The Children’s Hospital Lahore

Ramadan is that time of the year where we look to better ourselves and invest into charitable causes. However, while we consider the ways in which we can better the community monetarily, we often neglect the intangibles; the way that we can boost morale, teach others and nurture one another. One of those places that bears the spirit of healing, and the true essence of this holy month, is The Children’s Hospital.

Every year, Medicare Hospital (non-profit) partners with the philanthropic group Rotary International to distribute gifts as a part of a wonderful campaign called ‘Sharing Love on Eid,’ with volunteers from all age groups, including pupils from TNS and LGS, tending to young patients in every ward of the The Children’s Hospital. The Medicare Health Foundation, which sponsors the campaign, is an institution devoted to providing free healthcare to poverty-stricken communities in Lahore and extending beyond this ethos to create a genuinely positive impact on the lives of their patients holistically, especially through the ‘Sharing Love’ campaigns.

While goody bags and balloons may not seem like enough to compensate the grieving families scattered around the oncology, nephrology and cardiovascular wards, you’ll observe quite the contrary in The Children’s Hospital. And in fact, you’ll come to the revelation that it’s not actually the trinkets within the goody bags that puts a smile on their faces…

It’s you. It’s your presence, it’s your interest in their welfare and it’s your willingness to show them kindness.

Time and time again, with every Christmas and Eid campaign that Medicare launches, it amazes me as to how much power the mere gesture of a smile or a pleasant conversation wields for children in recovery, as much as it does for their concerned families. For the crooning mothers that sit in prayer, your willingness to listen to their struggles brings them genuine solace. Offering to pray for them, time and time again I’ve observed, brings them even more joy. In the words of Asim Qadri from the board of directors for Medicare: “if you have nothing to give them, the least you can give them is hope.” Morale, as difficult as it is to quantify, can have the biggest impact on a child’s recovery and for patients in critical condition it really is about these little things that can make it or break it for them. Disease and injury can often detract from the wholesomeness of Eid or Christmas but coming together to remind these families about the essence of these holidays and letting them know that they’re not alone in their struggle can make all the difference.

If we take a moment to consider the vicissitudes of others and make these little gestures, ‘Sharing Love’ becomes quite simple.