On Saturday 8 February Sr Meita fcJ from the Yogyakarta community and a group of FCJ Companions in Mission organised a workshop on The importance of daily therapy for persons with cerebral palsy at Sarasvita FCJ Centre of Spirituality and Human Development. The day was facilitated by Yakkum Rehabilitation Center. Yakkum is a Christian Organization which works for disabled people. The first session was on Disability-Inclusive Development and the second was on The theory and practice of therapy. The workshop was to encourage parents to give daily therapy to their children who have cerebral palsy.
Around forty people attended the workshop. There were nine persons with disabilities, their families and a large number of generous volunteers (most of them Companions in Mission). Retno CiM and Erlin CiM went to collect the members of a family that has two disabled children and they also took them back to the village after the workshop. Other Companions in Mission prepared the food and accompanied each family during the sessions. A lecturer from the Faculty of Psychology of Sanata Dharma University also took part in the workshop.
Not only were the sessions good but it was also important for the families to gather and to meet others with similar experience. It was good to see them sharing and laughing together. The workshop had built up trust, acceptance and love between participants. It was clear to me how much God’s gentle presence and love could be felt through this activity.
Sr Meita, fcJ
