Shiwei at the Science Museum

By Lily Zhou

Once in a while, everyone experiences pain, but almost no one knows the feeling of living with it their entire lives. Shiwei has never had a memory without the pain. Having been burned at the tender age of one, he has lived with it almost every second of his life. Surgery after surgery, trip after trip, just for a little bit of normalcy. By using the money provided by the Sharon Youth Fund, we hope to distract him from the pain, adding a little more adventure and fun back into his life.

This Saturday we brought Shiwei to the Museum of Science. Not only an excellent place to learn, the Museum of Science is also a great place to just relax and have fun. As we arrived to pick up Shiwei, we could hear the excitement in his voice ring though the telephone. Driving to the Haymarket train station, we boarded the Green line, beginning our commute to the Science Museum. Shiwei only grew more and more restless as we approached the museum, skipping and smiling the whole way. Once inside the museum, Shiwei was immediately mesmerized by a ball contraption, happily following the path of each ball. We continued on to the blue wing, learning about new things. One of his favorite exhibits was the Charles River exhibit where he was able to use different strategies to build bridges and keep different things afloat. He also enjoyed the into the sewer experience that allowed him to view what life under a sewer would be like.

After seeing a few more exhibits, we decided to have lunch but when we got in line Shiwei said something that genuinely surprised me. He said that he hadn’t had pizza in two years yet his tone was normal, showing how accustomed he had become to not having the things we take for granted. Despite being so small, Shiwei finished the entire pizza, a smile on his face the entire time. After lunch, we visited the discovery center where Shiwei was able to learn how to be an archeologist. He dug out all the pieces needed to finish the puzzle and even got a high-five from the instructor.

One of the last exhibits we went to was the animal exhibit. There Shiwei learned about the difference between the skulls of predatory and prey animals and he was able to identify which animal each skull belonged to. Deciding to end the day on a fun note, we brought Shiwei to the temporary PoPnology exhibit to play with old video games. When we left, Shiwei said that he had a lot of fun. His energy was still on a high and he had a smile plastered onto his face. He was able to forget about the pain for a day, instead playing like every ten year old should. Not only did he have fun, he also learned many new things including new English words and phrases. I hope that this experience has let him feel the culture of Boston and also bring some more happiness into his life.