Alisha came back this week for her follow-up speech and hearing therapy sessions. I'm always amazed at how I have always been "coincidentally" assigned to this particular hospital for my clinical attachments each time she visits from Nepal. Jo (my missionary friend) flies Alisha and her mother in from Nepal for regular follow-up sessions here in Singapore.
Alisha, and Jo speaking to one of the therapists outside the Ear, Nose and Throat (ENT) clinic.
Alisha absolutely loves arranging things in a neat and tidy fashion.
She wears an orange pouch round her neck all the time,
which contains extra batteries for her implant.
Alisha occupied with colouring, while the therapist fine-tunes the volume of her hearing implant.
The device has to be adjusted every few months so Alisha can adapt to hearing a greater range of sound volumes.
This week, Alisha was at the hospital on 3 occasions, each time to fine-tune her hearing implant, to undergo hearing as well as speech therapy. Today, I sat in to watch Alisha go through a variety of picture cards, as the therapist taught her mother how to teach Alisha to attach meaningful sounds to the pictures.
(Clockwise) Alisha, her mother, Jo and the speech therapist.
As I sat down by her side and watched her imitating sounds and learning to link pictures meaningfully to the sounds of words, I marvelled at the opportunity that was now opened to her because of the love and faith of my missionary friend, the surgeon, the many generous donors (including many of you!), and her speech and hearing therapists, who sometimes see her for free on weekends, and even went to Nepal to visit Alisha during their leave in January when they decided to go trekking there.
It made me think, just as how Alisha is learning how to decipher sounds and put meaning to them, are we too, learning how to hear God too? Is He really silent, or perhaps, is the noise of the crowd or our own obstinance stifling the sound of His voice? Are we staying tuned at the right frequency?
As I sat down on a chair watching Alisha, feeling the pain of my fracture in my pelvis, I remembered the pain during the time God had asked me to give up my bike money for Alisha's operation, the anguish, the disbelief, and the final act of surrender. I watched her laughing and listened to her mother say how her ability to hear had made her more sociable and manageable as a child, how she could respond to verbal warnings instead of being susceptible to dangers when she could not hear people calling out for her safety. I listened as her mother shared how she no longer had to avoid church meetings because of Alisha's incessant and loud screaming, since now she could hear herself and hence knew how to control her voice. I listened as she shared how Alisha was now beginning to understand words and was doing well in school.
Deafness doesn't just mean a loss of hearing. It implies developmental delay, mental retardation, irritable and inappropriate behaviour, a loss of educational opportunities and hence employment, and possibly a gate to prostitution, abuse and slavery. Your generosity has given her a chance at a whole new life.
"Do the kids at school make fun of her?" I asked. After all, childen can be very cruel.
"No," she said in Nepalese. "Not at all. Her friends love her to bits. She really enjoys school now, and her teacher says she's doing well. We never imagined she would have the chance to attend a class. She can even tell her friends to 'come' or 'sit'." My missionary translated her words into english.
Alisha grinned at me.
And she reminded me, of how important it is for us to live our lives surrendered to God, if we truly want to experience the fullness of His goodness and amazing grace in our lives. If I had not obeyed God during that time, and if He had not given me strength to give up what meant so much to me, I would not have met the donor who sponsored her remaining surgical fees and who decided to sponsor my next book, would not have met amazing friends who came together to buy me my real dreambike after knowing about Alisha, would not have understood the meaning of God's generosity and provision.
She reminded me, of just like how I had given up what meant much to me before, I must do it again and give up biking, running and any form of sport for now, so that my injuries can heal. I have to confess, I have had stress fractures elsewhere in my feet this year, and they are signs that I must rest, must drink my milk and be a good girl to sit at God's feet.
Alisha grinned again, this time waving her hand and saying "bye bye" to the therapist. Just like how my pain of losing something dear to me before birthed into something beautiful, Alisha reminded me, that surely this pain has a purpose too. She reminded me, of the importance of not only hearing, but of listening to God's voice. There're many sounds in the environment, but one must attach both meaning and value to the sounds and words before they become anything meaningful.
Does God's voice sound audible to you today? Do you need to quiet yourself down, and fine-tune your 'hearing implant' too? I know I do.
She reminded me, that when God calls us to surrender and obey, we must listen. Because surely, something good, something as good as a deaf child gaining her sense of hearing, would come out of this.
"He who has ears to hear, let him hear. "
-Matthew 11:15
*Thank you to those of you who have given to Alisha so generously and sacrificially. Jo flies her mother and her in every few months for her follow-up therapy sessions. This will be for the long-haul, and finances are always an issue, but we're trusting God as usual for His timely provision. Do drop me a note at tanwaijia@gmail.com if you'd like to help in any way.
No comments:
Post a Comment