Hi, I’m Joni Eareckson Tada and welcome to "Joni and Friends".
You often hear me share stories of inspiration—don’t you—stories about people with disabilities who have persevered and overcome. But for every victorious story of triumph and achievement, there are numberless stories of children and adults with disabilities who suffer abuse and neglect.
I'm thinking of little Sarah – she’s a child who has cerebral palsy and she lives in a poor village out in the countryside of Uganda in East Africa. Sarah’s parents live in a small home and both of them go to work every day, nothing unusual about that … until it comes to their little girl. You see, there’s no one to stay with Sarah during the day. She cannot walk, and so she lies on an old mattress in a garage shed attached to the little house. That’s where she stays. That’s where she lives. And that’s where she spends all day when her mother and father leave for work early in the morning. They close the door of the shed and lock it and there Sarah remains from morning into the early evening. She lies there alone in the dark in a hot and humid shed with no one to give her lunch; no one to play with her; no one to offer her water and no one to help reposition her on the mattress. If she has to go to the bathroom, there’s no one to help her do that, either. And so, Sarah lies on that wet mattress in the heat and dark all day long.
Sarah’s story breaks my heart—in fact, I often look at the video that we filmed of her and her parents. (And I invite you to look at it, too, today on my radio page at joniandfriends.org). I watch this video often; it’s sobering and very sad, but it reminds me of the real and desperate plight of most boys and girls who have disabilities and who live in developing nations. I watch it to keep the needs of the world’s disabled front and center in my thinking. It energizes my passion to reach children like little Sarah with the love of Jesus. And I'm happy to say that we are working to rescue kids with disabilities like her; thankfully, our disability ministry partners in Uganda are now aware of her plight and are working hard to mobilize a church in a nearby village to reach out to this family. Our interns have visited Sarah, and our Christian Institute on Disability team is working with the law department at Uganda Christian University to teach them how to legally advocate on behalf of children with disabilities like her.
We can, we should, we must make a difference. And you can help us. Proverbs 31, verse 8 says, “Speak up for those who cannot speak for themselves, for the rights of all who are destitute.” Oh, please friend, consider serving as an intern in one of our global missions internships at Joni and Friends; come with us overseas and see firsthand the heartbreaking situation of boys and girls with disabilities. Join the movement to bring about a transformation not only in families, but in whole communities and cultures. Our Cause4Life internship opportunities are being posted right now at joniandfriends.org. And don’t forget, while you are there to visit my radio page and meet little Sarah for yourself. You must share her video on Facebook and remind this world that there is still work for us to do. And then, please, join me in praying for her and hundreds of thousands of children with disabilities like her. Again, if you care about kids, if you care about their plight, especially if they have disabilities, then pray about how you can get involved. Visit us today at joniandfriends.org and then join us on the frontlines as we unlock sheds and cupboards and dark garages and throw open the door and let in the light of Jesus where His help and His hope are needed the most.
© Joni and Friends, 2013
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