What a Productive Day….

Today was a day of so many small fulfilled steps, I’m not sure how to write them so you’ll be able to get the full effect of what occurred.  This morning, I (Holly) went to a Physical Therapy appointment with one of the children we have had the pleasure of working with.  It was at one of the nine clinics like it in Lusaka, run by the Ministry of Health.  Each clinic is spread out over the city, and is the only place for medical care that is free, or affordable for 99% of the population.  They have maternity, therapies, mortuary (!!), feeding, and other services at each one.  As I drove up at 8 am, there was an enormous line to get to the desk at the front of the building, and a sea of mothers and babies inside sitting on long benches with no backs, waiting for something.  It was striking.  Nothing like an American doctor’s office at all.  When I inquired about their Physiotherapy area, I was instructed to a room no bigger than 8 ft x 8 ft. FILLED with mothers and small children, as well as three volunteer (!!!) physical therapists, a father of a child with disabilities who ‘happens’ to also be a Pastor, volunteering, and me, the lone light-skinned person, and so clearly an oddball.  When I say the floor was filled, I truly do mean that the floor was filled, with bodies of children being stretched and exercised, mothers sitting watching the therapists so they could learn what to do at home (most of them were also nursing while watching), therapists working, and about 20 legos, one truck and two small cups that fit together split between those that could play using their hands.  It was a tremendous experience, quite the sensory overload, crying children as tight muscles were stretched, colorful cloths on each woman, excited squeals from children playing, and mothers visiting.  Each of the volunteers was also a parent (except maybe one, I’m not sure about him), and really loves the kids.

I told them why we are here, and what we feel God calling us to do.  Their faces lit up.  It was a picture I won’t soon forget, and I wish I had my camera (where is my photojournalism team when I need one?).  I asked them, if they could tell us what our ministry should look like, what would they need from us? They started to tell me what they would love, what they need, and how Special Hope could best serve them.  It took some prodding on my part to get them there, because they are used to so little in the way of services, care for their children, or even food.  Each Mom is so thin, and looks so tired! They walk long distances with their children wrapped to their back (none of the children in this room could walk on their own) to get to the therapy, and some have to pay for a bus to get there.  But they come, for 3 hours on Monday and 2 hours on Fridays.  For awhile they had so many children show up and wait in the hallway for a spot on that rug that each family could only come once each week. None of these children goes to school, because there is no class for any of them that will take them.

So, to get back to what they said about their needs:  Please make a classroom for our children that we could bring them to each day to learn!  Please come up with something to motivate teachers who have a special education certificate to stay teaching special education classrooms!  Please stay in Chelstone! We need you here!  And, they went on and on.  It was like opening floodgates of need, with a small ray of hope that someone would do something for the child that they love more than life.

You can understand that, can’t you?  I sure can.  And at that moment, I thanked God for bringing us to this place, where my skills and how God has specifically gifted me, the parts that come as naturally to me as breathing can bring encouragement and joy to mothers in a foreign land, who have the same heart as I do for my children.   From today we have connections to a Physical Therapist who goes to all the clinics in Lusaka, and knows all the children who have needs, and all the doctors who work with them.  He knows who makes supports for feet and legs, and which carpenters can make standing devices for weak legs.  We have a connection to a kind woman who had a child with CP who died, and who now volunteers with others, loves Jesus, and wants to work with us, wherever we go.  We have a connection to a Pastor who loves to sing, whose son is 1.6 years, and would love to work with us.  We have an appointment to go with a family to the Italian Hospital in town, the best place for supports to be made.  We have phone numbers for a few of the mothers who would like to be a part of whatever we do, especially if it would mean that they could work with us in a classroom, so they could benefit other children, as long as they are home with their own child anyway (and can’t work to support themselves outside the home).  We have been offered an open door to go back to visit the physiotherapy clinic whenever we want.  We are continuing to build relationships.

All of this is more than we ever could have hoped for in the first three weeks.  I don’t know what I expected, but this certainly isn’t it, but is so much more!  And, we ended the day with a full-blown 17 year old tantrum, just to keep us humble, and not to have a shred of pride that any of this is our own doing, which it clearly is not. (Thank you, Maggie!) God is working, and we are joining Him in what He already is doing.  Thank you for reading, and for caring about children who have intellectual disabilities.  We’ll keep plodding along, and trying to keep you updated as best we can.

Oh, yes, and on the day when I was forcefully requested to please acquire walkers, gait trainers, and wheelchairs from America because they are not readily available here, and if they are procurable, they are prohibitively expensive…….a friend in the US wrote, TODAY, about a physical therapist friend of hers in the US who would like to donate her supplies she is no longer going to need.  She asked if we need gait trainers, walkers, and other physical therapy supplies, and if she could get them to Charlottesville to put on our container.  Is that miraculous, or what??? Another miracle, on another ordinary day.  Amazing.  Thank you, God.