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Monika came from Croatia to spend three months at Visitation Home. Below is her experience living with us. In my life I had the good luck to meet so many good people, and one of those experiences I want to share with you. When I was 17 years old, my main dream was to find the way to visit another country, travel, see different cultures, and at the same time help somebody. That same year I met Denise Reil, a lady from the USA who later made this dream come true. A year later, in 2006, I was packing my suitcases and I was ready for my adventure. I was ready to live with another family, to see USA for the first time and to volunteer at the house for people with disabilities. Denise has a wonderful family, husband and three children. The youngest one, Scott, is 18 and he is autistic. When he was only 3 years old they found out that he is autistic and they had to learn how to live with it. Denise had one worry, she was afraid of what was going to happen with Scott once she will no longer be able to take care of him. Years of thinking and planning went by and she finally came up with a plan. Her plan was to open a house for people with disabilities. She wanted to create community where people with disabilities and people who take care for them would live as a family. A place where they can feel loved and accepted. Volunteering at their "Visitation Home" has helped me to grow. I always see people with disabilities on the street but this was the first time that I was actually living and working with 7 of them. I was cooking with them, playing games, doing chores, singing, exercising. When I witnessed the love with which Denise and her family take care of Scott I hoped to someday have the same strength as they do. After the two months that I spent there, I realized that those special individuals had done so much more for me than I did for them. First, I learned how to be patient. At the beginning it was not easy to wait for someone when he was being very slow or to repeat the simplest thing many times without getting through. They don't need a lot to be happy. With just one smile they bring joy to others because they are so lovable. It is a wonderful feeling when you know you have helped somebody even if it seems insignificant. I believe that to make a difference in the world we need to start by doing small things with great love. This is the most important thing I have learned from this experience. Now, every time when I think of them, these lyrics of a song come to mind:
Maybe the last ones are the lucky ones
the ones who got this whole thing figured out
'cause when they go looking for something beautiful
they start looking from the inside out.
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