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Arthur's
South
Africa Cerebral Palsy Home |
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THE VILLAGE IDIOT |
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(A story to
introduce the reader to Cerebral Palsy)
Once upon a time, long long ago, a 150 years and more, there was a village
which had its very own idiot. The name of the village is not very important as
this story repeated itself in all the villages and towns through out the whole
wide world. Where this idiot came from no one knew, one day he was just there.
Now the villagers were not very proud of their idiot, in fact the very
opposite, they hated him! They thought he was possessed by evil demons!
The idiot lived in a hovel at the edge of the town. A hovel made from old
sacks, sticks and mud. He slept on a bed of dirty straw. He never bathed with
the result the stench made the villagers loath him even more. He lived by
raiding the garbage cans in the village for scraps of food, now and then one of
the kinder villagers would give some crusts of bread. He would work at some
menial tasks for a few pennies, such as cleaning pig sties and latrines. Work
not fit for human beings! He went through a daily routine of being whipped,
cudgeled and cursed at. The children of the village, singly were terrified of
him, in a group they mocked, teased, taunted and threw stones at him.
Luckily his was not a long life! He died at the age of 18 or so from exposure, starvation and disease. The villagers dug a hole in the ground and buried him. No cross for his grave, after all, he was possessed by the devil. They were very glad to be rid of him. Unfortunately after a few years suddenly, apparently out of no where, another idiot appeared in the village!
Where did these idiots come from? Surrounding the village for many miles, were thousands of farms and small holdings. Now and then a baby was born to a farmer and his wife with obvious physical deformations. Its life was short lived. The farmer would drown it, strangle it or merely leave it outside to die of exposure. Still born! They would tell family and friends. Now and then a baby would be born without obvious defects. It would take a few years for them to realize that all was not right. Maybe the baby did not walk at the correct age or maybe it did not talk at the right time. Eventually they would realize that their baby was retarded. Too late to kill it. After all, even in those days murder was illegal. When the child was 11 or 12 years old, the farmer showed him to the door and chased him from the farm. Being very poor, he could not afford to feed a child who did not work for his keep.
This miserable child wandered down the path until he came upon a road. Then followed the road until he came to a village. At the village he stayed, there were many dust bins in which to scavenge for food. He found an old shack at the edge of the village. It was made from old sacks, sticks and mud and had a bed of dirty straw. He moved in. The cycle like the Phoenix, repeated itself.
What caused these children to be born retarded? Accidental brain damage! Before, during or shortly after birth. Perhaps the pregnant mother, busy with her chores, bumped her tummy on the corner of the table. "Ouch," she cried, but feeling the baby kick was re-assured that all was well, and soon forgot the incident. Maybe during birth the umbilical cord was caught around the babies neck and oxygen starvation damaged the brain. Perhaps when the baby was a week old, a bad case of diarrhea caused dehydration and this damaged the brain. The developing baby and child has a soft skull until the age of three and many different accident types as well as illness can cause brain damage
In England, approximately 1850, knowing these children were not possessed by the devil, but merely brain damaged, they started the first homes for Cerebral Palsy (mentally retarded) children. This web site is dedicated to these homes!
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E-mail arthur_r.1@email.com
Last Updated 28th February, 2000