This past month I was working at Camp Hope a place for kids & adults with special needs and disabilities were able to come during the day. They are helping rehabilitate them, preparing them for life outside of this foundation, and loving them incredibly well. Many of the people there have cerebral palsy and other forms of mental disabilities. They range from a few years old to 30 years old. This foundation does such amazing work. The care and love they have for these people is incredible. Every morning they have devotionals and a time for games. They feed them lunch, change diapers, give them haircuts, and attend to their medical needs. The staff is amazing! Many days we had a dance party, which were some of my favorite times. Also some of those guys had some super awesome dance moves.
This month brought me so much joy!
Going into this month knowing we were working with special needs & disabilities, I was honestly a bit nervous. I have basically no experience, and not knowing how to care or how to love them made me nervous. I was afraid I might hurt them or do something wrong, or they wouldn’t understand what I was doing. The first day was as most first days at ministry- just feeling out what’s going on and how to do things. From that day on though, all my fears and insecurities of working with them was put to rest. They are just like anyone else, and they love when you spend time with them and just be with them. You might think that because they are nonverbal or in wheelchairs you can’t really connect with them. That is definitely NOT true. They all had such different personalities and are so much fun. You just had to be all in and choose to spend the time and get to know each of them.
I thought I was going to fall in love with the younger kids, but my heart was drawn to the older ones. They ranged from 11-27 years old and while most of them were nonverbal, I could have a conversation with all of them. God showed me how to love deeper this month.
There was this one boy, Devin*, a 12 year old stud. I fell in love with him immediately. Any chance I had to be with him, I took it. He was a small guy, but he was hilarious. I remember one of my first days with him, I was feeding him apples and he went to put the next piece in his month, but then he huge smile on his face. I realized he was hiding the apple under his hand and was pretending to eat. I start laughing. This kid brought me so much joy- trying to play jokes on me. 🙂 I made it my mission to always try and make him smile. Towards the end of the month, we went to Casa Hogar, the housing for the kids that are orphans. Devin is one of them, but it was so neat to see where he lived. Those kids are a family and are so well loved. God has them covered and I was so blessed to have a part in getting to love them.
I feel like words can’t explain how much joy this month was. I was surprised by how much I truly enjoyed working with people with special needs and disabilities. It was truly unexpected, and I am going to miss all of them. They will always have a special place in my heart!
Here is the link to Camp Hope’s website, if you would like to know more:)
*Names were changed to protect the awesome people at Camp Hope.
