If I remember right, there is a line in that Beatles’ song that says, “Will you still need me, will you still feed me, when I’m 64?” For some reason that is the song that has come to mind for the last few days as I have gone over to visit Gogo (Grandma) Lily. Gogo Lily is one of my closest neighbors here in Swaziland and had a stroke this summer. Because there isn’t health care here, to provide nursing care, physical therapy, etc. she is left totally dependent on her family on her homestead and whomever else God will provide to take care of her. She has not been able to walk on her own since the stroke, and so she spends most of the days in bed or sitting on the floor by her bed. God has provided for her in a huge way, in the fact that this past month one of the visiting team members from the US was a occupational therapist, who had worked in geriatrics. While she was here for 3 weeks, she was able to find a walker in the community that wasn’t being used. She brought that to Gogo Lily’s every day and started working with her to get her walking again. Gogo Lily has slowly regained her balance and strength, where she could go from one side of the room to the other with the walker, and we have now progressed to where she can go up and down the outside step to her house.
As she continues to progress in her walking, it is great to see how valuable she is to her family still. Her 1 year old granddaughter still naps on a mat in her house, and many of the grandchildren come in and out all day long.
It is hard for me to imagine being in Gogo Lily’s place, totally dependent on the people around me and strangers from around the world to care for me and help me to walk again. But because God is in the equation, yes, Gogo Lily, we still need you and we will still feed you...when you’re 64 (or older)!
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