The Patience

May 6, 2012

Dumalang, my dearest friends!

          Last Friday opened up a very new and meaningful experience for me that I really don’t think I have ever expected before!  Dr. Gureja, the Indian doctor at the Princess Marina Hospital whom I have mentioned a few blogs back, asked me to come in and speak to 2 of his patients. Neither of the patience any have arms or legs and Dr. Gureja wanted me to talk to them and try to encourage them.  Well, of course I went, gladly!

          The first was an 8 year old girl named Realeoga who came with her mother and father from Lobatse.  She was a very bubbly, happy little girl who could write on her own, feed herself, and hold a cell phone as well as dial numbers.  What is cool is that she is IN SCHOOL! Her parents do not keep her hidden at all!  What she has a real issue is with the school. She has a hard time keeping up with the writing assignments in school and then she ends up with bad marks because she doesn’t get things done on time. They, that is her parents, wanted to know if I had any suggestions about what could be done in order to help her improve and fix this problem. I was excited about this because this was exactly the sort of issues I had in school as well. I totally understand how she feels.  I told them to look into getting a transcriber for her so that way she could simply dictate into the machine what she wanted written down. I also suggested that while the other kids are out playing outside she could be doing some of the writing before the other kids get back into class. This way she could already being doing her work ahead of time. They liked the idea of getting her some sort of transcriber because they said that the coursework is not difficult for her and she knows the answers too many things it’s just that she struggles to keep up. I will try to help her locate one – and so will the disability office here.  I also was very pleased to know that she loved doing art and she has a fun time painting and drawing. So I told her that I will be working with others to put on an art show  with disabled persons in early June, and I offered her to join me there, and even to show some of her work - which both she and her parents would like very much. She loved watching me take pictures of her so I took several various shots of her in various poses. Realeoga told me herself that she has lots of friends, both at school and at church. I am so happy she is part of a Christian family and that the church accepts her!  She delights in being outdoors and being with people. I especially loved watching her with her father.  It really reminded me of when I first met my own father in India when I was reunited with my original family in the spring of 2008 – He, too, was so very kind and gracious. Fathers and their daughters – a special bond!

Then the second patient was a lady, about 32 years old, mother of 3 - who just lost both her arms and legs due to a disease she contracted in the summer of 2009. She has nothing now below her knees and her arms are exactly like mine. She could not feed herself nor could she write. She was just helpless because no one knew how to help her.  When Dr. Gureja told me this, I told myself that that was going to change - starting right now!  It was about 4 in the afternoon and the patients were receiving their meals, so we had hers brought into the room where she and I were meeting. I demonstrated how I ate by scooping the food up with my spoon or fork between my arm and chin and then raising the spoon up to my mouth by placing my arm on the end of the spoon handle. She watched with great fascination and was very excited to try and do the same thing.

It was amazing how quickly she picked it up and although  she struggled a bit in the in the beginning she eventually did it and she never spilled it- not once. She was SO proud of herself as were Esther and I! She then wanted to know how to write, so I showed her how I did it by putting the pen between my arm and chin. She was a little embarrassed to try, because she was so afraid of messing up but I told her that it was going to take a lot of practice so “do not be afraid.”   She eventually got the hang of it and she was so happy and she kept saying "Ke itumetse"  "Ke itumetse"!! What made me so happy was how the Lord really used me to help her and encourage her as well as Realeoga. God is just astonishing to me!

Dr. Gureja saw all that she could do for herself and was happy too!  I told him that I'd like to help her learn more – and to do more – and to discover how valuable she is to God right now – to help her see that this is NOT the end, and NOT HER FAULT.  I want to help mentor her during the rest of my time here...that is when I can get to the hospital to visit - to which Dr Gureja  replied,  "Absolutely!"

I was also really impressed with Esther and the many ways she helped in terms of translation, having a pen and pencil at hand, and always sitting there ready and available. She never tried to take over or try to control the conversations, or undermined me in anyway. I'm getting to appreciate her more and more. It was indeed a very good and encouraging day for all of us.

Please pray for me as I begin taking more serious time now to do thorough research (interviews) into the Batlokwa tribe since I’m working on my ethnography about them – the major tribe, the “real” Setswana speakers!  This is very exciting now that I have been here for several months and have sense of what to expect, a sense of what to listen for. I love Botswana.

 Love you all. Sala Sentle!

Minda