Today we traveled to a Rehabilitation Center for Disabled Children. The disabilities ranged from children who had down syndrome and mental retardation to children who were born with a debilitating disease like cerebral palsy. The center works with the children for up to three months on their ability level. Things that are offered to the children are schooling if they are age appropriate, physical therapy and tasks to help them further develop mentally.
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We toured the center, and spent time with the children in each room. The first room had mostly younger children, some with down syndrome and others with CP. The second room that we visited had older children who all had mental retardation. They were working in their school books, the wall covered with their art work. The last building that we visited was made up of two rooms, and was once again mostly younger children with CP or severe mental retardation. So many beautiful, precious babies. A lot of the children's mothers were there with them, and seemed to enjoy the extra attention that their child was receiving. We spent the morning hanging out with the children, trying to give them all one on one attention. We had some stuffed animals that we brought in from the states that we handed out, as well as some candy for the children to enjoy. There were so many cute faces. We all wanted to take them home. While we were there, a local lady came to interview some of us. Afterwards, we headed back to the hotel for lunch.
In the afternoon, we split into two groups. We were given the choice of visiting a landmine victim survivor that was in the hospital or one that was at their home. Chi and Toan from Clear Path International met us at the hotel to bring us to the survivors. Chi took a group to the hospital while Toan took her group to the home of the survivor. I went with Chi to the hospital. There we met a 13 year old boy who was in a landmine accident in March of this past year and a 22 year old who's accident just happened in May. The young boy lost both of his legs below the knee and one of his arms in the blast. He was with his father, visiting a family member when his father instructed him to take food out to his mother who was still working in the field. He brought food out to her and on his way back, he saw a shiny piece of metal.
Celine---
ReplyDeleteI can't even imagine the feelings that raced through your mind as you met these beautiful people. Their lives have tragically been altered due to the malicious intent of the policy makers who ordered the production and use of these weapons of mass destruction. When Laung Ung came to JSC last year she refered to land mines as weapons of mass destruction "in slow motion". To think that someone steps on a landmine every 22 minutes is overwhelming.....and this statistic is made so much more disturbing when you begin to meet beautiful people who have lost limbs, eyesight, and access to economic opportunities...and so, so much more.
I know that since my return from Vietnam, I have become much more of an activist. We need to make more people aware of the tragic consequences to our "foreign policy"....and I thank CPI for allowing us to be a morale witness and to share our stories.
I am thinking of you all.
Ellen
"An individual has not started living until he can rise above the narrow confines of his individual concerns to the broader concerns of all humanity."
--Martin Luther King, Jr.
Celine,
ReplyDeleteThanks for honouring the young man and other survivors with your words, bringing home to us the fact that the Vietnamese can not live with the basic right to live in their homeland with peace and security. I imagine yours and the others choice to bear witness is so important in a small step towards healing.
Andy