A New Perspective on Life

I have spent the last two weeks with a delegation from the States (see the Interlink Blog for more details of our time together).

In my daily work, I tend to interact with children that have been abandoned due to many different causes (death, desertion, economical crisis, alcohol or drug abuse, mental or physical handicap, etc). During the second half of the delegation I was able to experience a completely different group of children. I had the joy of spending time with children that had all ranges of physical and mental handicaps and was able to watch them be loved by their primary caregivers (a group of moms and grandmothers that had given up everything else to care for these children). To see the love in their faces (even when they had to carry their 50 pound children up a flight of steps) was such an encouragement to me.

As a group, we helped serve a group of children with Cerebral Palsy (CP) that use our office space in Shymkent. The staff of the Cornelius Project invited us to help with their two day camp, when they found out that we had a change of plans and needed something for the delegation to do. The planned dates of their camp coincided perfectly with the time that the delegation was free. They needed help providing games and crafts and serving in whatever way was needed at the moment. We were able to give their caregivers a much needed break as we spent time playing with the kids and caring for their needs. We were also able to provide fun activities for their caregivers in which, for a few short minutes, they were able to break away from the stress of everyday life and play as if they were children again.

Over the next few days I would like to share some stories from my time at CP camp. It will take several blogs to get all my thoughts posted even though we only spent 48 hours with these children. Although it was a physically exhausting time, it was such a time of renewal and encouragement for me. It also placed a burden on my heart for these children and their families.