Tuesday, January 6, 2009

I notice the analog clock on the wall is the same one that hung there last year. The decorative sheet of cloth in the doorway of the home is of the same fabric as last January. The blind woman is wearing the same red jacket she wore when I last visited her, and I was warmly welcomed by her husband in the courtyard of their home, just like last year.

Once we made our way into the front room of their home—which they’ve lived in for twenty years—we were gestured into their bedroom. We gathered around the woman, who was sitting down on the edge of her bed while her husband leaned against the wall.

Our friend Sally began speaking with them in Chinese, stopping periodically to translate, “She has serious damage to some of the nerves in her brain—she’s blind. She also has a problem with her legs. When it’s cold outside they swell and the pain is unbearable. She has to spend about ¥300 each month on medication alone, which is equivalent to about $45.”

Sally went on to explain how the woman’s husband works as a farmer in a local field. With his monthly income, they can barely afford the cost of her medications. But that’s their first priority, said the man, who also said they’ve been married for twenty years. Consequently, they make sacrifices in their food expenses.

That’s why, before visiting their home, we made a quick stop at a small store in the village of Qingyundian. It was there we purchased a bag of rice, a jug of oil, and freshly-slaughtered meat. Sally also gave her a new coat—one that covers and insulates her legs.

It was great to return to the same home and to see familiar faces. But more than anything, it was great to see the reactions of my fellow-travelers, who, today, for their first time, experienced the compassion of the Chinese and their happiness with their simple lives.

After we finished chatting with our two friends, we visited one other home—one I’d been to last year. Nothing had changed there either. The same cat with two different colored eyes sat by a coal stove keeping warm in the kitchen as it did last January. The man in his wheelchair wore the same green pants and gray jacket as he did the last time I visited. And, like the first home, I was warmly welcomed in the courtyard of their home, just like last year.

Respectfully submitted by Jake Stortini