Living in India, you can never expect or plan on anything. Any sort of "plan" is ruined within minutes of making that plan. Indian's just dont restrict themselves to anything regarding a schedule. This is something that I have come to observe and learn to adapt to while being here. For someone like me, who likes a schedule and likes to stick to whatever plan that is made, this has probably been the hardest aspect of Indian culture to learn to work with. So, yesterday, when I woke up and got ready to head over to the home, I was asked to stay home with the kids who are staying with us at the apartment. So, Rebekah and I stayed in the apartment with 3 kids for the day, all whom have individual medical needs and require special attention. I learned how to catheterize and feed a child through a tube all in one day yesterday. Did I need to go through SPU nursing to do this? No I did not. They showed me how to do it once, and there I was, released into something I most definatly did not feel comfortable doing but did it anyways. Caring for the kids at the home is one thing, but living with children who have special needs is another. That's where you get to do the dirty work. So yesterday turned out to be quite the unexpected experience in taking care of kids with special needs.
Today, I was back in the home working with the kids. Rebekah and I went around to each child and did a brief body check to make sure that none of the children have any issues that we are not aware of. We came across one boy, his name is Nicky, who is about 12 years old and has cerebal palsy. We noticed that he was very lethargic and very skinny. We talked to his Iya (his caregiver in the home) and she explained to us that he had not been eating very much and seemed very sick. When we took him up to the nursing station, we rubbed a cold washcloth over his upper body and gave him extra water to drink. While we were in the station, I learned about his story. About a year ago, this boy abandonded by his family and taken to the government orphanage. Here in India, the government orphanages are run horribly and any child that has special needs is easily neglected and malnourished. They are left to lay on floor mats all day, drug by their hands to be cleaned from their own human waste, and not given any kind of affection or love. This is why, when Sarah's Covanent Home's offers to take the kids who have special needs, they come into the home underdeveloped both physically, emotionally, and mentally and malnourished. Some don't even make it out alive from the government orphanage. Since Nicky is a more recent member of the SCH family, he is still recovering from being in the government orphanage and needs all of the affection and love that he can get. Sitting at the end of Nicky's bed, and wiping his frail body with a washcloth, was heartbreaking. All of us gathered around and prayed for Nicky's healing and I was reminded that God is still the ultimate healer, both emotionally and physically. Nicky needs healing in his body, but he also needs healing in his heart. He needs to know that he is important and that there is still someone out there that cares about him enough to fight for his well being.
After today, it is my goal to work with the children in the home that don't get out of their beds many times during the day. I have decided to pick a few children and work everyday with them, one on one, to help with whatever physical or emotional need they have. One boy, named Ceder, who has caught my heart since day one, is blind and only has one eye. Most of the day, Ceder just sleeps in his crib. It's my goal to help get Ceder up and alert and working on stretching out his legs and walking. I cant wait. Mostly because I know how strong this little guy is and i'm looking forward to giving him some good quality time.
Yesterday, I was reading my bible, and I cam across the scripture "Delight yourself in the Lord and He will give you the desires of your heart." (Psalm 37:4) God has given me the desires of my heart here in India. After dreaming of coming to India to work with kids who have special needs, the Lord has been faithful to fufil those desires in my heart. I feel so blessed to be here and so astounded at how good our God truly is. He is faithful to fufil our hearts deepest desire and reveal Himself to us in ways we never thought possible.
I'm having the time of my life and loving every step of the journey.
Peace and love,
Nat
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