Pro-All-Life: In Response to West-Ark's "Night to Shine"

I can’t tell you how touching and encouraging “The Night to Shine” that our overseeing church, West-Ark church of Christ, sponsored was to me. What a beautiful way to show love and kindness and affirm the value of life!

We live in a place where people with special needs or disabilities of any kind are not honored or celebrated. In fact, often they are abandoned and not cared for at all. Stories of newborns being left to die in a forest or at the edge of a river are even seen in local newspapers fairly frequently.

If special needs children do survive early childhood, they still have almost no chance at education and are hidden away at home.

Many people here believe being born with a special need means that you or your parents did something wrong in this life or a past life: Did you have a baby with some deformity or disability? It is your bad karma. Are you a person with special needs? What bad thing did you do in a past life? You are unlucky. So goes the dominant mindset here.

We have a neighbor teenage girl with Down Syndrome. She almost never leaves the house and people generally make fun of her or ignore her during any interactions we’ve witnessed. Her parents dress her in boys’ clothes so she isn’t abused. She doesn’t know how old she is. She has never been to school.

My kids play with her frequently–she on one side of the fence and my kids on the other. They throw a balloon back and forth. They pretend to be monsters and scare each other. She comes to our Sunday school regularly. She sings with us, colors the pictures, answers my questions about the story, and has even learned a little English from my kids. I often wonder what her life would be like if she had the opportunity for education, for skill-building, for deep, loving care from a community.

We know an adult Christian man who had polio as a child and couldn’t walk. The teasing and tormenting in his rural village was so severe that his loving father decided to move the whole family to the city where he could attend a tuition Christian school. The man has went on to become an educated leader for his people group, yet anytime he comes “home” he is still labeled and shamed by the majority. It is still hard for him to travel and access buildings (because nothing here is handicapped accessible).

One time at a local park, a young man with special needs came up to our family. He wanted to talk, shake my hand, and play with the kids. He asked me for a drink of water, which I gave him. Some other people at the park, yelled profanities at him and told him to get away from me and leave my kids alone. I think they thought they were helping me by getting rid of him. No one talks to people like him.

I ignored the yelling and profanities. I asked him questions politely and gave him some of the food we had brought for our picnic. He seemed surprised when I offered it to him. I said a brief blessing over him out loud. I prayed in my heart for this young man, made in God’s image. I pray again now as I write this.

What can I do for so many people here like this man? Neglected, forgotten, abandoned, alone, unvalued.

I’m so thankful that the Christian community at West-Ark decided to take a stand for life in hosting the “Night to Shine” event. I’m so grateful there are people affirming, valuing, protecting, and loving the people in your community who have a special need. What hope it give me in a world of darkness! How the tears fell when I saw the pictures of such community based, life-affirming, life-giving hope and compassion!

I pray that I will be able to show more love and care to the people here with special needs. I pray that the love of the Gospel will take root here and transform the culture of neglect and shame surrounding special needs individuals into a culture of love, honor, and celebration for all people made in His image for His glory.

I have a heart of compassion, and I promise to God to “give my mite” –all that I can give— to the special needs community here.

But, I pray that the Lord of the Harvest will send more workers who have a heart for ministering to those with special needs. Every community we have ever seen has special needs individuals, but there are virtually no services available. No government services. We need whole teams of medical professionals and special education teachers. We need to develop culturally appropriate care centers and learning centers. We need job training and capacity building.

May God be near to the hurting, the helpless, the hopeless. May we expand our efforts to the “least of these” and may God receive all the glory.