Recurring thoughts.....

As we spent our time interacting with the kids, what we see is the smiles that come from their hearts and what we hear is the laughter that comes straight from their hearts too. They do cry too, especially during physiotherapy sessions. It is indeed saddening that these kids have to rely on physiotherapy at such a tender age and for how long must they do so, we do not know so.

I am sure many of us agree that Bo Ai plays a very crucial role in these kids’ lives; without Prof. Liang and the team of dedicated teachers, the kids will not be where they are today. However, I feel that parents of these kids are still the most important, not Bo Ai school.

Though we have fun playing with the kids, but one strongest feeling that keeps surfacing to me is still the sense of helplessness. The kids are after all, still young and naive. They do not know what life has in store for them in the future. As kids, it is reasonable that they do not understand the process of growing up. However, everyone will grow up one day. I realize that Bo Ai cannot take care of them for life, and eventually, the responsibility of taking care of them will fall back to the hands of their parents. If they are able to recover during their stay in Bo Ai, it will be really great……but how many of them can fully recover? For those who cannot, how are they going to survive in the land of China? Bo Ai is not able to look after them indefinitely; as new young cerebral palsy kids are continuously coming in and Bo Ai has limited funds and resources.

During our stay in Bo Ai, I noticed that we tend to pay a lot more attention to the younger kids between 4 to 10 years old and by so, we neglected those bigger kids above 15 years old. In such a small community, this natural but cruel trait is already exemplified by us. That is why I am concerned of how the kids are going to fend for themselves in the society in 20 years down the road. There is no need to rely on the government to take care of their welfare as China population is simply too, too overwhelming. The government does not have the time and effort to look after the welfare of these disabled kids. Therefore, parents must be socially responsible by looking after their kids for now and MORE essentially, in the future.

From what I understood, some of the kids have not seen their parents for ages to the extent that they may not even recognize them anymore! For these parents, they have failed themselves in life. I understand that these parents may face some difficulties, such as hometown location, financial problems and emotional barriers of facing their disabled kids.

Yes, it can be hard to overcome these difficulties. But with souls like Prof. Liang around, problems can be resolved step by step. Parents should understand that Prof. Liang is there to assist and provide support for them in bringing their kids up as normal person, and not take over their roles as parents to love the kids for life. This life-long responsibility of the kid should still lie in the hands of parents, not Bo Ai School.

On the whole, I feel that what touches me the most is the accompaniment of the kids. Though we had planned some programs like colouring and fruit-printing for them, I still prefer the simple interaction with the kids because it brings us closer to them. Instead of completing a task, it feels like fulfilling my heart more. We may not be as good as the previous serve team in the eyes of some, but does it matter? As long as we are able to convince ourselves that we brought some laughter into the lives of the kids, it is mission accomplished……