‘I Know God Is Good’: Girl Born Without Hands and Abandoned By Her ‘Ashamed’ Mother at Age 3 Pens Powerful Essay By Compassion International via Faith Wire
Eleven-year-old Cleidy from Guatemala was born with limb difference, missing both hands. In most poor Guatemalan communities, a child with such a disability would be considered inferior, without the hope of any future. In fact, her own mother abandoned her because she was ashamed.
But Cleidy’s grandmother and a tutor from Christian organization Compassion International saw her potential. The difference has been staggering. Today, not only can Cleidy write, but she also wins prizes for her writing.
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Here’s one short, yet incredibly powerful, essay she recently wrote:
I am happy this way.
I was born very healthy, weighing 8 pounds, at 7 p.m. I was born without my hands, but I can do everything. I feel great because I am a person, the same as others. God made me this way, and I learned how to use my forearms instead of hands.
Here are four things I have learned from living without hands:
1. I know God is good to me because He made us all equal.
God helped me to develop my abilities and my studies. I am the number one student in my class, and I am always the flag bearer. My friends have told me that they would like to have my learning abilities.
2. I have learned that I must not pay attention to it if someone disrespects me.
I have good relationships with my friends. They respect me and treat me with love if someone does disrespect me.
3. During my life, I have learned that there are no limits.
I can do anything I want because God always supports me to move forward.
4. With my abilities, I shouldn’t give up, but strive day by day.
I want to show the world that if I can do it, then they can learn to be happy forever too.
This is an 11-year-old girl who has experienced more trauma in her short life than most of us will experience in all our days. The fact that she is able to express, with confidence, the things that have happened to her – is a miracle. It’s also incredible because she writes in spite of the fact that she has no hands to write with. Instead, she craftily uses her arms.
