Love Runs Toward the Ones in Need

FIELD UPDATE

Hello dear friends, this is Nurse Fawzi speaking to you this week.

Mrs. Avya and I go deep into the heart of the camp at least once a week; Sunday being our first visit of the week. Yes, we go to visit patients who are unable to walk to the Hope Clinic. There is quite a distance between sections A and E, for example, but we also go to watch, to see what is happening in the camp, to listen to the voices, and find people who, despite the passing of almost twelve years, have fallen between the cracks and received no help.

This week Avya and I were moving between the rough alleys between the tents, as is our usual pattern, and in one simple but unforgettable moment, we heard a young girl calling out to us from a distance. We paused to see who was calling us and from where. Initially, we could not see her. She hurriedly ran towards us; we saw her face was full of worry and innocence. She had no second thoughts about approaching her elders uninvited. “Please come and check on my grandmother. I am very worried about her; do not pass her by.”

There was something in her voice greater than just a request. Her voice was a command: love mingled with fear, the love rising up above all else. We asked her name: Dilvin. We followed her to the tent. She walked ahead of us with the solemnity of a regal procession, as if she were the chief delegate of the most important mission in the world.

We sat outside in an unfinished structure between tents with her grandmother and slowly and carefully spoke to her and checked her with quiet care and compassion, making sure that all was well.

Upon conclusion of our checkup, we smiled and told Bizar, “Your granddaughter deeply loves you. Her love for you crosses every boundary and obstacle. Love led her to find help.”

The grandmother smiled quietly; Dilvin visibly relaxed, knowing that she had succeeded in her mission and that her grandmother was not dying.

In that still, small moment, once again I was impressed by how humanitarian work is not about the large, visible events, but about the quiet, hidden moments.

Humanitarian work is like a treasure hidden in the footsteps of a young girl seizing her chance and running with all her might for the sake of her grandmother. Humanitarian work is about being challenged by a small heart that understands the meaning of love more than many adults do.

At Springs of Hope Foundation we may not always be able to provide expensive medicines or major treatments for our patients, but every day we try to offer something just as important, namely, care, reassurance, and giving the sick the confidence that there is someone there to listen, to notice, and to care.

At the Hope Clinic we believe that kind words and acts that come from a place of genuine compassion can be a conduit for healing. We believe that a simple visit to a tent, sitting and drinking a chai, can restore hope to the person waiting for someone to stop and ask about them. We believe that a sincere moment of compassion can leave a lasting impact on a person’s heart, one that will be imprinted on the lives of the generations to come.

And maybe that is why we still believe that true humanity is not measured by how much we own but by the measure of love and kindness we carry for others.

As Fawzi related this simple story, I could only ask myself, what would I do for love? What boundaries, what social norms and protocols would I break for love? Love demands from us that which words are inadequate to describe. Love is extraordinary, an act of defiance when human fear rises up and situations shout, “Impossible.” Love is a sacrifice. What would I do for love?