By Ola Hanafi
Jamila, 12 years old, is in a wheelchair. She was born with a handicap in
her legs. Her parents got divorced and each one got remarried.
Ziad, 70 years old, is the son of a well known doctor. He was born with a
small handicap in his legs. He was only limping.
Hajji Riad is the father of nine grown up children and the grandfather
of thirty grandchildren.
They all ended up living in one place.
My friends and I met them all this Saturday afternoon:
Jamila was the first person we met. She was sitting alone in the
corridor, left by her parents who decided to continue their life without her.
Jamila is very shy, she refused to play with us but was
smiling to each and every person talking to her.
Ziad is so sweet! After falling down the stairs of the
retirement house, he had to continue his life in a wheelchair. He looks very
weak physically and seems to be emotionally unstable. He likes talking to
others. He kept on telling each of us how nice we are. He told us how much he
loves one of his roommates and how much he loves his parents. He told me that
his father was a great doctor. His words were not clear but he started crying
and I understood that he misses his parents; a friend told me both of them died
so I had to change the subject to make him smile again. It is strange though
how much he loves his parents although his mother decided to put him in this
place fearing that keeping a handicapped kid would ruin her husband's
reputation.
Hajji Riad looks very old. He makes you feel that his experience in
life gave him wisdom. I wish I had more time to learn from him.
When you ask him how he is doing, he replies: "Thank God, I can
still walk.". In fact, he is one of the few in this place who can
walk. He told us that God answers all his prayers, so when I asked him to pray
for me he said "If you’re married, may Allah grant you fifteen kids".
My immediate response was: "FIFTEEN KIDS! How am I going to be
able to raise them all?" This is when he told me he has nine
children. I was astounded at this. Nine children and thirty grandchildren and
none of them made the effort to take care of him?! I learned later that his
children decided to get their share of the heritage by putting him in this
place and proving to the legal court that he couldn’t take care of himself
anymore.
These are samples of a thousand sad stories this place hides.
When the visit ended, I went back to my car to drive home and thought
how amazing it was:
For me this nightmare ended the very minute I put a foot outside this
place. What about them? This orphanage/retirement house for handicapped
and mentally ill people is their home. A building full of long
corridors, rooms with four to six beds and sometimes a TV for the lucky ones;
for them, there is no other place to go to.
From this experience, I could list thousands of blessings I haven’t been
pondering over before: the blessing of coming into this world with no handicap,
of having good health, of being able to walk, of not being dependent on anyone
in any of my daily tasks, of having grown up in the house of my parents, having
parents who love me and take care of me…
I could go like this for pages, but I leave it for you to think of your own
blessings.
