UNMASKING SORROW

‘Then a woman said, ‘Speak to us of Joy and Sorrow.

And he answered:

Your joy is your sorrow unmasked.

And the selfsame well from which your laughter rises was oftentimes filled with your tears.

And how else can it be?

The deeper that sorrow carves into your being, the more joy you can contain.”

                                                                                                                  Kahlil Gibran

Over the years Gentlecare has welcomed patient after patient, from small cold shacks into the warmth of their orange and fuschia care centre. With every new patient they again experience the pain of another life who has known far more betrayal, rejection and sorrow than most would even dare to imagine.

 Yet here, in perhaps what would be the most vulnerable time of their lives they are loved and fed, they are cleaned and gently tucked in every night to rest in the knowledge that they are totally safe and without debt.  It is a time when, as they are facing the fear of the tragedy of their own painful deaths, that they also experience the joy of an unconditional love they may have never before known. This week we unmask the sorrow to focus on the joy of some of the more fun times and beautiful days at Gentlecare.



This patient is one of Gentlecare’s miracles who came in broken and has left healed.

Here our wonderful carers, Marie, Beverly and Liezel celebrate their 3^rd Birthday at the center.

We are always looking for extra volunteers to help out at the centre. Every now and then we are blessed with an international volunteer and over the years those who have joined us have both brought and taken something special from the Gentlecare experience.

 

    Being silly,

                having fun.

 Spoiling patients in the new Jacuzzi

Olga, who arrived unwell, has no family and nowhere to go. Since she has been at Gentlecare she has begun improve and though her legs give her some trouble, she enjoys doing her bit to help out. Folding the washing is a constant job!

Thank-you Olga! 

But sometimes patients don’t get to Gentlecare in time. This week Tommie built a coffin for an unidentified lady who had been found dead and, without family to claim her body, had been left in the morgue for six months. Gentlecare took it upon themselves to at least give her the dignity of a proper burial.