Escort Journal

American Airlines flight attendant, Janet Barkow:

"I would like to share with you my experience of being an Airline Ambassador escort.

I was asked to escort 9 year old Cristian, who has club feet, from Santo Domingo to St. Louis where he will spend 4-6 months with a host family and receive medical attention. I immediately said yes.

The next day Margaret asked if I would also bring 3 year old Piki, whose legs were amputated last year. Well.....how could I say no.....????  

It started off well, and after giving up my first class seat and taking the jump seat out of JFK, I made it safely to SDQ. There a pleasant young woman from AA took me to meet the children. Cristian and Piki were accompanied by their families. There were no tears when saying goodbye but I didn't get much response from either of them at the beginning.

As we boarded Piki had fallen asleep but when I put him in his seat he woke up and started crying. Then he said he wanted to go home. He finally calmed down but then Cristian, who had never been away from home also said he wanted to go home and had such a sad, worried face it broke my heart. Finally, they both calmed down and we took off.  

In Miami, during our four hour layover, several different flight attendants were eager to assist us. We went to the flight operations area to wait. Piki seemed tired so I made a little bed of pillows and blankets and he laid down but soon started playing with little stuffed animals and was all smiles. Cristian, on the other hand began to cry again. I got some rice and beans but he refused to eat. He did go to the bathroom and came back with new jeans on, with the tag intact! So I imagine he did know what was happening and wanted to look nice for his new family in St. Louis. 

 Finally it was time to go to the departure gate. I put Piki in his stroller and Cristian pushed him and once again we saw an enthusiastic little boy. Now Cristian was familiar with the plane and settled in nicely, ready to listen to the music. This flight went better. The flight attendants were great, giving them cookies and potato chips. Cristian was much happier and a number of times motioned for me to listen to the music he was enjoying, moving in his seat to the rhythmic beats! I could see Piki starting to fade, so I got him some blankets and he fell asleep. Before I knew it Cristian was sleeping, also.  

We arrived right on time and were met at the gate by Mama Kati, Piki's host mom. Then we met Cristian's lovely host family. Piki was still asleep but Christian was awake and again had a look of anguish on his face. As we started walking to the cars, I asked him if he wanted to be carried and he said yes. The host dad took him in his arms and that was a good start. I was a bit sad saying goodbye, but very happy with my day. It was not an easy trip but I was so grateful for all the lovely people that assisted me along the way."  

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