My Experience as a Caregiver

(Minghui.org) I started practicing Falun Dafa in late 1998. After Jiang Zemin launched the persecution in July 1999, I was illegally detained in a labor camp and sentenced to more than 10 years in prison. After I was released, I was deprived of my pension and had no source of income.

In late February 2022, another practitioner told me that her mother, who was 80 years old, had microcephaly since birth and recently suffered a stroke. She was in a wheelchair and was cared for by her youngest daughter during the day.

However, she needed someone to take care of her at night and offered to pay me 100 yuan per shift. She asked me to stop by her mother’s home the following evening.

I went to the elderly lady’s home the next day. Her daughter said that I needed to carry her mother out of bed to use the toilet, as well as prepare a nutritional drink for her in the middle of night. The woman sometimes called me to use the restroom, but if she didn’t, I had to change her clothes and the sheets when she wet the bed.

The first night, the elderly woman kept shouting, “Go, go, go!” and tapping the bed railing. I had to get up seven times and carry her to the toilet. I was awake all night.

The next morning, her daughter came and asked how things went. I told her what happened and asked how she was during the day. She said her mother also screamed during the day, and that she previously tried to hire a caretaker, but no one would take the job.

The daughter said, “I now know why some people’s children do not cry when they pass away. It’s because it was so hard for the children to take care of them!”

I was concerned the second night and wondered if I should continue. Then I thought, “I’m a Falun Dafa practitioner, I cannot just quit after a day or two. It’s not a matter of money. I need to do a good job. This must be an opportunity for me to cultivate. My being here is not accidental. I must have a predestined relationship with this lady!”

One evening, she announced she needed to urinate. But when I pulled the quilt back, she was covered in urine and feces. The stench was overwhelming.

I hurriedly cleaned her, changed the bedding, and opened the door to air the room out.

The next morning, I saw that my clothes were covered in feces. Her daughter offered to wash my clothes. I said, “No, it’s okay, I’ll wash them when I go home.”

However, after I returned home, I could not stop thinking about it and I was unable to eat.

I washed her face and bottom every morning and I washed her feet at night. Her daughter commented, “The towels you use look so clean now. Even the floor is clean and shiny!”

Her compliment brightened my heart. On payday, her daughter said, “You did a great job! I’m so satisfied! I’ll give you fifteen hundred yuan!”

I replied, “I can’t take more money than I agreed to. My pay is thirteen hundred yuan!”

After some back and forth, she insisted, “Take it, or I won’t feel good.”

One morning, the daughter said she and her husband had to go to the city to attend a wedding, and they asked if I could watch the elderly lady. I agreed.

At 7:30 a.m., the woman sat slumped in her wheelchair and could not open her eyes. I carried her to bed and she slept until noon. After lunch, she went to sleep until 4:30 p.m.

When her daughter returned, she asked, “How was the day?” I said her mother went to bed in the morning, got up for lunch, and went back to bed again after she ate.

Her husband exclaimed, “She won’t sleep tonight!” I replied, “She will sleep tonight.”

He said, “My mother-in-law must be deliberately torturing us. She used to shout all day, but after you came, she stopped and acted like a normal person. It's amazing!”

I said, “I teach her to sing Falun Dafa songs every day, and we read poems from Master Li Hongzhi’s Hong Yin. I also taught her to recite ‘Falun Dafa is good. Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance is good’. We are learning Dafa. Master said, ‘...with one person practicing, the whole family benefits ...’” (Teachings at the Conference in Australia)

In May, I told the elderly lady, “I’m going to write an experience sharing article, so don’t make any noise.” She replied, “You can write an article! You’re really good!”

While I was writing, she stayed quiet. After I finished, she looked at me with a smile.I asked, “Need any help?” She said, “When I get well, I’ll take you on a trip to a wonderful place. I have money!

“I’ll take you to my own house and make you good food!” She was also able to recall things from the past. Her daughter said her mother’s memory was returning.

I said, “Dafa has opened up her wisdom because she recites ‘Falun Dafa is good’.”

Her daughter said, “I’m also going to follow Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance. I can’t curse people, because I know I won’t live a good life if I cursing anyone. A neighborhood woman scolds my husband every day. Her family has no money, even though the couple is very capable.”

My patient has not wet her bed for a long time. In the beginning, her eldest daughter was afraid that I would not be able to sleep well, so she gave her mother a tranquilizer. But I asked her to stop.

The lady now sleeps well, and she is getting better and better since she started reciting, “Falun Dafa is good, Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance is good!”

Upon seeing the changes in their mother, the family witnessed the miraculousness of Falun Dafa. My job as a caregiver helped me get rid of many attachments and my cultivation improved.

In the coming days, I will do the three things well. Thank you Master for your compassionate salvation!