Perhaps the worst aspect of physical
disability is the frustration of being unable to accomplish tasks that most
people do not even think about. When you have to rely on someone else to clean
your teeth, take you to the lavatory, cut your food up for you, your
self-respect can evaporate.
Sometimes the
greatest problem in adjusting to disability is having to cope with other
people's dismissive attitudes.
The OMV is there not only to help
people with disabilities to lead as normal a life as possible, but also to try
and educate the attitudes of young people at a crucial moment in their
development. Our success can be measured by the high number of our members who
choose to join the caring professions as doctors and nurses.
Physical disability does not change
someone's human value. We are in the business of making sure that people realise
that.
The Order of Malta Volunteers (OMV)
is a group of young people who volunteer to dedicate some of their time to the
care of the sick, handicapped or terminally ill people.
We have two principle aims:
- To
provide for young people between 17 and 29 the opportunity to gain
valuable experience of working with people with disability.
Our work is financed entirely from the voluntary contributions of our members and friends and from funds raised during the course of the year.
Founded in 1974 the OMV has developed and grown into an organisation with over 800 members currently on our mailing list. The 1998 pilgrimage consisted of around 310 pilgrims with over 50 staying in the hospital and 20 travelling from the Central Remedial Clinic in Dublin.
Lourdes is still very much our
central focus but over the years the OMV has grown and now incorporates a number
of other activities, which run throughout the year.
Our Lady's Shrine in Walsingham is visited by the OMV five weekends a year, staying in the hospital and a cottage donated to the OMV by Arthur Bond in 1980. Spread throughout the year, the weekends are an ideal way to keep in touch with everyone who comes on the main pilgrimage.
Three week-long holiday camps for
underprivileged children and those with learning difficulties take place at the beginning of the summer, sponsored by
the Scarbank Trust. The camps happen at Worth and Downside and include children
from the Bristol and Crawley areas and are particularly good for students to get
involved with.
The OMV also provides volunteers for
the Bondway soup run in London, the Missionary of Charity Homes in Romania and
Calcutta and the Central Remedial Clinic in Dublin
Other than our annual carol singing
at a London Underground station, the White Knights Ball is the chief fund-raiser
and essential to our survival. In 1999 we managed to raise an amazing £38,000
to support our activities.
Activities such as the September
stage, Christmas reunion, annual newsletter and the monthly Mass all play an integral
part of what makes up the OMV.
Sebastian Bailey
