Aug 2010 - Sristi Update

Learning To Listen
3:30p.m. exactly on Monday 23rd August my telephone rang. The display told me ‘Sristi’s mum calling’. Sristi had been booked to have her cochlear implant operation that morning. She and her family had been on my mind all day, we had prayed as a family for them that morning and the children had prayed for Sristi at their school assembly. “Operation bhayo, saphal bhayo,” told me the operation was over and had been successful. This was followed by many, many thank-yous from a mother who is delighted that her little girl has been given the chance to hear.
I wanted to cry and laugh and these emotions were followed by my own many, many thank-yous to God, because He enabled it all to happen. When my parents and I first began thinking about how we could help Sristi, the money needed seemed too daunting. But we trusted God that if it was His will he would work everything together. I cannot thank enough everyone who has supported this project by organising fundraising events, giving money and praying, both from the West and here in Nepal. Sristi’s own church raised a considerable amount of money. God indeed has provided.
Living in Nepal that all the planning worked out is a miracle in itself. Things happen slowly here and rarely happen the way we have planned them. Before the operation there were many things we had to arrange. This included 2 trips to Kathmandu, organising vaccinations and of course purchasing the implant from the company. Considering that a good journey from Pokhara to Kathmandu takes 7 hours, on a very narrow, winding road, it’s not a journey you want to take too often! Then we had difficulty checking which vaccinations Sristi had previously received and then we had to co-ordinate the vaccinations needed with, when they where available. The weeks before the operation date, numerous phone calls were made to the implant company to ensure the implant would arrive. It eventually arrived on the Friday before the op, too close to the final date for my nerves.
Sristi’s situation has also been a great witness to the Christian message to the non-christian’s in my work place and also in the wider community. My colleagues have observed with wonder how others are prepared to give to help someone else. They have also been extremely supportive. Namrata, the speech therapy assistant has joined with Sristi’s mum and I in prayer as we have prayed together before each major pre-op investigation. Sristi’s mum was invited to speak in her church.She spoke of how she believed this was God’s plan for her daughter’s life and thanked him that her daughter was being given this opportunity to hear. Her church’s fellowship groups have been praying regularly.
However this is only the beginning of Sristi’s story. Five weeks after the operation Sristi’s implant will be switched on, giving her useful hearing for the first time. In the first year this family will travel to Kathmandu every 6 weeks to have the implant adjusted. Sristi will attend for weekly speech and language therapy, when she will be taught how to listen to and understand all the new sounds and words she can hear. For her it will be like learning a second language.