After packing up all of our stuff from the hotel, we set off for the first wheelchair distribution of this trip in Mazatenango. It seems that often no one is really sure ahead of time what the facility we will use for the distribution will be like, but today we had a shaded porch area which could accommodate the five seating stations as well as the “administration” area.
Today God blessed us with four folks who were bilingual and would be available to help us. I would have made the fifth, but really enjoyed working with Denise. She knew a lot of the technical words in Spanish, and I knew them in English, so between the two of us, we figured things out pretty well. She is an English teacher here in Guatemala, and she and her husband run an “inclusive” sports recreation program that serves children both with and without disabilities. She was an amazing woman to spend time with, and has offered me a place to stay any time I want to move to this area to start a school for the kids who are not allowed to go to the public school because of their disability.
We saw a lot of those kids today. Really bright, capable, articulate kids who are not in school because the schools won’t accept them. For some reason it seems the teachers think that because these children’s bodies may be limited, their intelligence and ability to learn is also. Nothing could be farther from the truth. Though this is illegal in Guatemala, “exclusion” seems to be the norm. It is a rare area where children in wheelchairs are welcomed into the school. And many of the parents seemed hesitant to even talk about school for their children, fearing that they would be ridiculed by the teachers as well as the other students. Dick had to remind me that this is all too common here, and that there was no way I could start a school in every area where I found kids out of school. Still, it doesn’t lessen my desire to be able to do so. I’m not sure he realizes that seeing these kids out of school has the same impact on me that seeing them crawling along the streets without a wheelchair has on him. I would love to be able to find a teacher in this area willing to work with all these kids, and have the ability to pay her well to do so. I can sure pray about it!
I worked in Dick’s station, along with Denise and Josh, a young man from Sioux Falls, SD. I honestly can’t remember how many kids Dick seated today—there had to be at least five. I was lucky enough to get to spend time visiting with the moms while Dick worked—though I did get to pick up an allen wrench to help with one bolt. Big contribution I made today!
I love the way Bethel handles these distributions. Chris Mooney, the director of Bethel, always begins by clearly explaining that the reason the teams come in is to share the love of Jesus with the people—that bringing wheelchairs is only secondary. Today he shared something I had not heard him say before (though I’ve only been with on a few of these distributions). He boldly told the people that Jesus came for “people like them.” That is wasn’t the healthy who needed Him, but those who are broken in mind, body, or spirit. That Jesus was inviting them to come to Him.
After this initial presentation, the seating begins. Dick encourages the teams to take their time seating each person—focusing not so much on the wheelchair, but on connecting with each individual. He reminds the teams that some of these folks have been waiting for a wheelchair for years, so taking a little more time with each one won’t hurt anything. In fact, many of these people have been waiting even longer for a touch from Jesus. And that’s why we were here today.
Finally, after each person receives their chair, they and their families have the opportunity to visit with a local pastor. Today, during this visitation time, 38 people made a decision to trust Jesus as their Lord and Savior. Chris said this was the most that they’d ever had in a distribution. While numbers aren’t the most important thing, I think that this great response indicates the power of the Holy Spirit’s presence with us today.
As everything was winding down, a woman came in with her daughter. She was not “registered” for this distribution, but had been told 3 years ago, at another Bethel distribution, to come back the next time Bethel was in the area. This little girl really needed a chair that reclined. Mom had brought with the chair the child had—and Dick recognized it as one of the chairs built by Hope Haven. After three years of use, it still looked brand new—mom had taken such good care of it. Just as Dick was wondering if perhaps he had seated this little one before, he older brother came up and caressed her head. Dick immediately remembered the family because of the love and attentiveness her brother had shown her.
This was a pretty tender reunion for Dick and this family. A family who
just so happened to come in even though they weren’t registered, who
just so happened to have Dick seating them, when we
just so happened to have a perfect chair for her, since some children who had been scheduled had not been able to make it. Isn’t it great that we
just so happen to have a God big enough to orchestrate these things, and intimate enough with us to care that one little girl get the proper chair, and one seating specialist be blessed by this reunion?
No comments:
Post a Comment