Some of us, Katherine, Dan, Abby, and I work with our second NGO, Al Kayan. Al Kayan works with children with disabilities and provides various therapies and activites. The Egyptian society is not yet in the process of welcoming and giving access to job opportunites to these children. This kind of attitude is different from what we usually observe in the United States. After all, those with disabilities are protected by the law and if they choose to do so, can educate themselves and find jobs.
One day, when I talked about how our community partner al Kayan wanted to take us to the public library, Professor Lo said something quite interesting. Basically, he explained that when Egyptians see that even Americans care about these children, they may start to think differently about children with disabilities. In a way, we are setting an example and perhaps even breaking the mistaken notion that Americans only care about themselves in Cairo.
I had never thought about going to the public library as being so significant. It inspired me to care about the children even more.
As we settled in the library, the children drew pictures and played with play-doe. Each children required a volunteer's full attention. I started to work with one girl. However, she started to hit me and tried to pull my hair. It didn't make me angry but it made me sad because she had no control over her behavior. She could not control her affection or her dislike. If almost everyone in this world is scared about losing control, how scary is it that she does not have control over such simple emotions as like or dislike.
As we left, many Egyptian children turned to look. Mostly they were interested in us foreigners. Later, they came up and took pictures of us and asked for our emails and phone numbers. We felt like celebrities!. However, they also took interest in the children that we were holding hands with. Some of them came up to the children and hesitantly said hi to them. These children with disabilities were no longer ignored, no longer dismissed. Mission Accomplished for today!
No comments:
Post a Comment