The waters of life

In Exodus 17:1–7, we are told how the Israelites thirsted in the desert after their escape from Egypt. The Israelites quarreled with their leader, Moses, asking why he brought them out of Egypt only to die of thirst in the desert. Moses prayed to God and was told to strike his staff against a rock. He did so, and water flowed from the rock to relieve the thirst of his people. These events took place 3,500 years ago in what some local traditions say is now the country of Jordan.

Today in Jordan, another water miracle is taking place in the life of a deaf–blind boy named Bashir. When Bashir was born blind and deaf his parents did not know what to do with him. They gave him to an orphanage where he was kept in a crib modified to be a cage. Bashir suffered in this mental and emotional desert for nine years. Neglected in his confinement, Bashir faced hunger, thirst and extreme isolation. In order to survive, he became like a person on an island; Bashir’s world consisted solely of himself.

Samir Abu Dreiya, a caregiver in the Holy Land Institute for the Deaf’s deaf–blind unit, assists Bashir in the classroom. MCC Photos

Three years ago, when Bashir was nine, his world began to expand. The Holy Land Institute for the Deaf, located in Salt, Jordan, opened a unit for deaf–blind students with Mennonite Central Committee support. Bashir became the first student and began to receive the one-on-one attention he had needed for so long.

Bashir began to live at the deaf–blind unit, a small house on the campus of the Institute for the Deaf. The teachers there began to work with him. They needed love, skill and patience to overcome the severe deprivation that characterized Bashir’s early life. In the beginning, the staff of the deaf–blind unit began introducing Bashir to the world of human touch by stroking his arms and legs and giving lots of hugs. They also showed Bashir the worlds of shape and texture, introducing deaf–blind educational materials such as wooden shapes to be placed on pegs.

Efforts were made to care for Bashir’s physical needs as well. Daily sessions on a trampoline helped strengthen his long-neglected muscles. At first Bashir resisted these efforts to reach out to him. He turned away from human touch and kept to his own inner world. Gradually, the teachers of the deaf–blind unit have been able to penetrate Bashir’s internal defenses, and today he greatly enjoys physical contact with other people.

As we enter Lent and contemplate the suffering and resurrection of Jesus, I am reminded of the suffering and resurrection of Bashir. After almost a decade of mental, emotional and physical deprivation, Bashir has begun the process of resurrection, awakening to the world of people after spending nine years in the tomb of the orphanage. Bashir is reclaiming the life God gave him when he was created in God’s image in his mother’s womb.

I am moved to learn from Bashir’s teachers that after three years of work he has a new skill that makes him very proud. Bashir can now make the sign for a drink by extending his thumb from his fist in front of his mouth. After doing this he can make his own way to the kitchen in the deaf–blind unit, find a cup, turn on the tap, and get himself a drink of water. Bashir is now more than a recipient of care; he has become an agent who can make things happen in his own life.

This may seem a small step, insignificant to those ignorant of Bashir’s history. But for those who know the story of Bashir’s life, water flowing from the tap in the deaf–blind unit is just as miraculous as water flowing from the rock in the Jordanian desert. As we experience Lent this year, may we be reminded of the reality of suffering and resurrection, and of the waters of life that still flow in Jordan.

Sonia Weaver is MCC Palestine, Jordan and Iraq co-representative.