Fernando again

He is still at La Policia de la Familia. I'm beginning to suspect that he is allowed to escape just to give them a break.

Elena reckons he stays in a night shelter when he does go on the run, and they allow kids to use any name they fancy and the police dont mind as otherwise the kids would not come to spend a night. Elana also tells me he has fallen in with a glue sniffing gang, although he seems to be free of them at the moment. When he goes on the run he eventually makes his way back to La Policia. Probably when things overcome him. God knows what happens to him out there.

He still has no shoes, even though he has beed asking me every day. I've been more concerned about a skin condition he has. Hopefully not contagious as he is usually all over me. I've been asking the police women in charge to take him for a medical but so far without success. They have agreed for me to take him tomorrow to a medical centre in Santiago. Jonathan from Maximo Nivel will come with me in case of any language problems and to show me where yhe place is. When I told Fernando this, on Saturday he was delighted. He never gets out of course, except when he escapes.

I've promised to take him to buy some shoes and clothes at the same time. Meantime have been giving him some cream to stop the itching and scratching. Will keep you posted. The future for Fernando does not look promising, at least at the moment.

For the first time I saw some affection for him from another person, a girl in fact who seems to have had a rough time herself going by the scars. Anyway it was nice to see and I teased them both a bit which they did not seem to mind. Fernando was happy even for another boy to get my time and affection, which he sometimes finds hard to take. So thats progress of sorts.