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day 30: travel storytelling


journaling:
Give Kids the World has many, many volunteers. Each week, volunteers fill almost 1600 hours. Volunteers are everywhere… they help in the food areas carrying trays and getting drinks, they run the rides, they check you in and check you out, they make sure that the food carts get moving along and work in the pool area. They are all over with a quick smile and a helping hand. So often that week I felt the love from the volunteers, but two specific times stick out in my mind:

The first was when the boys went horseback riding on Saturday. I’m so used to helping Ghabe get up into areas or down out of things. But, I didn’t. The helpers who were doing the horseback riding automatically helped him. They recognized that he can’t move like other kids and were right there giving him a hand and getting him on the horse. I stopped and stared and thought “whoa!”

Another time that the volunteers were amazing was when Ghabe was riding a ride. On this ride, you have to pedal to go higher and higher. If you don’t pedal, you don’t go high. So, after letting him ride one time and recognizing that pedaling is not easy for him. They stopped the ride, led him to one of the seats with hand pedals, showed him how to use them….and then restarted the ride so he could have a full set. I didn’t ask….I never even suggested it….the volunteers did.

As the mom of a special needs child, I’m not used to having others help me and/or my child. I’m used to being the only one (or Cainan of course) helping him with his stuff. The week at GKTW was a whole different world…one in which everything was accessible for Ghabe and people were always looking to help.
 
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