this situation, there is a service in Conroe to mend problems with any person-to-person issues where you and the person cannot resolve your issues alone. Don't feel alone in this. It happens all the time.
Montgomery County Resolution Center

Now you say all of this has not worked out for you. You have taken all steps in your power to fix the problem and the neighbor will not take responsibility for his action or non-action. You are determined to get something done about this problem! Now you should document everything your have done, document the noise, and call the sheriff at the non-emergency number. They will be glad to talk to your neighbor about being a public nuisance. The noise must be greater than 85db to be able to accuse your neighbor of breaking this law. Otherwise, you are just able to get help from a law enforcement officer with the problem by him just knocking on the door. He has significant law breaking issues to deal with, so please do not call him out unless you really try to fix the problem yourself and have run out of alternatives.

Car Watch Program : prevent auto theft and burglary - Living Advice in The Woodlands Texas

This program is actually a Texas program. It is sponsored by the Texas Department of Transportation. The Sheriff department and other law enforcement agencies here cannot stop an automobile without due cause unless the owner provides those agencies with permission to stop the vehicle without cause. This particular provision of state law is to help law enforcement officials catch auto thieves. The Texas Auto Burglary & Theft Prevention Authority registers vehicles through a process known as H.E.A.T. to enable law enforcement officers to suspect the vehicle is stolen between the hours of 1AM and 5AM if the car is on the road during those hours. So if you do not regularly use your vehicle between those hours and wish your car to be more visible as a possible theft, you would use this service. 1-800-CAR-WATCH or register online at H.E.A.T. This process also enables cars to fall under suspicion at the Texas Mexico border, so don't be surprised if they stop you at the border and ask additional questions or proof of ownership if the related decal is displayed on your vehicle. That is a good thing to help protect your property! A quote from the the state website: "A car is stolen in Texas every five and a half minutes. More vehicles are stolen between 1:00 a.m. and 5:00 a.m. than any other time." Montgomery County participates in state wide efforts to identify and catch car thieves. It is called the Montgomery County Auto Theft Task Force. There has been a big drop in reported stolen vehicles for Texas since 2001, indicating the program is working. Also, Texas has a 74% recovery rate for stolen vehicles compared to 63% nationally. Some cars are more prone to be stolen that others. Lately, the Acura has been one of the more desired vehicles by thieves. ALso to understand that as many as 25% of 4-wheel vehicles on the road in Mexico are stolen. Mexico allows vehicles to cross into their country without being checked. Almost every vehicle that has been stolen is identified as being stolen after crossing using border surveillance equipment by the law enforcement agencies. But that does not mean the car is recoverable. Leaving your keys in your car is a class "C" misdemeanor. You can be fined up to $500 for doing so. Insurance will not pay you for damages to your car if the keys are in it. It is also a felony to operate a car without the owners permission. Keep that in mind when you borrow someone else's car. The old saying, "three strikes and you are out" applies to this. Three felonies and you lose your privileges. A related program is sponsored by this state agency - HLT, or HIDE LOCK TAKE. This program particularly pertains to The Woodlands residents. This program requests that residents help law enforcement officials by hiding your things in the car, locking your the doors to your car, and taking your keys out of the car when you leave it. Burglaries are a constant threat and an auto0moible parked in a driveway of a home is a target for mischief and theft when these precautions are ignored. Other related advice is to not park too close to the auto in front of you. Think "I need space to get out if confronted by a thief or threatened by suspicious persons nearby." Give yourself the option to leave in a bug hurry if you need to do so. While we are at this, the Sheriff's department recommends that people in this county use steering wheel locks. They are a deterrent to thieves.

• Web Link to Texas Auto Burglary and Theft Prevention Authority
• H.E.A.T. Web link

How to externally clean a home of mildew and algae in The Woodlands Texas

If you live in The Woodlands under the canopy of the forest, you know that mildew and algae begs you to take action about once every year. You either call your local yard cleaning crew or give a call to a power wash specialist. You have a black driveway, green foundation, green fence and probably green siding on your home. The association may have given you a letter saying "please clean it", or your neighbors have said something like, "the color of your house is interesting", meaning of course "clean the .. thing, why don't ya!"

