Written by: Youssef Rizk – Beneficiary Services Coordinator.

Sometimes, silence tells more than words…

Few minutes left and my working day was over. The day was, like others, full of dealing with various medical cases. I was preparing to leave my office and started arranging my desk for the next day when the office door opened. Coming in was a middle-aged man, accompanied by a 20-year-old girl. From the man’s look, I knew that they had a terrible situation.

“Have a seat, please,” I said, pointing to the sofa next to me.

When they sat, none of them uttered a word. I looked at the man. He was silent, as if he were carrying on his head mountains of worries. Yet his silence was telling more than speech. It was clear that the burden he bears on his shoulders was not easy at all… and it was so!

The girl took the lead in talking with her tears following her words. She told me that her mother was in the hospital in need of an urgent heart operation. The costs were too high for her father, whose salary barely covered their daily needs. The real problem was that the hospital had given them a few days to pay the cost of the operation, otherwise they would have to discharge the patient.

She said that her mother could not sleep from pain and worry. How can a heart suffering from these two hold out for long?!

I took their documents, a contact number, and said goodbye to them hoping that I would contact them soon.

The case was accepted to be treated at the expense of the Society, so I called the family and informed them. I could feel in their words an indescribable joy. And when the man visited me the next day to receive the referral letter to the hospital, he was happy, uttering an endless supplication. Then I knew what had held the man’s tongue from uttering before. I realized that in his silence he had said much… so much.