A Feel Good Story From Panama
There are very few things that get to me like the smile of a child. And the brilliant smile of a beautiful little girl who life has ‘dealt a hand’ that is rough is – as the commercial says- “priceless!” Meet young Sissi.
Sissi was born with mal-formed legs, and Don Ray Williams, (a friend and fellow David blogger) has written several articles in the past on his blog, ‘Chiriqui Chatter’ about the amazing work that an American ex-pat couple do here in Panama through the foundation they have established. Tom and Linda McCormack have done some amazing things in the past and their work continues uninhibited as we speak.
One of the programs that the McCormack Foundation manages involves shipping items from the states that are hard to find here in Panama and distributing them to the needy. We are talking about items like wheelchairs and adjustable hospital beds. And we are talking about get them shipped to Panama in full huge cargo-ship containers. Yes, a real logistics exercise when you include unloading, sorting, delivering, etc.
I first became aware of Sissi’s plight when Don Ray posted an article about Tom delivering a wheelchair to Sissi which allowed the bright little girl to be able to attend school with the kids of her own age for the first time in her young life. Her smile in this picture (with Tom and her sister) pretty much says it all about what she thought of that gift. You will also be glad to know that she does very well at school, even though initially school officials had attempted to isolate her from her classmates. (The school system is not that experienced in dealing with handicapped people – nor is the society as a whole for that matter.)
Well the latest story from Don Ray about Sissi has to do with a computer. On his last trip here, Tom brought a Dell Laptop for Sissi to use to connect to the Internet and the world. He enlisted Don Ray’s help in getting it set up to run wireless. The computer, as Don Ray explained did not have built in WIFI capability or ethernet connectivity, and both required special PCMCIA cards for those capabilities. Well Don Ray got the computer configured and working properly, and the other day he delivered it to Sissi. Yep, there is that smile again. Makes me weak in the knees. How about you?
Sissi is but one example of Tom’s efforts with special needs children. And are you ready for this? Tom is currently working with the Shriner organization for a future operation for Sissi to allow her to gain use of her legs. As you can see from this picture, this is quite an undertaking from a medical standpoint. But, keep your fingers crossed for Sissi. For her to some day walk into a classroom that she wasn’t even allowed to enter in the past due to her physical deformity will be an awesome feat. And I hope I am around to witness it.
Can you even imagine the smile then?
For Those Of You Who Want More Info:
If you want to know more about Tom and Linda McCormack’s foundation, visit the Foundations web site
And here is a link to Don Ray’s blog ..Chiriqui Chatter
And here is the link to Don Ray’s latest article about Sissi ---- Sissi's Smile
Till Next Time. Pura Vida!