The good news is that it is not that difficult to do yourself. The driveway might be the toughest part if you do not have a power washer. Many have their own power washer here, so they can spend a half a day making it look good again. The professionals have a driveway washer with brushes and a power spray washer to speed up the process.

To clean your home, all you need is a ladder, a hand pump one gallon sprayer, a bottle of house bleach, a container of JOMAX concentrated house cleaner and mildew cleaner from a local hardware or building supply company. You would benefit from having a water pressure sprayer to put on your garden hose. It needs to have a narrow spray pattern so you can reach the roof of your home. I am able to spray the entire house from the ground, with the exception of one section where I climb the roof. I do the entire house in one-half day.

Put 4 cups bleach and 1 cup of JOMAX in the sprayer and add water to the one gallon marker. It is ready to go. Pump it up and spray 150 sq foot or so, letting it sit for 15 minutes. While waiting, spray some of the next section. Rinse the first section down using intense pressure, and you will probably need to repeat step one again by spraying parts of the first section with the solution again if it is truly green to start. I find myself giving almost the entire section a second treatment. Repeat the process until the entire house is completed. You can treat the windows just like they are part of the siding. Then you have a clean house except for the driveway, fence and concrete foundation. I treat the air conditioner, gas pipes and essentially everything outside with the solution. This year I tried an alternative to JOMAX - Damprid Concentrated House Cleaner. It worked just fine in the same proportions.

So what about plants? Just wet them down before you start spraying. Yes, there will probably be some bleaching of broad leafed plants, but I have yet to lose a plant from the treatment. If you have very sensitive plants, then go ahead and cover them. After you have completed the cleaning, be sure to clean out your bird feeder, dog bowls or anything that may threaten your pets or wildlife with residue from the clorox.

The additional good news is that this solution works for fences as well Use the same method and you can get quite good results. I have good luck using the same method on my concrete back porch as well.

But the driveway is typically another beast!I use only a power washer for that. It takes considerably more time and effort. So if you are going to hire this done, hire the driveway part. I usually treat the driveway with the solution also but have never noticed that it has done any good whatsoever. I also like to use a power washer at the base of the foundation where the mold and algae seem to never die. I do that every couple of years. While you at it, please clean the street and gutters in front of your house of the mildew there. One of our objectives here is to maintain the street view of the home, to keep the neighborhood clean as a unit. Black gutters leaves the appearance of dirtiness. It is up to residents to make their home pleasing to the eye. I power wash the street as well and believe it or not, the street is white underneath all that stuff.

That about wraps it up. I would caution anyone from using a power washer on wood siding and up under the eaves. You can damage the wood easily with a power washer. The chemical method is much less of a threat to the materials than the power washer which can strip the paint right off the house.

Re-liv'n Crime of 20 years ago - Serial Rape Case

Some people live more difficult lives than others. That may sound corny but wait until you read this. This story is not recommended for young people to read without adult consent. It is fairly graphic and adult in nature, but is told to deliver a very powerful message about life, security and the will to live.

Twenty something years ago there was a single young lady who worked as we all do, trying to make an honest living. She had friends and was quite comfortable in her surroundings. She was experiencing a new world out there, enjoying all sorts of new adventures and new people. She tended to children at a day care center from 7 to 7 daily. Her twenty years of life had matured to the extent of being confident and independent. She was reasonably careful and aware of her surroundings, being taught early in life to lean toward the side of caution when it comes to safety. Her apartment had a deadbolt lock to discourage intruders. She felt secure.

Two children in particular attended the day care; this young lady got to know them very well. She also became friends with their parents who after some time began to contract her services as a baby sitter. Over time, she was quite comfortable around the couple and she liked to babysit their children, primarily to earn a little spending money.

One evening she went out with a friend and returned home to her apartment about 10PM. She went through her normal routine, securing the bolt lock and watching outside to make sure no one followed her into the apartment. She would also notice anything inside that was out of place.

