A Visit to the Not Indifferent Ones: a Personal Story about the First Meeting with Special Children
Sometimes
they only need physical contact. They are excited every time you touch or hug
them. The feeling of having someone around makes them sure that they are
protected and at peace.
I’m
talking about the children who stay in the Boarding Home for Children with
Special Needs, where I went to take part in an Orthodox worship service
together with the sisters of St. Elisabeth Convent. It is one of the places
where the Convent carries out its ministry. I’m a beginner journalist who has
only recently started working in the Convent, and the visit to this facility
was my first assignment. At first, I was taken aback because I didn’t know what
to do and how to react if anything unexpected happened. To be honest, I was a
little scared and nervous. This anxiety was relieved as soon as I caught the
first glance of a child who greeted me with a subtle sincere smile full of
boundless purity.
Soon I
discovered that I was in the midst of people who had no fear and no restraints.
They are open to everybody and naïve like little children. They can be looking
into a book and try to read, imitating the others, but you will never be able
to guess what they will do in the next couple of seconds. That was how I was
smiled at, shaken hands with, and hugged several times during the service.
Imagine riding the subway and feeling sad but then someone… a perfect
stranger… approaches you with a tender
smile and hugs you — for no reason at all… Apparently, it is normal in the
world of the “not indifferent” children. I don’t know them much but their
actions leave me floored. We can learn a lot from them. For instance, their
sincere prayer or even their attempts at singing with the choir, however
similar to moaning it might sound, may be much more valuable and precious in
God’s eyes than dozens of highly-educated experts in liturgical studies.
I learned
from the sisters that there are about a hundred children who stay in the
Boarding Home at the moment. “This Boarding Home is for the most severely
disabled children that you can imagine in our city,” Oleg, who is an Orthodox
volunteer dealing with these kids, says. There are boarding homes with a school
where children can learn. Unfortunately, most children who stay here are
severely impaired, but they still have a school. The teachers of that school
invest a lot of effort into teaching them.
The life
of these children is very complicated and different. Their days begin at 7
o’clock in the morning with lots of tiresome activities, such as changing bed
sheets and clothes. All children are different: some of them can put clothes
on, albeit slowly, but others are confined to a wheelchair or bedridden, and
therefore require assistance of one or more adults. That is why there are ca.
40 brothers and sisters of our Convent who help in the boarding home every day.
A small
church was built on the territory of the boarding home thanks to people’s
donations. Recently, the Convent (supported by Prince Vladimir Youth Association, USA) has organised a green area with nice
footpaths, a fountain, and a contact mini-zoo. The children also have the
opportunity to attend horse therapy classes.
Apart
from everyday assistance, St. Elisabeth Convent does its best to engage children
in cultural life by holding various events, going on sightseeing trips,
participating in festivals and creative workshops with the children, and
staging plays with them. Naturally, we can’t but mention the spiritual
component, namely, weekly molebens and divine liturgies. “This is how we get
involved in their lives,” Oleg adds. “We all have families and relatives who
love and care for us. These children are abandoned and lack the
most important thing, i.e., love. It is this love that we attempt to supply
them with.”
Everyone
needs someone else’s attention, care, and kind attitude. The children who stay
in the boarding home don’t have any other way of interacting with the outside
world, aside from the people who cater to them. The sisters and the brothers of
St. Elisabeth Convent visit the children as often as possible, thus adding their
time — the most vital resource — to the tangible aid that the Convent provides.
By giving our time, we sacrifice ourselves.
The
service was over. The children returned to their wards. I was standing near the
church, staring at the door, and thinking. Why did the Lord allow these
children to come into our world with so many health disorders? Did it happen
because He wanted to touch the stony hearts of healthy, successful, and
self-centered human beings? I didn’t want to leave: not because they needed my help…
instead, it was me who needed their help.
By Vladislav Gurin,
the Master of Theology,
a PG student of the Minsk Theological Academy
The Catalog of Good Deeds, 2018
