While washing the cheese
grater tonight after dinner, a memory popped into my head. Flashback to high
school, maybe age 16, in “Teen Living” class with several of my (Virginia)
Beach-crazed friends. This particular memory was of the day when we made
pasta with Bolognese sauce, topped with freshly grated cheese, and a green
salad on the side. We all took specific jobs–someone to prepare the food,
someone to set the table, and someone to wash the dishes. And somehow tonight, I
remembered the dishwasher assigned to our group, a girl who had Down syndrome.
I walked over to the sink where she was washing to find that she was, instead
of cleaning the grater with the sponge, actually grating the sponge to pieces.
I can still see that sink, full of little bits of yellow, clogging the drain
and obviously ruining the sponge. 

That was it, end of
memory. I stood at our sink here in present-day Zambia trying and trying to
remember more. What was her name? Was I
ever nice to her?  How did I deal with the sponge-grater mishap? The
failure of my memory at that moment deeply disappointed me.

You see, now I am the Director of Operations for an NGO (non-governmental organization) working in southern Africa to care for children, and specifically orphans, who have intellectual disabilities. I started working with Special Hope Network about a year ago, after having been closely drawn to its founding family, the Nelsons. For whatever reason, I was fascinated by Maggie, Mollie, and Sam (the three Nelson kids, who all have Down syndrome), and absolutely loved spending time with them. Maggie, with her tough-skinned personality, Mollie with her quiet hymns and giggles, Sam with his endless wit and charm–I fell in love! All of the sudden, I found my life turned upside-down and transporting itself across the world to Africa, where children with disabilities were suffering greatly. All of a sudden, I was completely determined to see that these children receive the care they need, and that the perspectives of people around the world be changed to know their unique worth in the kingdom of God. All of a sudden, I knew that children with intellectual disabilities would be my life.

The person I am now looks back at that person I was in high school, and sighs.  I missed it. I missed the opportunity to know that girl. I missed learning her personality and how to best care for her. I missed it, and I could not have cared less. My self-centeredness would have barely allowed me to think well of my close friends, let alone a girl who nobody wanted to befriend. The person I was in high school, the one who didn’t pay her any attention, is the reason Special Hope Network exists. Because in reality, the person I was in high school is overwhelmingly similar to the rest of the world–they just don’t care about people who have disabilities. I’m sure exceptions to that rule abound, but unfortunately, it does not seem so here in Zambia. Here in Zambia, 80% of children who have an intellectual disability die before they are five years old. An even greater percentage of them will never in their life attend a day of school, as there are no classrooms willing to take them. An even still greater percentage of orphanages in southern Africa produce policies to ensure children with disabilities are not admitted into their care. 

The statistics seem to agree–people just don’t care. 

My hope is that someday, God will do something new on this earth, and make known to the world how valuable children and people with disabilities really are.  That somehow, everyone would have the chance to love and be loved by someone who has a disability, and understand it as the privilege that it is. My hope is that the world eventually sees the glory God has woven into ones like Maggie, Mollie, Sam, and the girl from my class years ago. It may take His returning to and restoring of the earth for it to actually happen–but, oh, won’t you hope for it with me?

Note, Holly Nelson has also written for Perfectly Human: “Created with a Purpose” describes the ministry of her daughter Maggie.

Beth Bailey is a recent graduate of University of Virginia now living in Zambia, working as Director of Operations for Special Hope Network.  She is also a soon-to-be mom of a 2 year-old little boy who has global developmental delay.