Written by Rain
In July of this year, two visually impaired college students, sponsored by Rainbow Missions, were planning a trip from CC, Jilin. They would ride trains to Southern China, towards the CZ city in Guangxi. These students planned to participate in a new Rainbow Mission initiative: “From Getting Help to Helping Others”. Qingqing and Nono wanted to journey on this long-distance trip to take advantage of their three-week summer internship. Their goal was to give back to the community utilizing skills obtained from special education universities. The students planned to provide pediatric massage and physical therapy at the CZ Orphanage/ Rehabilitation Center, which serves disabled children and orphans.
Rainbow Missions launched this inagural “Getting Help and Helping Others” summer internship program to enable our sponsored college students an opportunity to utilize their new skills and provide much needed therapy for disabled children. Our goal is for the interns to work closely with the orphanage teachers, parents and children to provide physical therapy.
A Rainbow Missions short-term service team arrived in China mid-June to complete plans for the internship program. Just before Qingqing and Nono were about to take their final exams, the school suddenly announced they were postponing the exams for several weeks. This sudden change effectively shortened the one-and-a-half-month summer vacation to less than three weeks. The “Getting Help and Helping Others” Summer Internship Program was put on hold and may not be implemented this year. The lengthy train travel time to and from the orphanage would not provide the students sufficient time to spend with the disabled children.
Everyone felt very disappointed! We found ourselves distraught and wondering how our plans ended up being for not. We relied on our intellect and abilities to push our program forward. However, God had other plans. He wanted us to trust Him and seek His guidance for our internship program. We needed to learn to trust and obey and give our internship program to God. We were living examples of the phrase: Where people can’t; through God anything is possible!
Twists and turns – When the team was about to leave Hong Kong and return to America, our local co-worker, YY, told us that the university’s new summer vacation time finally came out! Qingqing and Nono would have a three-week window where they could support their internship. Qingqing and Nono were excited to move forward and support this opportunity. After the final exam, they hurried to catch a train. The trip took them from northeast to southwest China. They traveled for two days and two nights without an air-conditioned train to get to CZ. Even though they were uncomfortable with the heat, the boys were excited to finally start their internship.
At the end of August, another Rainbow Missions service team visited CC again and spent time with Qingqing and Nono. They heard many stories regarding Qingqing and Nono’s experiences from their internship. Here is an excert from their sharing:
In mid-July we went to the CZ Orphanage for a short internship. The parents and teachers were very enthusiastic and introduced us to their children. The students ages ranged from 2 to 18 years old. All of the children had cerebral palsy.
In the first week, we started becoming familiar with the people and the environment. The teachers were very professional and busy. They were very nice and cared for us. The children were very cute. The younger children such as Maomao, Starry, and Xiaosu, Lulu, etc. were all undergoing initial rehabilitation, mainly to increase their sensory input. We assisted the older children with their training. They were hard workers and very persistant with their training. In less than three weeks, we did everything we could to help the students become stronger.
From the second week on, we started connecting classroom theory with physical practice. This helped us increase our knowledge and deepen our application skills. Although we were assigned to the sensory room, the actual activity is based on exercise and physical therapy. Exercise therapy is mainly to promote the development of gross and fine motor skills. Gross motor skills include holding their head-up, rolling-over, sitting, climbing, walking and other functions. Fine motor skills is mainly entail hand-grip function and hand-eye coordination training. The main content of our study is: what, how to do it, and why do it. Cerebral palsy rehabilitation takes a long time, but we were pleased to see some progress with some of the residents. Our mindset was: occasionally to cure, often to help, always to comfort. This should be the passion of every rehabilitation therapist, and even every medical practitioner.
The three weeks passed quickly. The internship program was a great opportunity to open our horizons, partipate in a clinical setting, and learn how to apply the theory from books to practice. I am very grateful to Rainbow Missions for giving us such an opportunity. I hope that we can have more internship experiences. We want to give back to the society by using skills we gained from the university. I am convinced that many of our classmates would be eager to have such an opportunity as what we experienced. I sincerely thank you for your care and support.
The love of Christ Jesus inspires us. Are you willing to open your life and be a blessing to others? Rainbow Missions sincerely invites you to partner with us so that more disabled college students will have an opportunity to embark on the road of helping others. If you are interested in financially supporting students like Qingqing and Nono, please contact us at (206)-734-7000 or email us at rainbows@therainbows.org, or send a check directly Rainbow Missions, PO BOX 40145, Bellevue, WA 98015. Please provide an email address so that we may contact you and send a year-end donation receipt. Thank you!
