Incest is alive and well and living in Argentina. I have been told lots of times about the practice, officially outlawed but still continuing in rural areas, whereby fathers “initiate” their daughters into sex, but this is the first time I have definitely encountered its practice, and in this case the disabled child whose father is also his grandfather.
I’m sure if I was a proper “deep south” preacher I would probably have a sermon already written about the sins of the fathers being visited even unto the third generation. In the meantime I am trying to figure out how to respond to the real child bearing a complicated set of social and educational needs, most of which have apparently not been addressed during any of his seven years of life so far. If I ever do get to talk about any of the other stuff I expect it will only be because I have first done the grind and put in the time building the relationships with, and being perceived to be responding to the practical needs of, the little boy and his complex family. In Argentina this is known as “earning the right to the floor”.