Timion: τ?μιον – precious
Last week, four of us from our two World Race teams had the privilege of serving at Timion camp in Jeffrey’s Bay. This camp exists to serve kids with Cerebral Palsy and equip their mamas with both practical knowledge, confidence in their roles as daughters of Jesus, and physical equipment to help with their kiddos. In certain areas of South Africa, especially in the rural farm areas, access to help and education about special needs and disabilities are scarce. As such, parents (especially mamas due to the number of fatherless homes with disabled kiddos) have an especially hard time understanding, loving, and taking care of their children.
There is so much I can say about this week and want to share with you, but I’ll try to just hit the highlights for brevity’s sake. Coming into the week, I could tell the moms were discouraged. Their backs hurt from picking up their children (ranging from two to 16 years old), bathing them, and carrying them. They were frustrated because no matter how much they tried, it was still so hard to feed their kids, to wash them, to communicate with them, and to position them comfortably. I felt like it was hard for them to understand and be understood.
These moms I got to know were amazing. Even early in the week, they came with open hearts to what the Lord had for them. Their devotion to God and awe of Him grew as they grew to better understand their children. This was a beautiful picture to me of how God loves us; as Father who loves His children. How much He must love us! It’s so hard to love when you can’t understand, but God fully knows and understands us and chooses us still.
One mom admitted that it was so hard and discouraging for her to care for her little one that she had questioned why God had given her a child like that, or why He allowed her and her little one to continue living. By the end of the week, she said (in Xhosa, so I’m basing this off the English translation I received) that she now knows that God gave her a special child because she’s a special, chosen mom. That she views her little one as a gift and is thankful because she now understands her child better.
Throughout the week, I saw a newfound joy awaken in these moms. In the mornings, my teammates and I, along with the PT, social worker, carpenter, and OT on staff, got to hold the kids, play games with them, and take care of them while mama got practical lessons and times of respite and understanding with one another. They learned feeding techniques, classifications for specific kinds of Cerebral Palsy, sleep positioning, and the best stretches for their tired arms and backs. They rejoined their children in the afternoons to apply what they had learned in the morning. Each afternoon was such a sweet time of fellowship. The kids were overjoyed to see their moms, and the moms were able to see their children with fresh eyes of understanding and eagerness.
I got to connect with a precious nine-year-old who quickly became one of the most treasured people to me I’ve ever met. Forever happy, this kiddo let me hold her and feed her and attempt to help her play parachute games, no matter how inexperienced I was with positioning stiff limbs. She was unendingly patient and so contented. Saying “bye” to her at the end of the week was rough, but her mom and aunt were so comforting to me (and I have TONS of pictures of her precious face).
I also had the opportunity to photograph and video the whole week and make a slideshow and video for the moms to take home. This was such a gift and learning experience for me – learning to take photos of constantly moving kiddos in dark rooms and to capture moments of joy with two-year-olds who desperately miss their moms. It was also a cool gift for me because the Lord asked me to put away my camera this month because I have a tendency to use it to distance myself when I’m overwhelmed, and when I said “yes,” He gave me this sweet gift of USING my camera FOR ministry. Wow, so cool.
LAST THING. I made so many friends this week with the amazing staff at Timion. One friend, Leonie, is an amazingly skilled carpenter. She has a passion for building things to aid people with different bodies. She helps build the standing frames, walking horses, and wheelchairs for the moms to take home to help their kids at the end of the week. One mom had an especially hard time bathing her child and was getting discouraged from back pain, and Leonie, in two days, designed and built her a standing tub to take home. Seeing the mom receive this gift is one of my favorite memories from South Africa.
I’m sorry this blog isn’t as organized as most, but overall, the gist is this: God makes humans precious. We are precious to Him, as we should be to one another. And wow, my eyes were opened to that this week.
Here’s some of my favorite photos of the week! If you’d like to see the videos I made for them as well, please let me know – I can email them to you!
