Journal by Diana Choo
Where to start? How to begin? Meeting the kids, the young adults under GIBTK care and amazing staff has been an unforgettable experience. It's one thing to just send the funds to GIBTK and another to come to Da Nang and see for yourself. Seeing the wonderful work being done has been mind-blowing.
Visiting Father's House was very confronting for me. I was told about the plight of these young girls but coming face to face with an 18-year-old who had a 5-year-old child was entirely different. My brain did the math, but my heart could not comprehend the fact. It hit me like a ton of bricks.
Meeting the heart patients was one of the most emotionally difficult encounters I've had. It has taken me ten years to visit GIBTK’s headquarters in person. We had the opportunity to meet four of the kids we had sponsored over the years. To look into the eyes of the mothers of these kids was one of the most rewarding experiences.
But looking into eyes of despair of the parents who are seeking help for their children yet to have life-saving surgery was heartbreaking. One was a mother of four, whose husband died a year ago. She was earning a daily wage of $5 — when weather permits — chopping wood to support her family. Having a child get a diagnosis of a heart condition that requires surgery costing over $2,000 must sound like a death sentence pronounced on your child. Her story broke me and listening to the other stories that followed left me emotionally spent. This included meeting a single mother living in a shack with her two children who was trying to look after her kids whilst saddled with debt that her ex-husband had defaulted on.
We've met boys and girls of all ages who are being equipped to break out of the poverty cycle. We've met recipients of wheelchairs, recipients of water filter systems, and kids getting new bicycles.
We can make a difference in the lives of people, and it changes the way we look at ourselves. It makes me feel better about myself when I see what the little that I do does change a person's life. We get more than we give. We hear this often enough, but I totally understand it now.
Thank you GIBTK for giving me the chance to do something worthwhile with you.
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