This is the place in a story where you instinctively think there may be someone hiding in her apartment unawares, a typical scene right out of a movie. Not this time. She hears a knock at the front door, soon after she locks the door. Someone was close behind her! A familiar voice is heard outside - the mother of the two kids. "Would you help me? I need someone to care for the children this evening. I know it is late, but my husband must go out of town on business and I must go with him. Can you come with me to care for the children in my home?" The young lady thinks nothing about it. "Sure, be glad to help." She grabs a couple of things and off they go to the home of the couple.

Upon arriving, the woman goes into the bedroom and in a few minutes starts fighting with her husband, each yelling at one another. In a few more minutes, it all calms down and the lady goes into the kitchen talking to the young lady, "Men! Sometimes they don't have a clue." She accompanies the woman to the kitchen. As the woman is writing the check, suddenly an arm reaches from behind and covers her mouth. Then the young lady feels the sharpness of a metal knife on her throat. A man's voice, which she recognizes as the husband's, warns her to be still. "You move or yell and you are dead." She looks at the woman and realizes that there is no surprised look on her face. It's a planned setup. The man continues to threaten her. "Come with me to the bedroom and do not try to escape. You are on the edge of death if you do not cooperate." He and his wife proceed to a place in the bedroom and the wife pulls up a piece of carpet where there are tools and materials - handcuffs and duct tape. The young lady is handcuffed and the tape is wrapped around her mouth and head. She can barely breathe. Now the man drags her across the room by her hair and arms. They proceed to take her clothes off and his wife comes back with a broom. They violently rape her with the broom. She is hurt and bleeding. After hours of this, the man takes the girl and hits her head repeatedly on a wooden table. The back of her head is now also bleeding. After a couple of hours or so of this brutality, he starts talking to her in a low soft voice. "I thought you were dead the last time you passed out. You are strong and very lucky to still be alive. If you want to stay alive, you had better listen to everything I say." She had passed out several times with pain and shocking blows to her head. She was bleeding profusely. "I know much about you. No one knows where you are. I can do whatever I want to you and no one will even know. You will just disappear." This was true she realized. She had become so independent that she did not call her mom or sister or any friends. She just left the apartment without telling a soul! A great feeling of fear came over her as the man asked his wife to bring something from the table. A gun? No one knows what that instrument or thing was. The girl does not remember or maybe never knew, because at the same time he told her things about her life, her family, and her friends; these were things she had never told either one of them. They had researched her life in every detail and knew more than anyone could have ever expected a best friend to know, and this couple could not be classified as best friends. He goes on "I am going to let you live, but only if you never tell anyone about this. You will go to work at your regular time this morning and act like nothing ever happened. You will not tell anyone about this. The day will be normal as it was planned at the day care center. If it is not, and you reveal this night to someone, anyone, we will bring great harm to your mother and then your sister. You may never see either one again". She got dressed and the woman took her home. After she went into her apartment, the woman waited outside to see if anyone would take notice and possibly if her room mate or neighbor would return that night. Yes, the couple had waited until they knew that her neighbors would be out of town and her room mate would not be at home when they executed this very detailed hideous plan. The woman finally left. The night was over. Or was it? She got no sleep that night! She bathed over and over again. She lathered. All she wanted to smell was soap. Anything to remove the memory of this experience.

Next day, she went to work as normal. She told no one. She was beat up and her hair was not arranged as neat as it was normally, because pieces were missing due to the tape being violently yanked off of her head, pulling hair out of her head. Her face was red from the tape but not cut. The folks at the day care center thought she had been to a wild party the night before. They did not question it much. Just something single people do. The bruises and cuts on the back of her head were not normal, but not all that visible either. She said she had fallen down twice.

