Special children

Would u love a handicap child if you saw one in the mall or school or street?

of course the humanly answer would be - "YES!"

BUT would u love one if he/she is YOURS?

this means a lifetime long commitment of caring and giving up ur normal life, sacrificing time, effort, crying tears of frustration and anger, questioning God and fate, suffering financial setbacks of hospital and treatment costs and the list goes on and on...

honestly i never gave it much thought but after visiting this center i salute their parents n volunteers who spend time and pour their lives into these children.

i'm not afraid of children.nonono, i see and interact with hundreds of them in my work.

but special children (its not polite to call them handicap) are a whole new thing..

The very first time my linguistic group went to observe their language skills at EDEN center, i was taken aback. i was quite afraid and tongue locked. 

 Omg omg...questions were running thru my brain, WHAT SHOULD I SAY? WHAT CAN I DO?? WHAT IS OK AND WHAT IS NOT? WHAT ARE THE RULES? they are coming..WHAT SHALL I DO? (like a lost puppy)

they looked so different and screaming with joy and they came rushing towards us saying HELO HELO HELO!!

 what did i do? i HELO-d back and sat down and interacted with them lah! haha

it wasnt so hard after all, yes it was difficult to communicate as some were autistic, celebral palsy, muscular dystrophy and down syndrome. Fyi, these are all conditions when the brain broca area is injured/ underdeveloped so the child cant either walk, talk or move or has low IQ.

 Putting all the negative feelings aside, we 5 girls (me, Cheng ping, Zatil, Ruzaidah and Esther) sat down played and socialised at the same time observed their behaviourism to write in our report.

its been 2 weeks so far, we go 3 times a week and this is our happy pics!!

 So, they are live,eat, play, go school, do physiotherapy at the center and they also have a workshop selling handicrafts for a living (adult category). if u see their logo selling small gifts please support and buy em!

most children are quite good natured and excited to be frens with new comers.

some are more reserved and some like autistic cases keep repeating what they say and forget what u teach the very next minute. some cant even write their own name cause their hands are deformed or involuntarily keep shaking. some are wheelchair bound because their legs are crossed like X and some cant talk audibly because their voice box has not enough muscles. 

Watch the video on top, its a cerebral palsy girl with a epilepsy child doing their physio.

ALL of them are such beautiful children. it saddens me EVERY time i go visit i see their goodness, their pure rich goodness inside but all that is trapped in a shell, in a body that doesn't equal their heart and souls. 

it humbles me to the core. it strikes a cord in my heart.

 i actually almost cried after watching them do physio in person because walking was such an easy thing to me i never tot it would take so much effort for a special child to do so.

if it was a cruel twist of fate, it could have been me at birth diagnosed with a brain disorder. i would have been robbed of my normal childhood, my speaking and talking ability, my ability to bathe, feed and write on my own, i would have been bound to the wheelchair or trapped mentality in a world of confusion not understanding a word ppl are talking to me..i wouldn't have so many friends, i couldn't cycle or swim, couldn't go shopping on my own feet or pick up my favourite toy from the shelf, i wouldn't know how to use a camera, take pics or laugh at jokes.

What would i do if i were that way? What if u were that way? 

i dare not think and suddenly i'm so so so happy n blessed to be a normal person. 

we dont judge on how they look and what they cannot do. we look at what they can do that is love unconditionally. in my eyes, they are more able than we are because they shine from the inside out not outside only.

The teacher at the center said ppl outside are so discontented with their looks complaining how fat, short, pimply, tall, skinny, dark or not beautiful enough. they have no idea how lucky they are to just be perfectly normal. these children would give anything in the world to be normal and the normal ppl are complaining about their perfect bodies. WHAT A SHAME!

 These life lessons are painful to believe n accept because they are so real.
i bet my 4 frens that went with me feel the same way too =)

yes, dont u think we've been a wee bit too self centered n vain at times?