Loydie
Loydie came to us when she was 3, the daughter of a woman we knew from the community. Her mother had been selling things at the market trying to make ends meet, but it was never enough and she couldn’t even provide food for the two of them. She was forced to leave Loydie in the care of a neighbor but later found out that they had been mistreating her. She begged us to take her daughter in.
On that first day, Loydie was wearing a big, beautiful dress and a look of fear. She didn’t want to be touched, and the only thing that comforted her was food. That first day, she squirmed and cried when we held her, but managed to eat enough food to feed 6-7 adults. When we found her picking crumbs out of a package that was in the trash, we knew something was wrong. We brought her to the doctor and it was clear that she hadn’t been eating and she had a large, distended belly that was being hidden under that dress.
Right then, we decided that she needed to move into the house, and now she’s flourishing. Loydie has become the embodiment of our work here at The Vertile House. We're working hard to support this strong-willed little girl with counseling, medical and nutritional care, and education, and we’ll continue to provide all the right resources and tools to help her become a self-sufficient adult.
