Today I had the privilege of observing and working with a group of young adults with learning disabilities. I must say it was a good experience and it helped me look further ahead in my work….
A year back someone dear to me asked what is your success. What do you see in your future? Have you thought about your future? Don’t you want to own a house? Car? What about your children’s education? Have you ever thought of it? And so on and on the questions played like a broken record.
It’s been a year! Praise God I made it passed the year! In the beginning it was very hard. Just the traveling would kill me; often I’ll be dead tired when I step back home. At times I would also oversleep. Then worst of worst are the things that happen during traveling. I’ve endured the consistently late trains; jam packed platform, sardine trains, flooded stations and even almost fire on carriage. My life is just so happening…… ;) I used to get so depressed when things like that happen. Even the haze could get me down. And I get continuous bouts of coughs and mucouses from the children. Yea, that’s when I thought everything was against me, and maybe I made a mistake for being so stubborn for the things I believe God had led me to do. Maybe I was wrong, or maybe I did not hear right.
Anyway, a friend brought a revelation that kinda set me free from these thoughts. Thank God for good friends! What he said made sense. It’s not the first time trains have problems, it has always been like that, even if I don’t commute in them. The haze has been going on every year!! What makes me so special to think the haze got to be sent to stop me from doing whatever I’m doing? Yea…. Made sense….. =) and, I just need to take care of my health la.
Praise God that He is gracious, He had sustained me, praise God for His strength.
The children.
This month, the centre celebrated its 10th anniversary. I am glad to be part of it. The children had opportunity to perform on stage, after spending months in practicing. It was fun doing the whole thing with them. I must say, without the hard work put in, don’t expect sweet results. But then again, it also depends on what the child might be up to on that day. It’s really kinda exciting and helps keep people on their toes. Ahh… challenges that keeps your mind working on its feet. Praise God for such wisdom that He gives.
Over the year, I’ve grown fond to the children. I even have a few favorites. No, I don’t show partiality. I’ve got this child who calls me by my name, omitting the word “teacher”, like as if calling a friend. Yea, seriously like as if an old buddy would call me. Hehehe… it wasn’t easy when I first taught him, he challenged my authority, but I guess over time, I’ve proven myself and earned the respect from him. Maybe I’m his favorite teacher too.
This is a story of another boy. When I met him last year, he is a vision of a whirlwind of storm packed into a body of 3 year old. The moment he enters the centre, all fury of a ferocious tornado spun around the centre, till the moment he leaves. Creating havoc, drowning all senses, lasting prolly for an hour half. Okay, maybe I’m making it look dramatic, but it really did felt that way. The teachers would have to put up a fight just to get him to sit down; I think I got my hair pulled too! hahaha…. Those were the days of wrestling with the child; besides having to bear with his endless whining and annoying cries.
Today when I look at him, I couldn’t believe in the vast improvement that he has made. I am just so impressed that he is communicating, reading, and his nonsense behaviours had been tamed. He’s got this cheeky face, and twinkle in his eyes; I see so much potential in him to learn many more things. From thinking “why am I assigned to teach him again?”, I now look forward to teaching him. It’s fun!
It’s just so wonderful seeing the progress of the children, knowing that they have learnt and achieve milestones. I was ecstatic when my girl actually knew how to write her own name and could cut proper circle out on paper. I was touched when I hear a boy now starting to speak, from not being vocal for the past 6 years. I am impressed to see a 4 year old girl walking compared to when she first came in last year, she was crawling on all fours. Achievements like these make me proud of what I do. It ain’t little, it’s significant.
Being at the work base today, it helped me see further into the future. It reminds me that the children won’t be children forever, they too will grow up. I look at what the young adults were doing; I couldn’t help believe that they were also little children. I wonder what kinda challenges they gave their teachers. I wonder if they threw tamper tantrums like what some of my kids are doing. I wonder if they had behaviour problem, which sometime makes me feel like hanging the kids upside down. I wonder if my children would grow up to be like the fine young adults I saw today…….
As I observe them today, I just felt so privilege to be there. I don’t think I can meet and socialize with them in the society; they’ll probably be one of the oddballs that people avoid. Besides, how would you react when you see one in the sea of strangers? You prolly wouldn’t care less, who talks to strangers anyway. So yea, it’s a privilege for me to meet them. Like the children, I am impressed with the capabilities the young adults shown. My children will learn those skills. Ordering their own meal, paying, responsible for their own work, time management, clearing and cleaning, and even exercising leadership qualities. I especially love what I saw, peer supervision. A peer guiding another who is slower, it’s just an awesome sight to me. It made me forget they had learning difficulties.
Last year, I had a chance to visit a few centre and homes. I got to see the best of best and also the ugly side of the work. In the best of the ones I saw, the centre had sheltered production workshop, packaging socks, quilting, simulated housekeeping, and even nursery. In the worst that I saw…… it was heartbreaking. People were tied to pillars, chair, and some caged…. The caged ones broke my heart; I couldn’t believe seeing such thing. It’s so easy to forget that they were human made in the image of God. The reason for these bondages is that they were deemed violent; therefore that’s the best solution to the problem. Sigh!
From the exposure trip, I see even more important awareness and education are needed for the parents and even the public. Many of times, it seems like a doom sentence to have a child with special needs. From what I see among the parents that I work with, I see the love and hard work that they put in, I truly admire their strength. I know of this petite mom whom all three children have learning disabilities. I salute her courage and strength.
Know what? It’s not all gloomy to have a special need child, though I may not be in the right position to say this. But from the many stories that I’ve read and lives that I’ve seen, parent couldn’t imagine their life without that special child. Their own special child has enriched them even more than they could imagine. I must say, it’s not only the child that is special; it’s the parent’s love and dedication that makes all the difference.
Doing what I’m doing today, I can say my life have been enriched by this group of people. In the short one year, I’ve learnt so much and experience so much. And I am no longer afraid of crying babies! hehehe….
So what’s my success?......Like what I’ve told the dear person, my success is not in owning the big bungalow or driving a big car. I may not even earn the millions or wear the branded clothes. My success is knowing that the child has learnt and the parents being thankful that somebody cared to teach.
My success? I know I had not wasted my time.
