Felt within the heart.

Today, I want to take a break from my regularly scheduled blog post to lift up a project that my sister, Megan, has spent the last couple months on.

For those of you who do not know Megan, she is my younger/much taller sister. 

I'm pretty sure she took her shoes off for this picture. 

Megan has spent the last year living in the Occupied Palestinian Territories in the West Bank. Every day, Megan crossed the checkpoint into Israel to work at the Helen Keller School for the Blind. I'm so proud of her and all the work and growth she has accomplished this year. Megan has a tremendous sense of justice, and a huge heart for those who may have been forgotten. If you live in the Portland Area and want to hear more of her amazing story recapping the last year, she will be speaking on August 5 at 9:45 am at St. Andrew Lutheran Church in Beaverton. 

No one can tell her experience better than she can, so here [in her words] is her beautiful project (read the whole thing, it's worth it):

“The best and most beautiful things” 

Over that past month I had the opportunity to spearhead a mural project at the Helen Keller School. People would often laugh when I told them that I was painting murals at a school for blind kids. At first, I was also skeptical of how beneficial this project would be for the school because a majority of the children cannot see the paintings. Regardless, our principal asked me to create a large mural that held symbolism for a Palestinian school for the blind in Jerusalem. A Canadian friend who was in art school in Jerusalem created a design, and I, along with a variety of volunteers from Germany and the U.S. began to paint a huge mural. The vision was an Arab style boarder with two large olive trees cradling the Helen Keller logo. (Olive trees are symbolic of the rootedness and resilience of the Palestinian people, their love of their land, and their hope for peace.) After weeks of work, a few near catastrophe’s (I accidently stepped in and knocked over and entire can of yellow paint!), we completed the mural. 

Of course we needed some affirmation and feedback, so I asked a few of the sighted teachers to come take a look. Thankfully, they loved it and praised us for our hard work. Then, the moment that affirmed that this was a valuable project; Ms. Iman, the school’s music teacher who is completely blind, entered the room to “see” the mural. She asked us to describe what the mural was of, how big it was, what the olive trees looked like. Finally she asked us to describe the colors that were used. (This was very interesting to me because she was born blind. What was her understanding of colors?!) With a HUGE smile on her face, she exclaimed, “It is SO beautiful! The children are going to love it. There is so much love in this painting, God bless you all for your hard work and creativity.” Each of us standing there couldn’t help but tear up at Iman’s appreciation for something she couldn’t literally see. We continued to get similar responses from the students, both partially sighted and completely blind. They all wanted to “see” the mural and would enthusiastically admire its beauty when they entered the room. 

Helen Keller once said, “The best and most beautiful things in the world cannot be seen or even touched. They must be felt within the heart.” The students and teachers at Helen Keller have demonstrated this to me on a daily basis over the past year. Though my heart is broken as I have to leave them, I know that they have changed me forever. They have taught me to appreciate the small things, and to be thankful every day for all the ways I have been blessed.