Many of our readers will remember little Manuelita,
the Chamula Indian girl who came to our hospital over a year ago. She had been completely
scalped when her long, black hair got caught in the fan belt of an engine. At the hospital
they took hundreds of pinches of skin from her thigh and put them on her weeping, draining
head. Some of the grafts took, but others sloughed off. The process was repeated many
times until finally, last month, her head was all nicely covered with skin.
Manuelita suffered much pain during all this, but she
would say, "Un poco" (a little) if you asked her if it hurt.
The members of the Alabaster Club of La Sierra,
California are getting Manuelita a wig so that she will feel more normal again.
Now Manuelita has applied for permission to come to
Yerba Buena as an industrial student. She will probably be coming up in October. At
present she lacks the necessary 3,400 pesos or 280 dollars.