EASTER THOUGHTS

Happy Easter Blessings to ALL!

My reflections from the last week in response to a friend's email. Thought I would share this with all as it may also apply to many. I realize what drew me down this path was an unconscious need to feed the part of me inside that was missing. Meditation and prayer this week have opened my eyes to many things. My day does not consist of PT alone as the basic needs of the kids often outweigh the need for PT:

Please do not think I am doing anything special. I am not...there is a lot of real humility that one learns coming here. Sometimes I am not doing PT....I was just thinking about the other day...this was a snapshot of a moment (does not always happen mind you but at times it does)....

I walk into the dorm in the morning...it is raining out so it is rather chilly and even I have a jacket on. The kids are all naked and sitting in the shower room...lots of screaming and excitement with the "specials" as they call them. I try and get these slippery little bodies into the dorms, the floor is like glass when wet so holding them is more dangerous than sliding them along the floor. 

I ask the one dorm matron if there are any towels..."No"....she says, "use a bed sheet"...I grab one to dry one of the many shivering kids...I work on the ones who have been ill or have no mobility and no body fat and are shivering. The others call my name incessantly "Sister Carol ! Sister Carol! ME! ME!" I respond..."I'm coming, I'm coming" but then one starts peeing up into the air and is amused by watching his stream which is now falling onto at least 3 of the newly clean kids...I rush to move them out of the way and another child is trying to pull one of the specials off the bed so I rescue him...then the shivering ones start crying so I go back to try and dry them off with the now wet bed sheet. 

Another now poops in the middle of the floor and I have to try and move some of the other specials out of the way as they are crawling on top of the mess. At the same time looking around for some toilet paper (you can forget finding gloves or mop or trash or anything)...I ask the matron who shrugs her shoulders and continues on (you can see the fatigue in her eyes so I do not blame her)..all this while the kids are still calling my name from every direction as more are slid back into the dorm from the shower all needing to be dried off. 

I start to spin in a circle wondering which way to turn and who to help first....the chaos is overwhelming for a moment. I ask God for help. One of the "specials" is crying from cold, I go to him and amidst the total noise and chaos look into his eyes and start to sing to him and be present with him instead of scattered around the room....I dry him off and put a pamper (which I finally found) and clothes on him and he stops crying...the priority of kids now pops into my head as if a Mother (Mary) is whispering into my ear..."go to this one...now this one"

Somehow, through the chaos, and through just methodically moving through the needs, the kids all get dried and clothed...they get a moment of special attention during the day...a minute or two where the rest of the world melts away and it is only that one little child that matters. They are told they are special and loved....this little crumb and the little crumbs of love the Brothers give during their small moments during the day are what these kids live on...

I think about my life and how busy I used to get...I realize that it is easy for me to forget I need these crumbs as well...so do our family and friends...just because we are adults doesn't mean we can feed our souls off of nothing. We need to feed each other with these moments of special attention. Being here has taught me that though, I did go to church and pray and think of myself as spiritual, I was starving my soul from these moments with God, who through his Omnipotent ways, is able to give us these moments at any time we ask...funny, though my starving soul was crying out with need like these kids, I didn't stop and take a moment to be fully present with God in order to satisfy that need.

How absolutely silly of me!

PEACE!

GENERAL UPDATE: MONTH 5 WOODPILE

Sister Sue trying to tackle all the rehab boys at once! 

OK...I have passed the 5 month mark. This is a bit nerve wracking as it means I am nearly 1/2 way through and still have waaay too much to do! I wanted to update all of those wonderful people who have donated to the Rehab Room cause. There is good news on the horizon.

The project came to a halt over the issue of the floor. I believe I explained before that the tile that will work in this room (non skid when wet) and that will stand up to the wear and tear of the kids, costs more than I can afford. There were a few options...

* Wait until Fr Henry tiles the whole building. This will need to be done eventually, but there are larger projects looming ahead for them first. The tile I need in the room may not be what MOP will be putting in.

* Paint the floor: The good paint will be over 1,000 USD anyway and the cheap paint nearly 400 USD. HMM....if I am going to tile eventually, I'd hate wasting money on paint.

* I tried to reach the Sadolin paint manager (who has been kind and generous to the MOP with large paint discounts) My emails were bouncing back.

* Use the floor as is....cracked and paint spattered and stained. This would mean installing the equipment, then moving it out when we are ready to do the floor and then re-install it again afterwards.

I WAS STUCK. It seemed nothing was coming together like all the other projects. I began to pray about it...maybe there was a reason. Fr Raymond had a sermon one Sunday and said, "If things are not working out, then God has a BETTER PLAN"...Hmmmm.

It was 2 days later that I received word that CMMB might be able to fundraise for this project! I received the notice of approval this morning! YAY! Now the children who are the most abandoned and the poorest will have what they need!  THANK YOU CMMB!

Making posters for Fr Raymond.
Don't let the appearance of quiet fool you

PLAN UPDATE: 

The boys "provided" when asked to
"Make a funny face for Father!" 

* Sat we will be starting to install the sensory swing in the gym. A challenge as the ceiling is made out of a hollow clay box. We will have to find the rebar and install the connections to that.

* Wait on funding for the tile and then have the tile floor installed (this will only take a week, if that)

* The rehab equipment being built at the rehab center had not been started until this month (though they promised it would be ready in Jan)...it will be ready at the end of the month. PLEASE PRAY that the funding comes through quickly so the floor will be in by the time the equipment is ready.

* I am now shopping for the office basics (file cabinet; storage cabinet; plans for a sensory standing frame; plans for an OT/ST table that can be adjustable in height) There is no place to store this, so items cannot be built or purchased until the floor is in.

Fr Raymond and "his boys" 

Wherever HE goes, they FOLLOW

5 MONTH WOODPILE:

Fr Raymond's "GUARD PUPPIES"
dressed up for his birthday;
even animals follow him wherever he goes

* We are now doing weekly team meetings to keep the lines of communication open between the Medical Officers, the PT and the Brother in charge

* Both the Medical Officer and I have started new charts on all the kids. The documentation and Rosters have been updated and are working out well. We now have to train all the others to use the new format.

* We are now tracking patient visits per day and month. We are averaging 160-170 a month.

* The volunteers coming in now have a system they follow for instructions on what to do when they come.

* We are now doing patient consults on some of the difficult cases trying to work out the best way in a team approach on how to manage their health and mobility issues. Advocating for their care in the healthcare setting has been a challenge. The consulting clinics and hospitals tend to blow off the children unless they are too ill to function. This will hopefully change as our documentation is updated and we have supportive evidence to back up our requests.

* The volunteers that have been coming intermittently are surprised to find such progress with the children in both speech and mobility. This gives me great hope that the motivation will continue when I am gone.

* The brothers are getting more comfortable with hands on mobility work with the kids. This remains a challenge as there are so many new brothers coming in and rotating schedules that I have to do repeat trainings on the same kids with different people. I will need to come up with a better way.

* We managed 2 HUGE birthday celebrations: Fr Henry (the Father Superior) and Fr Raymond (the Noviciate Master). The boys and I worked hard on posters, cards, letters and pictures as well as music videos to surprise them both. Though it was pure CRAZINESS trying to corrall 100 young men in a short period of time, it was well worth it. Both priests were overwhelmed by the outpouring of love from the kids.

* We also managed to send off 2 of the Aspirant Sisters to Jamaica the motherhouse this week. They will be there for 8 years before they can return home to visit family. This is not an easy thing to do at the age of 20. They are brave and though were sad to leave, are sure of their commitments.

YOU have NOOO idea the cajoling, begging, bribing it took to get this shot!