In recent weeks I have been asked;
"So what happens to GIBTK now? Will you continue without Dorothea?"
You have my word that GIBTK will continue to grow and mature. Our focus will continue to be to transform children's lives one child at time! I may not make as many trips as I have the past few years, but gratefully or as fate would have the past couple years I and others have spent considerable time training our Vietnam team. I assure you they are fully equipped to carry the vision of transforming a nation and changing a culture "one child at a time!"
Surely we all will miss Dorothea, her imprint into the fabric of GIBTK is indelible. It will continue!!! Our annual Gala will be this Oct. And we have a teen and family trip planned for July. If interested let me know ASAP.
You will be receiving some letters from our staff (usually every couple weeks) sharing about their journey with GIBTK. Today's email is written by Tam our SE Asia director extraordinaire. Last week she and the VN gibtk team hosted a team of students from Australia.
Enjoy and as always if led to send a note of encouragement I will forward them to Tam!
A fulfilled day!
"I've been to many different wheelchair distributions in the past 9 years with GIBTK,
yesterday's distribution was the most encouraging to me! I've met many
disabled, but the man from yesterday was so much different from those
I have met in the past."
"Despite his circumstances, his positive attitude to life and grateful attitude to gibtk as the ones who gave him a wheelchair made me proud of him. He gave me a very big smile and warm handshake when I came to talk to him."
"He became a victim of polio when he was 5 years old. The polio fever left both his legs paralyzed. The disability was not able to prevent him from enjoying life and thinking positively about things. He has a wife and 4 children. Looking at the way he talked and joked with his wife, I could see happiness in their life."
"I told him that the way he called his wife made me think of my parents. My father called my mom the same. My father is so shy that he never calls my mom "darling" in front of people :). Whenever he wants to get my mom's attention, he say "mom of my dear children" (ma may dua nho). Even though there are not many people using
that term, I still felt a special love between this couple. I loved his smile and the love he has for his wife."
"Clearly a wheelchair is something he should not be without. Without a wheelchair, he must move by using his hands. But a human should not move by hands for any reason. Giving him a wheelchair is a little thing Gibtk can do for him at this point but the encouragement is what more we could do for him. Just a hand shake, a direct look into the eyes, a physical touch, and a word of encouragement placed a big smile on a person and made a person feel so special."
"It doesn't take a lot to be in connected with people and change people's life. I was taught that being interested in someone's life can change a person's life in 30 seconds". And what we need is a servant's heart and follow what God does in his life."
"So why do we need to wait? Let stop a minutes and think about this!
I can't remember how many times he held my hand and said thank you because of
a precious gift given to him. He loves the wheelchair he got. I was amazed
to see him "jump" into his new wheelchair in happiness."
"The message was sent to me like "hey! I can be an expert in this!" He told me that he would ride
his wheelchair home even though his house is not close to the distribution site. I
could feel the excitement in his words."
"Leaving the distribution place, but my heart was full with joy. I definitely recognize that nothing can fulfill my heart more than what I am doing each day in my life - serving others through GIBTK."
Tam T Tong
