Todays Journal was written by Henry (lovingly called "New Guy Henry) It is from our youth trip in July. I am remiss in posting it sooner. If you are led to write a word on encouragement as always will forward it to "new Guy" Henry!
For this time, no one in the office had any spare time. We were all running crazily. I just remembered that we had two important things to care about, videos for fund raising gala and teen trip. On the day, the team of teen laid in Danang, I was still in hospital shooting videos of heart patients. I knew I had missed the moment of welcoming my dearest president and the distinguish guests but I knew I will be with them all along this trip.
I have just hand over the position of house leader of Hal's Home (home for college boys), and now I'm newcomer in another program - wheelchair program. This trip, I was in charge of assisting Hieu on the wheelchair day, and shooting videos and photos. You know, I had been to wheelchair distributions, a few times before as a translator. But this time, it was different. I would instruct our guests on how to assemble the wheelchair for two disabled women and show them how to use the wheelchair as well as do some therapy exercises. I believed that if I tried my best to get good preparation, everything would be good. I stayed up late to learn and practiced, as well as imagine the whole trip in my mind. Then, when the day came, I just did it.
The woman that we visited that day was Nguyen Thi Cuong. She was now around her eighty-five. Could you imagine how the life of an old woman with only one leg and no relatives around to take care would be? In my mind, it was hard to imagine how her life would be. I was both curious and both admired her when I met her at her house. When I first saw her, she was slice the winter melon to make soup for her lunch. Her back was against us when we came into her small yard. We greeted her. She turned round and greeted us with a happy smile.
We sat next to each other, talking and listening to her stories. She used to fight in Vietnam War. In 1968, when the war was at its highest period, she lost her left leg. Since then, she had to rely on the crutch to walk. However, she is not as strong as she used to be. She crawled most of the time. She has no children. She lives alone. Eight-five years, old lost one leg, no child, old and weak. How come she would live like that? I was amazed and admired, looking around her house and realized that it was clean and neat.
When I shared with her my thoughts, she returned with a big smile on her face. She talked, smiled happily and she was enthusiastic with our visit. After instructing my foreign friends to assemble the wheelchair, we brought it to her. She happily shared that she would ask the grandson of her sister to help her move around the neighborhood. It seemed that she hadn't had any chance to visit her neighbor for a long time.
We helped her to move onto the wheelchair. I told her how to use the wheelchair as well as some notices when using it. She was eager and enthusiastic to try it. Especially, when it came to the part of therapy exercise, she was really excited. We all smiled and laughed when she was trying to make joke by showing us how she would fall down if she would act in this way or others. She was funny and she liked making others happy.
When Tam showed her how to build her hand's muscle and make her arm stronger, she used a winter melon and acted as if it was a dumbbell. LOL! She was so excited with these new experiences. She even lied on the floor and turned to her left; turned right as if they were the exercises she would do after a long day on wheelchair. Looking at her face which was full of happiness and cheerfulness made us see our the meanings of our job much clearer and we were motivated to help more and more people as we always do and will do it better.
The next day, we visited the coffee lady, who GIBTK sponsored to build a house and helped her with a coffee shop. It was such a great joy to visit her and seeing her family become better and better every time. Seeing her, together with her two daughters and a son making coffee to welcome our visit, I jumped to help. But I saw I was just making more work for them, so I let them do it. I joked, " I'm useless now". LOL!
You might not know that the coffee lady was not as strong as a normal person. Her legs were weak and needed to rely on the walking chair. But she was a great mom, who always tried her best to support the family with three children. Huong, her oldest daughter, is also a member of our Lighthouse, our college program. She was also at moms home that day. When looking at her, a thought came to my mind; I still heard the sentences that her mom shared with me before " she is a good sister. At the time when the family was still very poor, she often saved her food for her two younger sister and brother. She is very strong." Yep! She is good and strong and she is warm-hearted as well.
Not only she but also every kid in our homes, the boys at Hal's Home, girls at Lighthouse, ... they are strong and resilient! I admired them for their perseverance and for their always trying to be better everyday. Looking at their bright faces, who can guess they all had their own sad stories. But I always believe that they will succeed and have a bright future. I believe GIBTK is making a difference, helping these kids to reach their dream. It is still a long journey to go but we together will make it and help more and more people.
Love you all, GIBTK's.
Henry
><((((º> BBlessed
www.gibtk.org
Robert Kalatschan
Giving It Back To Kids
