Saturday, June 5, 2010

New opportunity?

I spend a lot of time praying about what I'm supposed to be doing right now. There is an opportunity to work with physically handicapped kids. Many of these kids are seen as useless and just a burden. Nothing is done for them and over and over I hear stories of how they are just left to lay on the ground all day with no interaction, stimulation or care. There are no expectations for them and some are even abandoned. But I'm learning that there are so many kids with physical handicaps here in Uganda. Cerebral Palsy is frighteningly common because there are so many things cause damage to the developing brain from poor prenatal care to malaria in the first months of life and little medical care as prevention or early treatment. On top of that there is Polio, genetic deformities, injuries that cause loss of limbs, the list seems to go on and on of things that cause handicaps. There are opportunities for me to encourage these families, to provide nursing care and resources (like specially made chairs) and increase awareness. This is the most apparent and open nursing opportunity I have had yet. There are several Ugandans I can partner with who are already involved in this work and I've encountered several of these kids already so I start to get a little excited about meeting this need. But then I think how poorly equipped I am for that particular job and I hesitate. This is not something I've ever worked with in my past nursing experience and I know so little about how to help. It also gets so discouraging as at times so little can be done.  I always pictured myself working with HIV/Aids or hospice care. I wonder if this is the driven side of me that needs to be doing something, anything task related with a purpose. Should I continue to wait? Am I supposed to be more patent? Why all these hesitations and reservations?  These kids are precious in God's sight and could use all help that they can get. I should just dive in. Right?

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