Everybody counts

Working with Obbasen 

            As a teacher here at myLIFEspeaks, God is constantly blessing me with the love of my students and those around me. Each of my WONDERFULLY MADE students have found a special place in my heart and will remain there for the rest of my LIFE. They say you never forget your first class of students and I completely agree with that statement. I look at the past five months of my LIFE and cannot get over how incredibly blessed I am to have gotten this opportunity. How many people get to be a special education teacher to the beautiful children of Neply, Haiti and love what they do every day? I get the privilege of laughing, loving, and learning with my students on a daily basis. Whenever I am struggling and don’t think I can make it that day, God sweeps in and reminds me that I am here for a purpose and He does that by using my students. Every student of ours bring a special part to this ministry. They are letting their lives speak with their talents and with their hearts. One story in particular comes to mind when I think of my children and letting their lives SPEAK to those around them.

            Last week we held a dinner for the families that live in the village who have children with special needs. Mike and Missy shared their story with all of the families on the joys and struggles of having a child with special needs. They did a great job of relating to the families and to helping them to feel like they are not alone. These families were able to see Mike and Missy love on their son, Lane, in a way that we hope to see each of them growing to love their own children with special needs.

            After Mike and Missy were done talking to the families, I wanted to take a few of the parents into the classroom. This way they could see where their children go to school each day and see what they have been learning. The first family I brought into the classroom was Doudoune’s family.

Doudoune is an 18 year-old sweetheart that has Down syndrome. She comes to class every Monday and Wednesday with a little girl named Kebeke, who also has Downs. In the past month they have been learning how to count to 10.  We have used buttons, cookies, rubber ducks, and also playing hop scotch to help teach them how to count.

Learning to count with buttons

Anyways, back to the other night. Once Doudoune’s mother and older brother arrived into our classroom they were able to see where Doudoune actually comes to school. However, it became more of a reality once they were able to look at the work Doudoune has done in her notebook. As I flipped through the pages of activities Doudoune has done, I saw the faces of her mother and brother light up with excitement and disbelief. They asked me, “Li fe sa??” (She did that?). With a huge grin I proudly responded, “Wi! Li fe sa!” (Yes! She did it!) It was so exciting for me to see her family get excited about her work and praise her. For all I know, that could have been the first time EVER that her mother and brother ever thought she could learn or do anything. But, wait! It gets better….

Matt was with us while all of this was happening and had the great idea of letting Doudoune show her family something she has been doing in class. So, we pulled out the fun, rubber ducky number game. For this activity, there are 10 ducks, each with a number on the bottom of them. Then you place the ducks in a bowl of water. The child then takes a duck out of the water, looks at the number on the bottom and then has to place that duck with its matching number on a mat with numbers 1-10. Once we got the activity set up, Doudoune took a seat, her mother stood behind her, and her brother sat beside her. I first asked her to count to 10 before we began the activity. I gave her the first number to get her started and then she counted, “Youn, de, twa, kat, senk, sis, set, uit, nef, dis!”

Judith working with Doudoune in class 

I wish that I could put into words the excitement on her family’s faces. They could not believe Doudoune just counted to 10. It was amazing!! It brings me to tears just thinking about it. Her family not only saw what she did on paper in the classroom before, but they were able to see with their own eyes, evidence of her learning. What an incredible feeling it must have been for Doudoune, to hear her family cheering and clapping with enthusiasm. And, as Doudoune did the rest of the activity, her family encouraged her the entire time! What a neat experience :) Their lives are changing right in front of our eyes. My LIFE is changing and it has swept me right up from under my feet.

It is the little things like this that remind me that I am where I am suppose to be and doing what I am suppose to be doing at this point in my LIFE. I am thankful that I got to witness the family’s encouragement towards Doudoune. I am thankful for Doudoune and all of my students. They remind me that even though it may take a week, a month and sometimes even a year to see change, I can’t give up because they are a person, just like everyone else, who deserves a chance. That being said, I am thankful for that moment because Doudoune’s family found worth in her they did not believe was possible. And it is not because of me. I cannot take any glory for that moment. It is all because of God. If He had not placed this passion in my heart to be here, then I would not be here right now telling you all about how great my kids are. I don’t deserve to have this joy in my heart, however, I am forever thankful that He has placed it there.

I absolutely love it when I see someone else take pride in our students and realize that they can learn. I could not be more proud of my students. Each of them are lovable and smart in their own way. And very soon, you can be a part of our students’ lives. We are in the process of creating sponsorship opportunities for students here in our ti, tiny school for children that have special needs. Would you like to be about something BIGGER than yourselves and reach out to a child who is seen as unworthy of love? If that is something you would like to be a part of, I encourage you to pray about it. However, if sponsorship is not something you can do right now, that is perfectly fine. You can give through your prayers and sharing with others about what God is doing here at myLIFEspeaks. 

Surprised by my beautiful students in their NEW UNIFORMS!!

We live in a broken world full of hatred, sin and more problems than I can even imagine. There is so much to be done but we can't tackle all these things on our own. Find one person you can pour the love of Christ into. Love on them and support them. Witnessing one person being adopted into our Heavenly Father's family is better than any gift or amount of money we could give them. So I would like to ask you to pick one of my students and please pray for them. 

      

Darwinsly

Kebeke

Doudoune

Malachi

Cammie

Obasen

Frensky

Clivens