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Bangladesh, Medical Mercy Tweet
Bangladesh, Medical Mercy Tweet Medical Mercy: When Do You Say "I Give Up"?
Thursday, October 20, 2011 at 11:02AM Not much to say after one sees a child like this.
We drove about 2 hours to a very remote village where we spent the day seeing over 200 children, and fair number of adults. Medical, dental, water filtration, public health education, and first aid training all done under the sun, heat unbearable, no wind, and some relief from the shade.
A large Muslim population lead by an imam was wary at first, then open to exams, then became increasingly anxious as the time approached for us to leave, knowing that many who had been waiting would not be seen.
It is difficult to say "no more patients" today.
The children were malnourished, sickly overall, tired and lacking any semblance of a happy emotion. I looked at their faces and realized how little they have to be joyous about. And we think we have it bad sometimes. I wonder just how much I could take living the life they live. Not much I bet. I probably would hope for the best, and expect the worst.
So the question posed is this: just how bad does it have to get for us before we throw in the towel and say "I give up"? From what I saw today, there were a whole lot of people who had thrown in the towel a long time ago, accepted the hand that had been dealt them, and learned to live with what they had. They had nothing. Not much to learn to live with.
Did we make a difference today? Yes we did. Not by giving them medications, pulling teeth, bringing in a water filtration system, nor by teaching them first aid. What we did is validate those we saw as worthy of being recognized as human beings, worthy of being loved and cared about, and giving them a sense of dignity.
One person even said as much. A mother of a disabled child knew that we could not do much for him. Small head, injured brain, unable to walk or sit. But the smile he gave us when we reached out to him and held him without shying away from his inadequacies gave his mother validation as to how well she was caring for him and how much he meant to her. And how much he means to us. Life is what it is and face it -- we don't really have it that bad, even on our worst days.
In all things give thanks,
David
Reader Comments (2)
Very touching. I'm not a crier, but ever since I went to remote villages in Africa and saw this lifestyle first-hand, my eyes have been opened and they get welled up when I read things that remind me of it. This is a very real situation, and it's very real how meaningful it is to them to realize people thousands and thousands of miles away, with this fortunate lifestyle, love them and consider them worthy. I will never forget how a native in Africa, who was assisting my team one day, felt so blessed that out of all the vacations we could take as Americans (because of "all the money we have"), we chose to come help them. To this is said, I'M THE BLESSED ONE. I will continue to do what I am able to do, and pray pray pray.
"We ourselves feel that what we are doing is just a drop in the ocean. But the ocean would be less because of that missing drop." ~Mother Teresa. Surely it is not about us trying to fill the ocean of pain with fresh water! Surely this is all about us giving glory to God.... simply being light where there is darkness. All glory to Him for this small venture for His kingdom.