Each parent was supposed to bring in fruit that day for the children. In came the woman with her two kids and asked her, "Where do I put this?", nodding her head towards the plate she was carrying, as if nothing had ever happened. The girl leads the woman to the kitchen and receives a message from her, "you know what will happen if you tell anyone." Seemed like a routine day in the center, but not so for this poor suffering young lady. Later in the day, she made an appointment with a doctor who found that she was in trauma from the night before and the doctor reported it. A victim's advocate came to see her. For cases like this, we have a law that provides this young lady with assistance from local law enforcement agencies. The victim advocate worked on her over the next few days until the girl finally revealed that something bad had happened. However, she had to tell the story in a way to prevent the identity or specific deed from being revealed, so she would protect her family. After some weeks, the story became more evident, because the advocate just would not let it be. The advocate knew very well that the young lady had been raped, even though there was little evidence. Parts of the story was told, enough for the police to have some idea of the severity of the problem, although no charges were ever to be filed.

The couple continued to remind the young lady about her commitment to remain silent. The man rode past her apartment twice daily and made sure she saw him. She started to drink alcohol in the afternoon to ease the mental anguish. After about one year, he stopped coming by and the couple moved away. The young lady had grown mentally and was strengthening her resolve to overcome this adversity in her life. Finally, it was over! They were gone!

But was it over? One day the young lady received a phone call. "Please come to the police station to talk to us about your case." She did not want to start this all over again. It took a great deal of coercing to get her back there. "We need you to help us with another case." So she went. "We have another case that is similar to yours. We need to know more detail." It turned out that one key item left out was the turning point on linking another case to hers. That case had the same carpet square with the tape and tools. The police had managed to link the two cases. The new victim had experienced even a worse beating and rape. This one too had a man and wife involved and was carefully planned like hers. Two cases in two cities but the same profile of criminality.

As it turned out a third case later was brought forward and it was even worse. The third victim tried to commit suicide. The man and wife were charged and sentenced to life after some plea bargaining. So it was finally over for the young lady! She would never have to see this man again.

But was it over? Now it is 20 years later and the young lady is a forty something police woman. Yep, she went back to school and to the academy and joined the law enforcement team. This is where she could make a difference in this world. There is yet one more not-so-incidental fact about this case you ought to know at this point. The heinous crime occurred on her 20th birthday. So for the last 20 years, she celebrates her birthday with the memory of this crime. Yes, she is liv'n and reminded of how terrible some people are in this world. But at the same time, she can celebrate her birthday as a reminder that she is a survivor and there are many people who love her.

Guess what? The guy has been a model prisoner over the last 20 years in prison, involved in bible teachings and helping the chaplain. He is up for parole this year and may get it. The detectives had said that this case was a classic serial rape, marked with the same routine. Each time the victim suffered a worse fate than the one before, with the last victim nearly committing suicide. The next time, it is likely to be murder.

There is an effort underway today to petition the court to not allow this man to be paroled. Will he do his evil deed again? Will the next victim even live to tell the story? Three people have been severely hurt physically and mentally by this man. How can he paroled - essentially pardoned from such a crime?

Mr Michael Hall Smith, I am sharing your heinous crime with whomever will read this and with what understanding I have of your case. I hope others learn that there really are humans like you in this world, that is if you qualify to be called a human being; we need laws and sentencing to keep your kind behind bars. It does not seem to me that your crime has been avenged nor have you paid a fair price for what you have done to others. Justice would not be served by your release. Living is for those who respect the rights of others; the god-given right to life is not for those who destroy the lives of others. And you seek to be paroled, forgiven for crimes where you attempted to destroy the lives of others. Yes, living is difficult, more so for some than it should be, due to the likes of you.

Oh yes! Did I tell you? Mr Smith's profession was a computer programmer and his wife, a pharmacist. The couple was a typical middle income family, seemingly quite normal, just like the family next door to you and I. No, I do not advocate distancing ourselves from our neighbors. Quite the opposite. We must know our neighbors well and learn to love them. True liv'n cannot exist without true lov'n. If something should happen to one of our friends, I hope we will help them through it. The way out for the victim is not to lie and pretend it never happened. It is through counseling and revelation. Take the burden off of your friend's shoulders.

