About A Boy
I’d like to share one of my early experiences in Ghana I know had a significant impact on me, it’s a story I have shared quite often.
My first trip to Ghana was through a volunteering organization called Global Crossroads. Among the endless forms I need to fill out for them was a questioner on why I wanted to volunteer. Specifically the question was: Tell us what you hope to accomplish by volunteering and provide an example.
I used one of my many stays at the Alberta Children’s Hospital in Calgary as my example; I believe I was probably around the age of 5 or 6 at the time. I was never a fan of early morning surgeries; you would get woken up VERY early to start preparations only to have a lot of `wait time` in-between waking up and heading off to surgery. Everyone would still be sound asleep, all the lights dimmed and the silence was deafening. The only word I can think to describe the in-between time is eerie. On this particular occasion, the nurses were on a shift change and one popped in to see how I was doing. As usual I said I was fine. She stood there a moment and then asked if I would like her to come and sit with me while she worked on her files. I quietly said “sure” but inside I was ecstatic! How did she know that’s exactly what I needed? We sat quietly as she filled out her paperwork. She was not there to entertain me, but her presence gave me such a feeling of calm and comfort. I was no longer alone.
It was such a simple gesture, but one that has stuck with me my entire life. She likely has no idea just how much that one moment meant and the lasting impact it would have on me.
So, in my questionnaire, I used this as my example and said my hope is to pay it forward to another child who might be in need of having someone notice them and make them feel a little more at ease with whatever it is they are dealing with. What I did not realize when I was filling this out was just how literal my paying it forward experience would be.
Just over a week into my stay at the orphanage, Bright, one of the young boys there, who I had grown quite fond of, came down with malaria. This was my first experience with malaria and just how brutal the effects can be. He had a raging fever and was completely incoherent at times. It was heartbreaking to witness, and was also very scary as the orphanage was located in a remote area of the Volta Region. Very late one night, his temperature was dangerously high, but we had no access to any transportation to get him to a hospital. We decided to monitor his temperature every half hour. If it kept going up we would need to figure out some way to get him help. Fortunately, his temperature started to go down because honestly, I have no idea how we would have safely gotten him any medical help at that time of night given where we were. Needless to say I got no sleep that night.
The next day he was showing signs of improvement … that is until the next wave hit. He was given medication and, in an attempt to bring his body temperature down, his head was shaved and a bucket of cold water poured over him. This was a far cry from what I remember as a kid when I was sick. I would be safely tucked I my bed with a cold compress, a glass of ginger ale on the nightstand, my medicines crushed up with some orange juice to make it taste better and my mom checking up on me about every 10 minutes.
This was a Sunday afternoon and there was no school so fortunately, not too many kids around which made it quieter than normal. After the water had been poured over him he was just sent off to deal with it on his own. I spotted him standing in front of one of the school huts facing the wall, shivering, crying and looking completely dazed. I quickly went to my room and grabbed some Kleenex and helped him blow his nose and wipe the tears. Not once did he make eye contact with me … he just kept staring at the wall. I told him how sorry I was he was going through this and if there was anything I could do to make it better I would have. I told him it will get better with time and with some rest. I then told him I would be over on one of the mats in the grass area and if he wanted to come and lay down there with me he could, or, if he would rather go find a quiet place somewhere and be by himself that was ok too. Still not looking at me, we ended up walked off in opposite directions. A few minutes later I saw him shuffling towards me; he had gone to put on some dry clothes. He came over and lay down on the mat beside me. We stayed there together for the remainder of the afternoon … in silence.
