[Applause]
I’m just an ordinary person but I’ve
been able to see the amazing power of
love changed the lives of special-needs
orphans and Uzbekistan it’s been a
journey a 23 years and I am so grateful
for the partnership the kindness and the
hospitality of the Uzbek people where my
husband and I started to work in the
western region of Uzbekistan caracal
Pakistan together with local I hospital
to bring preventive I care to the people
there it was a very beautiful experience
and you know the really cool thing that
I learned from these people is
hospitality who is becca stan is a land
of hospitality and you know after a
after a long day of working and
screening children the our friends would
invite us to their homes and those
tables there was like no place to put
any more food their tables were full
full of food and it really touched my
heart that they would kill their sheep
for us and/or their turkey and we would
have you know these huge cousins of Ash
and beshbarmak it’s beautiful for me
it’s like what I learned from the Uzbek
people what I receive from the Uzbek
people was much more than what I gave to
them it was truly beautiful I I was sooo
Navi know after some time I was invited
to a local
can’t orphanage with children with
special needs and this is just like
right up my alley I really love to work
with vulnerable children and I just
think they’re just so beautiful because
in them lies this beautiful ability
impossibility they’re like these little
flowers that are like tight but when
they’re given that chance to be who they
they were meant to be when they’re given
a chance to express themselves they
bloom into these beautiful little
flowers well I was walking down the
hallway of the orphanage and I looked
into one of the play rooms there was the
our eyes met it was a little boy named
Atilla Antilla was sitting there he was
looking a little bit bored and I was
carrying the bag of different toys and
things to distribute at the orphanage
and so I thought well I’ll get him a big
string and some large beads so that he
can string them but then I as he
unfolded his arms and he kind of pressed
towards me to look at me I could see
that he didn’t have full hands he didn’t
have any he didn’t have any fingers
except for one thumb and then one side
of his body was kind of less developed
than the other and he didn’t have full
feet all of a sudden I had this
misconception that Tillich wouldn’t put
the bead on the string I thought well
what good is that gonna do if I give him
a bead in a string he’s so wrong so
wrong to give these misconceptions about
persons with disabilities but I guess so
I gave him you I gave him the bead with
the string and he started to he was
trying to
put it together and he just he couldn’t
do it and he was trying and trying so I
sat with him and it’s like a couple
hours passed and he finally did it
he finally accomplished it he put this
his beads on the string and just to see
his face in the expression on his face
of joy and just being content and that
he was able to do something that he had
never done before in his life never had
the opportunity to do before in his life
there was such joy on his face we
continued to work and we continued to by
invitation we continued to work in that
orphanage and open several different
classrooms a music classroom a special
education classroom sewing a sewing
Center and at first you know people were
just saying are you crazy or what you
know what are they gonna do with what
are they going to do with all this but
you know what it’s so awesome is that
these kids from the orphanage there’s
400 special-needs children in this
orphanage they proved those with the
misconceptions wrong because they can
they can do what people when people say
no you can’t do that you’ll never do
that you can’t accomplish anything your
places over here not to be seen but
these children they prove them wrong
they prove their misconceptions wrong
and it’s so beautiful that are the
children at the orphanage together with
the government staff we’ve been able
just to see incredible changes in the
lives of these kids and see that they
have a
elytis that we didn’t realize before at
one point we had a opportunity to have a
presentation at the orphanage kind of to
create awareness and of the abilities
and the possibilities of the
special-needs children in this
presentation we put all of their
classwork out on the tables their
beautiful pictures on the walls and and
we invited people to come and to see
what they had done and I remember it was
like such a joy for me to look at the
people’s faces who came because there
was surprise there was shock there was
joy to see what these children had
accomplished and one man he came to me
he came up close to me and he had like
kind of a stern face and I was thinking
oh no what’s gonna happen what’s he
gonna say to me but he was just holding
back until he got to me and then he held
my hand and he’s and with tears in his
eyes he said I didn’t think this was
ever possible I didn’t think it was
possible for these children to ever
learn and to do the same thing that my
kids do misconceptions are more
you know watching these kids grow and
develop it was it has been it continues
to be such a joy in my life and to work
with such committed loving staff that
truly want to see these children achieve
their dreams and their hopes and their
goals it’s just been my privilege one of
the sad things for me is that when the
children when they reached the age 17
they were gonna be moved to an adult
institution because they aged out of the
children’s institution so this was this
is really hard for me because I really
love these guys I love watching them
grow I love being with them and I didn’t
know what their future was gonna be I
didn’t know and it was a little bit it
was really hard for me and I cried and I
remember I would come home and I would
just cry and my husband’s lap and think
what can we do and you know what the
really wonderful a really wonderful
thing happened that the government
partnered with us to open a transition
center that would give these young
people the possibility to continue to
grow to learn social skills social
independent and vocational skills and
that they would have a chance at
achieving that dream of integrating into
society you know all our kids they have
dreams they have dreams of integration
of being with everybody else having a
job like everybody else having a fam
like everybody else because they’re
because they’re disabled they don’t even
look at themselves I can say they don’t
even look at themselves as persons with
disabilities in fact I was listening to
one of our young adults well why do
people you know look at us the way the
like were disables we can do more than
they can do and it’s true it’s true
these kids have at the transition center
they have grown so much they have
learned independent living skills they
take care of their own apartments they
write their own menus of healthy food
they prepare their meals their own meals
their self-discipline to do their
homework and to get their different
duties their jobs done during the day
and then they study outside and for like
a person like Atilla he had a dream to
be a jewelry designer this is what
Atilla me
[Applause]
has made many creative beautiful pieces
of jewelry and that is what lies in the
heart of the person with disabilities
this creativity that is like clamped up
but needs to be encouraged by all of us
that they could be who they were meant
to be that they can have a dream and see
it come true another young lady in our
transition Center her name is Allah and
I asked Allah like I we ask each of the
young adults we have 15 young adults at
the transition center and I asked all of
all of what do you want to do with what
you want to do what vocation do you want
and she said Cindy I really want to be
someone that does massage for others and
I was thinking in my mind again like
this kind of misconception like wow that
is huge you know that’s huge that’s she
has to learn a lot about the body the
bones the muscles and that horror that
ugly misconception that wants to kind of
come in her mind and say they can’t all
I did all are completed or Klatte she
completed her course she was announced
the best in her class and she does an
incredible massage and she achieved her
dreams love love is amazing the power of
love and giving love is amazing and that
love that reaches down into the heart
into the lives of others where there’s
despair where there’s misconception
where there’s hurt in pain
loneliness and that love comes and it
breathes life and joy and creativity
it’s the most beautiful thing to see
a life that was crushed or seemingly
crushed and then come into this place
where they’re happy and functioning as
any other person love sees in us what we
can’t see in ourselves love sees in us
what we do not see in ourselves thank you