my sister, maureen, lives with severe disabilities. for 35 years she has lived with my parents and for 34 years i have witnessed the joys and pains that have come along with that. it hain’t been easy, but it’s been Good.
yesterday i had the privilege of meeting kenyan parents who have lived with the same joys and pains, but magnified.
there is no support for such families here, and in fact there is animosity where there should be support. i talked to a mother with a 6-year old daughter who seems to me to be autistic and a 16-year-old cousin with downe’s syndrome. this mother told me how people had responded to her family, telling her that they were cursed, that she was making the children disabled so she could get money, that she had taken drugs and caused the defects. she told us these things knowing they were untrue, but still saying them questioningly….wanting us to confirm for her what she hoped: that she had done nothing wrong.
most families hide their children with special needs. this is why i was so moved when i saw the lineup of parents waiting to have their children assessed to go to school for the first time. i saw hope in the eyes of mothers and i was so proud of them for stepping into an unknown world by entrusting their children into the care of others.
(canadian donors sponsor children who are deaf and children who are developmentally challenged to go to school. people who work with ReACT here in kenya recently drummed up 26 new families who wanted to send their children to school.)
truthfully, i haven’t done as much crying as i expected to do while here. but at the end of the day parents came, shaking our hands and thanking and thanking us so much and the tears filled my eyes (and they are as i write this now).
yesterday i had the privilege of meeting kenyan parents who have lived with the same joys and pains, but magnified.
there is no support for such families here, and in fact there is animosity where there should be support. i talked to a mother with a 6-year old daughter who seems to me to be autistic and a 16-year-old cousin with downe’s syndrome. this mother told me how people had responded to her family, telling her that they were cursed, that she was making the children disabled so she could get money, that she had taken drugs and caused the defects. she told us these things knowing they were untrue, but still saying them questioningly….wanting us to confirm for her what she hoped: that she had done nothing wrong.
most families hide their children with special needs. this is why i was so moved when i saw the lineup of parents waiting to have their children assessed to go to school for the first time. i saw hope in the eyes of mothers and i was so proud of them for stepping into an unknown world by entrusting their children into the care of others.
(canadian donors sponsor children who are deaf and children who are developmentally challenged to go to school. people who work with ReACT here in kenya recently drummed up 26 new families who wanted to send their children to school.)
truthfully, i haven’t done as much crying as i expected to do while here. but at the end of the day parents came, shaking our hands and thanking and thanking us so much and the tears filled my eyes (and they are as i write this now).
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