Saturday mornings with Viki
Argh..this is the second time I'm typing this, because mysteriously today, blogspot hasn't been cooperating with Ms. Lan. Hmm. I suspect it's because of the photos I've been posting. Wahhhh!!!
Anyways..I really wanted to blog this down, cos Viki is soo inspiring. He's the 17 and a half year old boy that I'll be tutoring, and he lives - nope, not at home, but in a Home. That's the Cheshire Home for the Severely Disabled.
Viki is severely disabled. He was born with spina bilifa (is that correct?), which just means that he had a hole in his spine - and that he has to stay in a wheelchair for life. Also, there was fluid in his brain at birth, and he had to have a shunt inserted into his head via painful operations, just to save his life. In addition to that, he's got family problems - which is why he lives in a Home and not at home. In fact, he hasn't had a proper family life for a few years.
Imagine being born without any sensation in your lower limbs - at all. Imagine having blinding, splitting headaches and having to miss a few hundred days of school at one shot. Imagine having 4 siblings and both parents alive, and yet having had to live in a foster home since young, and THEN in a Home with dozens of elderly folks, all who cannot walk and some of whom can't communicate properly.
Now that is to imagine being Viki.
This morning, I'd been perturbed, distracted, and tired, as I made my way down to the Home. Part of me was reproaching myself - what was I doing, heading all the way down there on a nice sunny Saturday morning, when I could very well have stayed in bed and had sweet dreams? Or gone down to school and gotten some work done. No matter. I prayed to God that He would show me the purpose for my going there - that He would really just instill, once over again, the desire to serve Him through ministering to others, in my heart, all over again.
Well, when I'd sat down and started talking to Viki, and learnt about his operations, looked at his schoolbag, heard about his favourite pop idols, the movies he's watched, heard about his schoolwork, and gotten an early Valentine's Day present from him (nahh.. please don't "Sooo" me, people.. haha..), I really just felt so.. blessed. Not in the sense that I wasn't physically stricken, like he and the other residents of the Home were - but blessed in the sense that God had really granted my prayer.
Because it was only from today, from this morning, that I realised - just what misconceptions I had had about the residents of the Home. I'd thought most of them would be bitter, hostile, isolated from the world, introverted, just - just wallowing in bitterness and sadness at the way their situation stood. I thought Viki would be this defiant, rude, rebellious teenager.
At least, that's how I think I would have turned out, if God had placed me in his situation. I don't even know if I would have turned to God in the first place, or just simply cut Him out from my life!
But yup - how wrong I was. How wrong I still am, as I struggle to get rid of my prejudices and misconceptions. He's got a cheeky twinkle in his eyes, he's extremely smart, wonderfully self-possessed, and holds conversations splendidly.
And how inspired I feel, by Viki, how privileged I feel, just to be able to get to know him better. And it really is a point of reflection, as it should be for all of us "normal" ones - we who have so many blessings, physically and materially. Why do we keep getting discontented with what we don't have, and complaining - instead of basking in what we do have - which is the God-given ability to find comfort in relationships, in Him, and simple things?
Wow. Thank You Lord, that You put my feet to getting down to Cheshire this morning, and having the opportunity to just learn from this.
Anyways..I really wanted to blog this down, cos Viki is soo inspiring. He's the 17 and a half year old boy that I'll be tutoring, and he lives - nope, not at home, but in a Home. That's the Cheshire Home for the Severely Disabled.
Viki is severely disabled. He was born with spina bilifa (is that correct?), which just means that he had a hole in his spine - and that he has to stay in a wheelchair for life. Also, there was fluid in his brain at birth, and he had to have a shunt inserted into his head via painful operations, just to save his life. In addition to that, he's got family problems - which is why he lives in a Home and not at home. In fact, he hasn't had a proper family life for a few years.
Imagine being born without any sensation in your lower limbs - at all. Imagine having blinding, splitting headaches and having to miss a few hundred days of school at one shot. Imagine having 4 siblings and both parents alive, and yet having had to live in a foster home since young, and THEN in a Home with dozens of elderly folks, all who cannot walk and some of whom can't communicate properly.
Now that is to imagine being Viki.
This morning, I'd been perturbed, distracted, and tired, as I made my way down to the Home. Part of me was reproaching myself - what was I doing, heading all the way down there on a nice sunny Saturday morning, when I could very well have stayed in bed and had sweet dreams? Or gone down to school and gotten some work done. No matter. I prayed to God that He would show me the purpose for my going there - that He would really just instill, once over again, the desire to serve Him through ministering to others, in my heart, all over again.
Well, when I'd sat down and started talking to Viki, and learnt about his operations, looked at his schoolbag, heard about his favourite pop idols, the movies he's watched, heard about his schoolwork, and gotten an early Valentine's Day present from him (nahh.. please don't "Sooo" me, people.. haha..), I really just felt so.. blessed. Not in the sense that I wasn't physically stricken, like he and the other residents of the Home were - but blessed in the sense that God had really granted my prayer.
Because it was only from today, from this morning, that I realised - just what misconceptions I had had about the residents of the Home. I'd thought most of them would be bitter, hostile, isolated from the world, introverted, just - just wallowing in bitterness and sadness at the way their situation stood. I thought Viki would be this defiant, rude, rebellious teenager.
At least, that's how I think I would have turned out, if God had placed me in his situation. I don't even know if I would have turned to God in the first place, or just simply cut Him out from my life!
But yup - how wrong I was. How wrong I still am, as I struggle to get rid of my prejudices and misconceptions. He's got a cheeky twinkle in his eyes, he's extremely smart, wonderfully self-possessed, and holds conversations splendidly.
And how inspired I feel, by Viki, how privileged I feel, just to be able to get to know him better. And it really is a point of reflection, as it should be for all of us "normal" ones - we who have so many blessings, physically and materially. Why do we keep getting discontented with what we don't have, and complaining - instead of basking in what we do have - which is the God-given ability to find comfort in relationships, in Him, and simple things?
Wow. Thank You Lord, that You put my feet to getting down to Cheshire this morning, and having the opportunity to just learn from this.
posted by Yellow Garfield at 11:30 PM
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