"A drop of love"

God came to my house and asked for charity.
And I fell on my knees and cried,
"Beloved, what may I give?"
"Just love," He said.
"Just love."

St Francis of Assisi
From: Love Poems from God : translated by Daniel Ladinsky

A few weeks ago I stumbled upon this amazing man. He reminded me that it is not about me...it's about love! Thank you Maithri, you've touched my heart...gently awakening my heat...reminding me why I am here.

If you are looking for inspiration for living...for why we have every reason to be alive! and happy! and thankful...if you want to read extra-ordinary poetry and have your heart be touched by honesty and never ending love....you have to peek here....you will feel as if you are flying high like an eagle!

You will also see that I have used some of Maithri's words (Thank YOU) as I am humbled by this award...and speechless...but to be truthfull to my friends here...I would like to tell them about this part of my life. (M3 always say I have such a long way to tell and explain things that can be said in one sentence :0)

In short....I did volunteer work for 3 years before we moved, working and supporting children with cancer or life threatening illnesses...(nahhh...I need more words :-)

I woke up one morning, thinking...there is more to life than what I'm doing...and I want to do more, I need to do more. I phoned the government hospital in Tygerberg, Cape Town - The Tygerberg Hospital, asked to speak to someone who work with volunteers and got an appointment to see Cathy.

She just started voluntering for an organisation called CHOC, the Childhood Cancer Foundation, and was getting a team together to start a support and play team in the children's cancer ward in Tygerberg Hospital.

She struggled to find any other volunteers and we decided we are just going to start. As you all know, South Africa is a country with much diversity and poverty everywhere. 80% of the children in this ward, came from poor backgrounds and had nothing. Some of these little ones parents just left them there when they found out they had cancer....because they knew that their children will have a better change of surviving if they stayed in the hospital.

Cathy and I went out and we start collecting everything from toothbrushes to pajamas, from socks and shoes to dresses and clothes for every little one in the hospital. We cooked meals for the parents to have a home-cooked dinner every day while in the hospital. If you would imagine yourself being in the hospital...every thing you need, we collected.

The best part of our day was when we played and interacted with the children. The two of us decided that we are going to make a difference and we are going to make the kids (and the staff) laugh. Life is serious. Their lives more than serious...but we had one vision in our sight...to make them forget for a moment that they are sick...

I became the clown in the ward...(i loved it!)..had to think of as many ways as possible to make them laugh! (Maithri..this is for you!) and Cathy was the lady with bright red hair who could read stories like no other...she should write books.

Through all this play and interacting and cooking and laughing, we all became one big family and got really involved and very close. (yes I know...overstepping boundaries....but we just had to go that extra step!) We knew the little ones better than some of their family members...only because we were there every single day sharing every single thought, feeling or emotion...

We also shared their pain. When one of them was not able to participate that specific day, we would take the whole group of kids and played games on his/her bed. And if they were really sick that day...Cathy or myself would sit next to their bed, reading them stories...singing songs to them...or just holding their hands.

The most sacred part for me was when I could walk/sit/talk with that child all the way...I feel humbled and priviledge to say that all the families asked us to be with them when it was time for their little one to go to heaven...that last few weeks, days, hours, minutes...where every minute is so so precious...were shared holding hands...praying...making cups of tea every hour....looking at photos...talking about all that he/she has been through...or just being there...until the end.

These were the times that I felt most alive...I cannot explain this...but to be so priviledge to be able to share all this with the families...and afterwards to be there so that they can just talk...and cry....and we will laugh..and look at photos...and talk....or just sigh...but we were. In every meaning of the phrase..."just be"...we were.

I can write books about my time here...it's a part of my life that I treasure and right now my heart is all mushy with greatfulness for having all this in my life...I feel so special...and then I know and realise my work is not done.

I want to end with forwarding this award to my heart-to-heart friend, Cathy...and every other volunteer working with children...

because we all know...

it is not about us...

it is about the children! xx

PS: Please leave a comment...but don't say things like I will never be able to do something like this...or say you are so and so and so....this is not about me....it is about the children...big hug! xx