Hospital Visiting

A good friend of ours Robyn has set up a project visiting children in the burns unit and the orthopaedic ward in the government hospital. There are no teachers, play specialists or occupational therapists to work with the children and support their families and so Robyn and her team of volunteers take games and activities and work with them. We have been privileged to join Robyn this week and today Anjanette enjoyed chatting with the patients and relatives, many of whom have no visitors and no support. Some of the Bristol team played games with the children and one performed some magic tricks too! We had fun singing songs to them, they also sang to us and even taught us a song in quechua, hopefully we brought a little joy to their hospital stay, a bunch of gringos singing action songs should have caused some entertainment if nothing else!
We were also able to pray with the patients for God's help and strength in some very distressing situations. We thank God for Robyn and her team and the amazing work they do bringing hope and God's love to the scared and the lonely.








Poem for Robyn, by Ian O

Hard iron eyes lie on hard iron beds
The pain, too much to bare, has left faces drained of emotion.
Grubby whitewashed walls are unable to convey
That love and healing go hand in hand

Who knows these people?
Unknown faces in an unknown land
With foreign customs and a foreign tongue
Who can know their pain?
The torment of a broken body
Left abandoned in an obscure town.

Brokenness lies hidden.
Hidden beneath blankets and a wire frame
Hidden inside a concrete hospital
Hidden behind metal gates
Hidden in a world so far from home
No one need see, no one need know

Yet your eyes see it all
Your soft kind eyes running with heaven’s tears
Eyes that saw the suffering of your son
See suffering still

And yet there are some whose spirits are moved by yours
Who dare to expose what is hidden
Who dare to bring colour, toys and hope
Who dare to bring life and prayer and faith
And see vacant eyes returned to life
And health and joy and laughter.

Lord, melt my heart
That I might see those iron eyes
Now receive the gift of sight from you