Many thanks to the victim's public advocate who got this young lady out of her shell before she exploded from within. Not everyone is so lucky. Indeed, she was lucky, just as the criminal said, "to be alive", even though at the time and afterwards, she had to internally reconcile that fact. She is now liv'n and lov'n. Hopefully she will not face that criminal ever again. But then again, is it over?

Postscript to the story:
It was found that both of the kids were being sexually abused and were taken from the couple by Child Protective Services. They were given to the wife's mother who lived in another state. It is unknown after that what happened to them or how their lives subsequently developed. The wife helped the prosecution out in convicting the defendant and for that she reaped the benefits of a plea bargain. She was sentenced to 7 yrs in prison for kidnapping. She served 2 and was released back into society.

Please support the denial of this man's probation by signing and obtaining others' signatures on this petition and sending the document to the designated address below. You can fax it or send by mail.
Petition Document click here

Send your signed petition to Tamara Young at the Montgomery Sheriff's office.
Fax: 936-760-4494

Mailing address:
Montgomery County Sheriff’s Office
Tamara Young
Criminal Investigations Division
#1 Criminal Justice Drive
Conroe, TX 77301

Every signature counts! You can play an important role to prevent this man from doing this again. Tamara is the Victims Advocate in the Montgomery County Sheriff's office. Her dedication and enthusiasm for our safety is greatly appreciated. She is a true life advocate for criminal victims.

Barack Obama and his Chicago Home - Woodlands resident

Getting out and about the neighborhoods often reaps surprising stories. So it was with this little 87 year-old lady. Sitting outside on a bright beautiful typical spring day here in the southeast, she was watching me as I passed by, so I decided to go over and talk to her. After a few normal greetings and introductions, she goes into the garage and pulls out this heavy iron chair, picks it up and puts it next to hers. "Here! You sit down and relax for a while."

I was out trying to get people to vote in the coming May election. So I took a break. We talked about families of course, and then she breaks out with "I like Obama. I am going to vote for him. Do you know that I used to live in his home?" Hmmmm I thought, this is going to be unusual. "Yes, we used to live by a church and they held Sunday School in our home. That house now is Obama's home in Chicago. We lived close to the water and shared this home many years ago with others. Our children attended that Sunday school.

She told me to wait a minute and and she would get a photo of it. So she went in the house and brought out two photographs. "Now look at this", as she pointed to a house from a newspaper clipping. When I saw this in the newspaper, I told my son, there is something familiar about this house." He said, "isn't this our home in Chicago?" "Yes, it is. Now look at this", as she points to the same house in an old photograph she hangs in her house. "It is not much different. They added some windows on this side of the house and re-did the front porch, but not much more." So now you are a celebrity. "Oh no! I am just a person here in The Woodlands, enjoying this beautiful weather."

You can't help but love to get to know people like this lady. She was a delight to talk to, but I had to get on with the business at hand. One of these days, I will pass by there again looking for her. And by the way, she insisted on moving that heavy iron chair herself. She told me about the chair she was sitting in. She said nowadays, someone converts this exact web chair into an expensive leather strapped chair. "Mine just falls apart over time."

Liv'n the early Spring Season in The Woodlands Texas

To see a larger and clearer view of pictures in this blog, you may click on the picture.

What a beautiful place we live in here! We can walk or drive in the village streets and observe Azaleas and other early flowering plants. One can almost hear the plants yelling for joy as the bees pass over the blossoms. So everything begins to multiply, leveraging its beauty to reproduce itself.

To supplement those abundant colors in our neighborhoods, we have the Texas and Eastern Redbud trees. But the white Dogwood tree is a striking and prominent under garment of the forest. The Dogwood is considered a jewel of the east Texas forests because of its brilliant white blossom clusters, contrasting so much against the new fresh green and yellows of the towering pines and hardwoods, which simultaneously start budding new growth and bloom. The Dogwood is a small tree. Its place in the forest ecology is normally found in partial shade due to its size. It loves the marsh bogs found throughout east Texas. An appreciation of this tree is found here in many yards and park areas here where homeowner, developer or association has planted the tree. We also have other varieties of the Dogwood, but this one is native. Each spring in Tyler Texas, a festival is held honoring this diamond of the forest. That festival is underway as I write this blog article.