本年七月，遠在吉林CC，有兩位彩虹工程資助的視障大學生，在南下的火車上，千里迢迢，正向著廣西CZ市進發——「從受助到助人」一直是彩虹工程的遠程目標。晴晴與諾諾千里之行，就是要利用他們短短的三週暑假，把他們在特教大學所學專業，包括小兒推拿與物理治療等，帶到CZ福利院/康復中心去服事那裡的殘障孩子與孤兒。
彩虹工程在今年首次推出這個「受助助人」暑期實習項目，讓福利院的老師、家長、同學們和我們都非常興奮及滿心期待。兩位年輕的視障學生更是滿懷熱誠、整裝待發——只是，在六月中的時候，當我們到達國內打算與雙方策劃具體內容時，消息傳出，他們所屬大學的特敎部決定將今年六月的期考延後，而且把九月開始的實習提前。這個突如其來的變動，把本來是一個半月長的暑假縮短至只有兩到三週，而我們這個「受助助人」暑期實習計劃，也因為南北兩地路途遙遠、前後只有不到三週的時間實在是過於匆促，於是也就無法進行。
當時， 大家都感到非常非常的失望！只是，對於超越我們能力範圍所及的事情，特別在服事的工場上，我們就要學會信靠順服，放心放手交給上帝。 因為，在人不能的；在神凡事都能！
峯迴路轉——當我快要離港回美時，我們的本地同工YY興奮地告訴我：該大學新的暑假時間終於出來了！晴晴與諾諾八月中才要到實習醫院，中間能有三週多一點的時間。如果能去，他們還是願意去的。於是，在期考結束後，他們便匆匆上路了。 從東北到西南，橫跨整個中國，他們要坐兩天兩夜、不設空調的火車才能到達CZ市。你知道當時國內的氣溫是多少度嗎？ 其實，他們大可以留在本地打打零工，賺點生活補貼，三個星期一下子就過去了。但是，經歷到「受助」的祝福，這兩位視障年輕人作出了不一樣的抉擇，他們踏出了「從受助到助人」的第一步。
兩個多月過去了，晴晴與諾諾已經回到學校，開始在當地醫院實習。在八月底的時候，我們曾再次造訪CC，跟他們吃了一頓飯，以下是他們的一些寶貴的體會與分享：
「七月中我們到了CZ兒童福利院做短期實習，每位家長及老師都很熱情，給我們介紹了福利院及孩子們的情況。他們最大的十八歲，最小的才兩歲多，基本上都是腦癱患兒。
第一個星期，我們熟悉了這裡的人和環境。老師們都很專業，他們很忙，但還是常常關心我們。孩子們都很可愛也很可憐，小的孩子如毛毛，星星，還有小蘇，露露等，都在進行初步的康復，主要是增加他們的感覺輸入；大一點的孩子，我們主要是輔助他們進行訓練，他們都很努力的堅持。其實康復是一個循序漸進，持之以恆的過程，非一時之功效；在短短的三週時間內，我們竭盡所能去幫助他們，也希望他們康復得越來越好！
從第二週開始，我們進行了實踐與所學理論的對接；透過實踐再去回顧過去所學，然後再次應用於實踐，對知識和技能的認識和印像大大的加深了。雖然我們的場地選擇是在感統室，但實際做的內容是以物理治療裡的運動療法為主，運動療法主要是促進粗大運動和精細運動的發育，前者包括抬頭、翻身、坐、爬、站、走等功能，後者主要是手抓握功能及手眼協調訓練。我們主要學習的內容是：什麼，怎麼做，為什麼這麼做，即what, how, why三方面的問題。雖然腦癱康復療效真的有點緩慢，但只要有一點點的進步，我們還是很欣慰的。偶爾去治愈，常常去幫助，總是去撫慰——應當是每一個康復治療師，甚至每一個醫療工作者的情懷。
三週的時間很快就過去了。對於我們剛剛走出課堂的學生來說，這是一個很好的機會，開拓了我們的視野，見識到了真正的臨床，學會如何把書本上的理論靈活的應用到實踐當中。非常感謝彩虹工程能夠給予我們一次這樣的機會。盼望您們能夠給我們提供更多這樣的實習體驗，鍛煉自己的同時也能回饋社會。深信我們還有很多同學，還有很多學弟學妹也都渴望著能夠擁有一次這樣的機會。真的衷心感謝您們的關愛與支持。 」
基督耶穌的愛激勵我們，您願意敞開您的生命，把這一份愛活出來，成為別人的祝福嗎？彩虹工程摯誠邀請你與我們同行，歡迎加入資助者行列，讓更多受助者有機會踏上助人的蒙福之路。倘若你願意在金錢上支持幫助更多像他們一樣的孩子，請聯絡我們 (206)-734-7000、致電郵rainbows@therainbows.org 索取更多有關我們事工的資訊，或直接把支票寄往Rainbow Missions, PO BOX 40145, Bellevue, WA 98015。請填寫電郵地址以便聯絡及寄發年終捐款收據。謝謝！