Of work and leave days


 

There are sometimes when one feels tired and needs to rest. I felt like that today and talked to my boss about getting some few leave days. In our line of work, burnout is a very common thing. Some few hours later as I reflected on it, I could not stop myself from thinking about mothers of children who live with mental handicaps. Usually persons with handicaps have other physical disabilities that make them immobile and less capable of helping themselves. The mothers do everything for the children including bathing, feeding and even managing the use of the toilet. It is somehow less challenging when the person with handicaps is still an infant. That changes when the person matures, developing a big body and more needs. 

The mothers work diligently without leave. They cannot afford to be tired. For many of them, this is the routine, every morning they heave the child onto a wheel chair, 20 to 80kgs depending on the age and the body of the child. They push the wheelchair into the bathroom and lift the child off the wheelchair for bathing and back again. The routine continues during the course of the day as the child needs to access the toilet. I know of a woman who has been doing this for more than 25yrs. Now the child has grown and needs more attention. If I was her Boss, I would give her off days twice every month because the work she does cannot be expressed in words. In fact, I would employ 5 people to do what she does alone. Although this, when we all look at it, is a huge burden but she does not embrace it that way. She welcomes the burden with love and focus on the beauty of the relationship she has with her child. Sometimes it is so pronounced on her face that she is tired yet the will that drive her is so strong. 

Still thinking about Leave, I think we can give them some form of relief. We see them pushing their wheelchairs in our communities, let us help them push. Those few minutes of relief is enough for them to breath. Pay them a visit and volunteer to babysit for a few minutes. You don’t know how much they will explode with joy. It is these simple things that make a difference in their lives and perhaps yours too. I know it’s hard to volunteer for such activities, I struggle with that too. However, the fact that it is difficult must not deter us but move us to be more responsive to others.

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