I only get so many minutes...

My list of things I would like to accomplish here is consistently getting longer. Learn French. Read the books on my ever growing list. Blog. Be consistent in my bible study. Build relationships. Explore Congo. Among other things.

When I first arrived, I had no idea how I would fill my days off. And now I find myself wondering when I will have time to do all these things.

Last week, before I was going to head to the gym, I snuck into the ward to snuggle this small before her surgery. She had been admitted Friday to receive antibiotics over the weekend before her surgery Monday, and I made sure she found her way to my arms at every free moment.

I found all the patients crafting away. All the patients we have on the ward, besides Sahira (who was already in surgery) are teenage boys. Colored paper, scissors, glue, stickers, popsicle sticks, water colors, glitter glue, and crayons were all spread over an empty bed. Emmanuel was spelling his name out of popsicle sticks. Andredi was putting gobs of glitter glue on stars. Rouel was coloring. Ghislain was sitting with paper in his hands.

I stood and observed their silent crafting for a few minutes before Emmanuel went and got me a stool to sit and join them. I was handed some scissors and paper and with a few hand motions, instructed to cut. I began to cut strips for a paper chain and soon Ghislain joined me. I taped a few together and that's all he needed to see. Paper chain = done.

I began to make pieces of an intricate paper star, which requires cutting, twisting, and taping individual pieces of paper, then stapling 5 or 6 together to make a star. Rouel picked up the first piece I made, studied it, then grabs his own piece of paper and begins to make his own. With little to no instruction, he made the second, third, fourth, and fifth pieces. We then staple it together and his eyes get big at the finished product. We attach a string, I point to the ceiling and shrug my shoulders, asking where we should hang it. He leads me to his bed and points right above his pillow. Of course :)

As the next shift of nurses arrive and prepare to take the patients to Deck 7, I realize we have been crafting for over an hour. Rouel gathers all the papers, scissors, tape, and stapler. Then he motions for me to come- we are going to craft during our time outside. I tidy up the craft area and follow obediently. We make several more stars and he teaches other patients how to make them while we are upstairs.

 

After I leave the wards later that afternoon, I remember all the things on my to- do list that seemed so important that morning. Momentarily I think of all the other things I could have done during that time. But then I remember their smiles as they hung their paper chains and placed all of their names in order. How these boys sat together, communicating with grunts and pointing, maybe for the first time, with peers their own age. They each had lived with facial deformities which made them different.




Here, they were all the same. Each was in a various stage of recovery, one has his jaw wired shut, one has steri-strips all around his mouth and chin, one has a bandage covering his whole head, and the other wears a jaw support.

They are all seen. Not for their deformity, but for the personality that is revealed a little more each day as they recover. They are all loved, for their creativity, for their jokes, and for the lessons they teach us.

 

"Time is Love" - Josh Turner