Give a round of applause to mothers who have carried a “cross” their whole lives. The construction of the Catholic Huasheng Qinen Center in Tuku Township began when a group of mothers with intellectually disabled children worried about who would care for them when they grew old. Their forever-young children are like the crosses they can never put down on their shoulders. Director Wang Suzhu joked, “Jesus only carried his cross for one day, but we carry ours for a lifetime!”
These mothers spin like tops every day for their children and can hardly travel far. The high-speed rail company learned of this and yesterday treated fifteen mothers and their precious ones to a trip from Chiayi to Kaohsiung, where they visited Dream Mall and Shin Kong Mitsukoshi. High-speed rail and department stores are two rare terms in their lives.
Eight years ago, including Wang Suzhu, many parents saw their children with severe or profound disabilities graduate from special education schools and had nowhere to go or anything to do. They worried about what would happen to their children when they themselves grew too old to care for them. With the help of the Catholic Yunlin Diocese, they actively worked to establish the Huasheng Qinen Center.
Wu Wu-hsiung, the owner of the nearby Yuanshun Oil Factory, provided job opportunities for the children, letting them help with labeling and counting packages. The so-called “heavenly soldiers and generals” gained confidence through work, giving their parents some relief. The oldest “child” is already in his forties, and his mother is nearly seventy.
Wang Suzhu said that for a family, a mother is always the one who worries most about her child. Children with disabilities are a mother’s lifelong cross, and no matter what, she will stay with them until old age. But a mother will eventually pass away, so arrangements must be made for the child’s long-term care. In recent years, the center has been working hard to transform into a full-day care facility. With support from all sectors, the “Huasheng Homestead” broke ground earlier this year.
Learning that these hardworking mothers rarely travel far, let alone take the high-speed rail, the company yesterday treated fifteen mother-child pairs to a trip to Kaohsiung to visit department stores. Five other children without parents also joined the outing, so they wouldn’t feel sensitive about not having a mom—but one sixty-something mother suddenly fell ill and was hospitalized and couldn’t make it.
Wu Guiying, a specialist at the high-speed rail company, said the mothers mentioned they rarely visit department stores and wanted to give their children the experience.
Yesterday, the older kids—aged nineteen to forty—were excited like they were going on a school excursion. Their bags were packed with snacks and water, and the essential item they couldn’t do without was “Mom.”