As I talked to Samson’s mother Esther, Samson was peacefully asleep next to her. But the thing about his sleeping was that though he was definitely off in “lala land”, his eyes seemed open, a result of the tightness on his skin from the burns. So as he kept an unconscious eye on us, our conversation was reduced to whispers.

On the night of June 1st of 2011, Samson had already been laid in bed while the rest of the family prepared to follow suit. Suddenly, a fire started, and the cause is still unknown to Samson’s family and their affected neighbors. As he was lying down, covered by a mosquito net, flames engulfed the net, melting it onto helpless little Samson. The result was a handful of serious wounds to his head, face, and hands. Rushing to the hospital became the priority, so Esther and the rest of their family left their house to burn.

Samson ended up staying in the hospital for so long that by the time he was finally discharged and allowed to go home, his younger brother could not remember him. All in all, his wounds had healed, but he had been left with contractures on his elbow & wrist. So far, we’ve been able to successfully release the contracture on his elbow, and we’re praying that his skin graft continues to heal. Then when he’s ready, the next step is to release his wrist. Slowly but surely, Samson will get back the use of his arm, at least if we have anything to say about it.