This mothers’ day, my special celebration goes to mothers of special needs children. They have faced all sorts of advice, opinions, judgment and even ridicule from well-meaning quarters.
Most likely, there’s no one in the world that knows special needs children as well as their mothers. No mother wants their child to have special needs. However, they are the unsung heroes who continually offer their unconditional love for these children.
When a special needs child does something out of the ordinary, it is not time for society to start judging them. Probably, this would be the time to offer your support to the family. We all have things we want to say at any time. Granted, we all have our opinions. Everyone is entitled to their opinion. Sometimes, it is of great benefit to everyone if we would just hold on to our thoughts and not voice them.
Recently, our niece who was diagnosed with schizophrenia went missing. She couldn’t have chosen a worse time to pull her disappearing act. My sister had just had my nephew. The last three weeks have therefore been trying for my sister. She has had to contend with several comments to suggest that the girl may have eloped with a lover; some were asking her whether the girl really wanted to go to school and many other things that I don’t want to go into the details of.
I am not a mother currently, but I felt the emotional drain that the situation had on the new mom who happens to be my sister. Heck! I also lost sleep during this time, just thinking that I was in a cozy bed while we didn’t know where my niece was. The pressure on a mother, who’s first born goes missing, when she needs all the strength to recuperate from childbirth, gets worse. Thank goodness that the agonizing three weeks have passed. Today my niece is reunited with her family. There is no gift on mothers’ day that’s greater than the reunion with her daughter.
Luuvi Ajayi wrote the book I’m judging you-The do better manual, in which she speaks of the irksome things that people do. (It is a great read by the way). Airing opinions about situations we rarely understand could perfectly fit in the book. (You are welcome to judge me for suggesting an addition to your book.)
During these three weeks, we have also received support from all quarters. People who we would not have crossed paths with under any other circumstance. My special thanks go to Missing Child Kenya for putting up notices about missing children. I never thought of how so important your work was. Not until we actually needed your services. Thanks to everyone who re-tweeted, shared the post on social media and just asked the question, “What can I do to help?” Thank you for all those who prayed with us- your prayers availed much.
Today I celebrate that mother who has a child with Cerebral Palsy, that epileptic child, that autistic child who has been dismissed by society as hyper, that mother whose heart breaks every time her child comes home from school with a report of how a teacher carelessly told them that they were crazy. I would like to tell them that their child is unique in their own special way. After all, it is in our differences that we express beauty in the world. Happy Mothers’ Day.