In the summer of 2015, my fifteen-year-old son encouraged our family of four to accompany the church to Zhongshan to visit a characteristic orphanage run by a foreign couple to experience medical service.
Written by: Dr. Yeo Tigong, Director of Kowloon East Hospital Cluster
This loving unit is different from other orphanages in that it specially accommodates babies with congenital defects, such as cleft lip, heart leak, spina bifida or pelvic bone, congenital deformities of lower limbs, etc.
The couple not only raised funds for charity, but also arranged for one sick baby after another to go to a larger hospital in the mainland for surgery.
Until one day, when a loving couple appeared, they entrusted the reborn children into their hands.
Hospital Authority Building.
(file picture)
The team visited a paediatric nurse and an occupational therapist, both of whom were assigned to train orphanage staff on how to care for sick babies and children after surgery.
Most of the co-workers in the orphanage are middle-aged aunts from other provinces with low education (the labor is relatively economical).
They all have piercing eyes and amiable smiles on their faces. They are looking forward to the experts from Hong Kong to teach them how to take care of vulnerable babies with congenital defects 24 hours a day.
At that time, a major problem occurred. The two experts who came from Hong Kong did not understand Mandarin at all, and the aunts could not fully understand Cantonese.
At that time, the son, who only knew a little Mandarin, bravely stood up as a translator.
In my heart, I am very grateful to the adults on the spot for showing great love and not throwing cold water on my son's enthusiasm.
The nurse and occupational therapist sister avoided using medical terms and instead used some simple body movements to assist communication; the result was that the enthusiasm of the young people overcame shyness and turned themselves into a bridge between Hong Kong experts and aunts from other provinces.
In the end, everyone gave their son a lot of praise and encouragement.
The younger sister, who was only twelve years old at the time, was often taken care of at home without any training. She instantly turned into a babysitter, taking care of five to six relatively older children for the aunt from other provinces who was going to be trained. .
She immediately changed from the little girl in the family to the big sister in the crowd, teaching her younger siblings to read English books, being disciplined, and playing with them, never tired of it.
Finally, when everyone was preparing to leave Zhongshan, my sister tried to share her experience and experience in front of many adults.
It turns out that an environment with limited resources will bring opportunities, and everyone who is not ready, as long as they are willing to try, not only can they use their talents in their infancy, but also can exercise their self-confidence and add color to their life.
As the saying goes, opportunities are for those who are prepared.
Browsing the web to find sources is evolved from the famous French microbiologist Louis Pasteur's famous sentence: "Chance favours the prepared mind." (translation: chance favors the prepared mind).
But in reality, opportunities are often reserved for those who are not yet ready. As long as they are willing to try and start with determination, even if everything may not be successful, they can definitely experience the training brought by the challenges and become mature, and they can become more mature. A step closer to the abundance of self-determined life!
What are you still hesitating about?
"Hong Kong 01" "01 Clinic", in cooperation with the Hospital Authority, publishes a column "Garden Tour" written by medical staff every Wednesday.
Apricot Forest.
"Xinglin" comes from the story of Dong Feng, a famous doctor in the Three Kingdoms period. Later generations praised medical care as "Xinglin". Five people from Xinglin from the Hospital Authority led the garden to visit Xinglin Grand View Garden. A little bit of reason.
Looking at the epidemic from history