What a Day of Evidence of God’s Call!

May 12, 2010 is a day Special Hope will not soon forget.  We had two home visits with boys who each have Cerebral Palsy, one 14 years old, and one 8 years old.  Neither one EVER leaves their home.  Neither one has a special chair for sitting up, or a wheelchair, walker or gait trainer to move about  Both are carried everywhere they go by their mothers.  One had significant cognitive delay, and one did not.  Being in their homes, and seeing what little they had to work with for positioning their bodies and working their muscles was humbling to me.  My favorite Occupational Therapist, Gay, in Virginia can use just about anything to make creative seating options for children who need them, but in these homes even her creativity would have been pushed to its limit (yesterday I was wishing I could just beam her here instantaneously).  They have cement floors, and old, sagging couches, and that is basically it.  No chairs with slats for wrapping a child upright into a chair, or any other seating possibilities, so parents hold the child on their lap to eat, and due to this set-up, the child can’t learn to eat by themselves, because there isn’t a table in front of them.  There is only Mom or Dad’s lap, so they are fed by their parent, with no hope of increasing independence.

We are now going to try to find a carpenter today to make some Rifton-like chairs.  We are also going to try out the Network part of our name, and work hard in the coming weeks to figure out if there are any wheelchairs, walkers, or gait trainers anywhere in Lusaka sitting and not being used.  We have pictures and video from yesterday, and after we get permission from the parents, we will post their names and pictures. And, hopefully some video.

Rosemary Camp, I am sorry to not post names here, but we will whenever the Moms and Dads say it is ok.  For now, you can pray for them, since Jesus knows their names, ok?  Just like if Miss Holly prayed to Jesus for you, and didn’t know your name, Jesus knows you, and each little hair on your head.  We miss you, Rosemary!

So, I suppose the answer to the question we asked ourselves many times, is, YES, this ministry is needed.  Yes, parents and children are isolated with no resources.  Yes, our interaction with these parents is an encouragement and helps them to feel they have someone looking out for their child besides themselves.  Yes, we are already being used by God, in the ways that He has gifted and trained us.  Yes, we are encouraged ourselves that all the months of work, selling homes, packing boxes, getting medicine and supplies, packing more boxes, and moving across the world IS WORTH IT.

Please pray for us to be able to find seating, wheelchairs, walkers and other therapeutic equipment if it is here in Lusaka unused.  Please be praying for your involvement in these children’s lives.  Neither home had any books, toys, playdough, paper or writing implement, or anything for the boys to do all day.  Each parent said they just sat all day on a couch or lap.  Can you imagine?  One of the boys was so taken with our books, he could have stayed all day.  Please pray about whether you should purchase board books, and paperback books for us, and playdough, and simple toys as well as large therapy balls for muscle work, before our container leaves in a month or two, that we can give to these children for playing and working at home.  What we have purchased up to this point is for the classrooms, but we have just come across a new need.  Please pray!  Thank you for your care for the children we are ministering to.  Please also pray for the Moms who are completely isolated, and made fun of.