一场持久的关怀战 A protracted battle in care ministry

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一场持久的关怀战
​​​文/7979同工

独居的娇姨（化名）家里空间不大，家具不多，没有多余的摆设。看似足够，却又似缺乏；看似缺乏，却又从不懂得表达。丧偶的娇姨，脸上少有表情，恰恰如此也显示出她有忧郁的症状。亚庇中文堂7979全人关怀站的志工常常无法与她好好沟通，因她不善言辞，也没有太多的肢体语言，志工们总是摸不透娇姨的心情与想法。

娇姨精神状况越来越差，但热爱出门的心情却不减。有一次志工与她约好派发吗哪包的时间，她忘记了。直到志工上门时，她却人在超市闲逛并要求志工到超市来接她回家。娇姨也因忧郁问题常常出现幻觉和幻听，导致睡眠不充足，有着“深邃”的眼睛。志工们常鼓励娇姨要祷告、读经，甚至还买了老花眼镜帮助她克服这些外在的障碍。“这些只是很琐碎的用品，我们能做的就是尽量配合娇姨的需要，按我们的能力补上。”志工说到。

娇姨的种种问题的确让志工头痛，但这并没有让志工打退堂鼓。几次派发吗哪包之下，志工细心探究并深信娇姨确实需要援助，因为他们发现并没有太多社会资源介入她的需要。吗哪包的派发势在必行，而且这将会是一场持久战。
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这也是大部分吗哪包案家的真实情况，常常发生在志工们探访的对象身上。但正因为这些问题，志工们更加坚信需要付出长时间的关怀和实质的援助来帮助他们过上喜乐充足的生活。

A protracted battle in care ministry
TRANSLATED BY DAWN LIM

Aunt Joey (pseudonym) lives alone in a sparsely furnished small house. The few pieces of furniture seem sufficient, but at the same time inexpressibly feel somewhat lacking. Aunt Joey is a widow who has few expressions on her face. The volunteers believed this is one of the symptoms of depression. Volunteers from Basel Christian Church Kota Kinabalu 7979 Holistic Care Station often find it hard to communicate with her effectively as she is not good at expressing herself and does not have much body language. The volunteers often couldn’t assess her mood or read her thoughts.

Aunt Joey’s cognitive condition is getting worse, but her passion for going out remains undiminished. On one occasion she forgot about her appointment with the volunteers who were going to her home to deliver the Manna Food Bag. She was in the supermarket when the volunteers were at her door. She asked the volunteers to make a trip to the supermarket and fetch her home. Aunt Joey also often suffers from hallucinations— visual and auditory— due to her depression, causing her to have insufficient sleep and sunken eyes. The volunteers often encouraged Aunt Joey to pray and read the Bible. They even bought her a pair of reading glasses to help her overcome this external obstacle. "This is just an everyday item. What we can do is to try our best to meet the basic needs of Aunt Joey and make up for her other needs according to our abilities," the volunteers said.

Aunt Joey’s various problems did give the volunteers a headache, but they did not deter the volunteers. After delivering the Manna Food Bag to her several times, the volunteers were able to carefully assess Aunt Joey’s situation and believed that she really needed assistance, because they found that there were not many social welfare which could help her. The distribution of the Manna Food Bag is imperative, and it will be a protracted effort.

Most of the Manna Food Bag’s recipients are facing a similar situation. This is a common problem faced by the families visited by the volunteers. In view of this problem, the volunteers are even more convinced that long-term care and substantial assistance are needed to help the families live a happy and full filling life.

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