For Sachi

Four months ago the 11 year old daughter of dear friends of ours lost a two year battle with Leukemia. Her family was hosting Feast at their home the night that she passed away. Sachi tried to wait up to receive the guests, but had to lay down and passed away shortly before the first guests arrived. She was the most amazing little girl. We gave her a copy of Allan Johnson's musical version of The Long Healing Prayer and when she was especially unwell she and her parents would play the music over and over again. Doctors and nurses would ask about the words whenever they entered her room. Even in sickness Sachi served Baha'u'llah, even in the darkest moments she was filled with faith and even though she herself suffered so much she was always trying to think of ways to make the other children in the hospital happy.

So in honor of Sachi and the remarkable example that she set we organized a service project aimed at benefiting the children who are still in the hospital. We asked the Baha'i's, in all communities throughout the state, to offer a gift that could then be donated to the ward where Sachi had been. This is the result:
Plus another pile that was not pictured, as those things (such as secondhand stuffed animals) the hospital could not accept. People gave everything from books and puzzles and boardgames to toys and clothes and bubbles, everything from beads and jewellery making accessories to scrapbooking and art supplies, everything from crafty items, DVD's and stationery to stuffed animals, novelty presents and money. Some people even made handmade gifts such as crochet blankets for babies and this beautiful quilt that was pieced together by a Baha'i lady who is herself undergoing treatment for cancer. She even embroidered a little dedication to Sachi on the back.
It took a while, but we finally had everything collected and wrapped (thanks again Martha) and loaded into the car. We just squeezed. After dropping the kids at school I went to pick up Martha who kindly agreed to accompany me on the drop off.

It was one of those days where it had been a long time coming and despite previous difficulties everything just fell into place, you could actually feel the universe working in your favour. For instance the forecast was for rain (pouring, drenching, monsoonal rain) which only hit after we had dropped off the last load of gifts; we also got a choice parking spot (by chance) very close to the exact entry (extremely lucky) that we needed. You may pause for a moment to admire my beautiful parallel parking skills, or lack thereof as the case may be. Regardless I maneuvered the station wagon into an average spot and we were not hanging out in the road, quite the contrary we were halfway up the curb. The hospital let us borrow a trolley. Thank heavens because it took three packed trolley loads to get everything inside. Here is Martha (on trip number two) posing with a pile of presents. She is so accommodating.
And me on the third and final trip, sitting in a nearly empty car. Imagine that. One more photo to include some last minutes donations that were dropped off to us by J. from a neighbouring community as we were making our final trip up to the ward. And, just one more ( I promise) photo of the play coordinator who helped offer suggestions and give advice as to what sort of things the children might enjoy. She is standing with some of the nursing staff in their small office which was substantially smaller after we left. I couldn't even squeeze all the presents into the frame.
Now that it is all said and done I have thought of so many things that we should have done, like Martha you should have been in that last shot, I should have been more specific about the quilt and, even if we didn't have more prayer cards we should have given the hospital a copy of the Healing Prayer, the musical one. What was I thinking? I suppose that could still be done, though it would have been nice for it to have accompanied all of the gifts. I guess all that is left is for Sachi to work her magic, because really this is all from her. This is her doing and if it makes a difference to even one child or even one family then that is all that matters.