The Life Inside

One of our priorities is to help others understand that within the body of a disabled person there is someone who longs to run, to dance, to throw a ball, and to communicate with a voice and maybe a hug. So we were encouraged when three teachers and eighteen students (aged 15-17) from St Paul's College in Hong Kong went to visit our children in Qinghai. The program: Other Learning Experiences is excellent, particularly for this age group.  Entrenched attitudes can be totally transformed.  That's what happened in Qinghai.

Each of the St Paul’s students was allocated an area of responsibility, but in Xining Children’s Home, where the children are very dependent on their caregivers, all the students outdid themselves helping the staff to care for the children, even doing the challenging task of feeding.  At Huangnan Children’s Home, the St. Paul’s students had a lot of fun putting on a specially prepared performance and playing games with the children.

More than one student said later, "I was really nervous (or frightened) about interacting with people with serious disabilities, and would normally avoid contact with them, but once we got stuck in, and we saw how much the children enjoyed our company, it seemed easy!" Six days can be a long time in the life of a student, yet one student said wisely, "I learnt about being patient, because it takes time to work with someone who has special needs. This will be very useful in the future."

One of the wonderful things the students did was to take with them a portable printer. They took photos of the children in small groups, and then copies were printed out so that each child could have a picture of him or herself.  For a Gen Y related group, this was such a small gesture, but it was hugely exciting for a child living in a children’s home on the remote Tibetan Plateau region of China.

The whole visit was in itself a beautiful image of children communicating with those who had used their feet to go and visit, their hands to serve, their voices to encourage, and their eyes to see the person within.