So feast you eyes. These colors go away quickly as summer approaches.

Lov´n under-privileged children in Venezuela

We live in a community of many nationalities, especially from South America. This article is provided to help understand some of the culture from where they came and also to relate to our own own.

Some 30 children of various forms of poverty and health gave us new insights into life today. Like my wife said, ¨this is reality where the real world connects to fantasy. We do not live in a perfect world." Don´t we all learn more each day? This was such an exceptional experience for all of us that I had to share it! Here in Venezuela, the children´s rights are protected by the government, so we could not take any photographs. I will outline a few memories to note what we did and what benefits unfolded for us and these children.

We brought new toys from home to give them and had arranged a visit to this special home before we left the states. The toys had to be special for these special children from little babies to a fourteen year old. Most of them were incapable of opening their packages so we did so for them. The event was a party of about two hours duration. When we arrived, several of the children were curious why we were there and what we had with us. Two of them came out to the lobby to mix with us and see what we had. They were fascinated with our eyeglasses, the camera which I was not allowed to use and all the packages we brought. After working with the social workers to put names to the gifts and see that the toys were distributed appropriately, we went into the children´s area and fed them the sandwiches and juice that we brought. We needed to help a few with their lunch but generally they were able to feed themselves. Mostly they came and asked for help when they needed it, but for some we had to go offer our help. I remember one child in particular who seemed starving for affection. She was about 4 years old and was not happy when we arrived. I picked her up and hugged her. She did not allow me to put her down for about 15 minutes. She grabbed me around the neck and held her face tightly next to mine. She was precious, and my heart pained to see any child like this. She finally settled down and was happy and participated in the event like the others, but we remained close after our initial emotional acquaintance. Another child that my daughter got attached to was the little girl without arms and legs. My 19-year-old daughter fed her while she was in her lap on the floor. Of course the little girl loved her attention. That girl was quite adept with her arms, managing to put on her cap and arranging it on her head very quickly. She also was able to walk well using her stub legs. Another little boy with black curly hair wanted me to pick him up and love him several times while we were there. He is about seven years old, and I could not hold him for long. But I gladly helped him every time he came to me.

One room was dedicated to tots and babies, with baby beds lining the walls. We went in there to visit them, but only one of them could interact with us and that interaction was only one-way affection. Most seemed to be be suffering from autism

After eating, the children were instructed to sit down in their chairs and wait for their names to be called to receive their gifts. They did so very well, quite behaved! Some wondered after a while if they would get a gift, so we had to speed up the process. They were excited. Some received dominoes, others dolls, others little cars, and other gifts. We had to cull the doll packages to remove the little hair brushes and nail files that came with them. The packages were difficult to open and the children wanted the little extras in the packages, but for safety sake, we had to remove those extras. It might have been better to open the packages beforehand, but part of the experience was the interaction with the children in opening their gifts. That gave us an idea of their skills and a better appreciation of who they are and their plight in this life. Some or all of the older children go to school. We were told that it is very unusual to receive visitors. Some say that the general population here does not have a conscious for these poor little ones. It is very rare for a man to visit them. Two called me ¨papa¨ and called the social worker ¨mama¨. I was not the only man there. A male family member also accompanied us. The older girl was also quite special. She was in a wheel chair and was not sociable until I went a talked to her like an adult. She wanted to know where we came from and why we were there. She opened up to me and soon she joined everyone else and enjoyed our visit. I noted that they tended to look after one another, especially the older ones to the younger ones. One little girl took the gift of another little girl and told her to keep it in the paper bag that we provided. She helped her put it in the bag when we left.

All in all, it was an event of love and compassion. I would have taken one home if I could. I have always wanted to do this here and was so glad when my wife's family arranged it. The responsibility for these children rests with the government and that is sad. Yet it is comforting to know that all children have protected rights here, even though the general population chooses to ignore the children and their plight.

I recommend that other people do this if they can, anywhere in the world including here.