First Week...

One of the first things I learned from the other volunteers here is that here at Emmanuel you become everything and anything you ever dreamed of being…or didn’t dream of being. I didn’t expect that statement to come to define my life here so quickly but indeed that pretty much summarizes my week. This week I have been a nurse, a physical therapist, a custodian, an occupational therapist, a seamstress, a teacher/special Ed. evaluator, and child psychologist. In other words I have been a MOM.

Last Monday, I was supposed to meet with the volunteer coordinator to discuss my skills and interests and so figure out my responsibilities here. But before that meeting could even happen I was woken up and asked to come help out in the clinic. A couples days before I got here an 11 year old boy had both of his heels operated on (because he has walked on his heels since he was a toddler) and was staying in the clinic. They needed someone to help take shifts watching him. As the day unfolded I was eventually assigned to him for the time being. And an interesting time it has been.

Each day I learn something new about this boy. For one, he is 11, in second grade and doesn’t know how to read or write. The teacher in me screams this is not ok. I can’t spend 9+ hours a day with him without trying to do something about this. So I have been testing him on a variety of areas regarding letter names, letter sounds, writing, reading comprehension (when read aloud to) and math understanding. I am pretty sure he has dyslexia at this point. So a few days ago we started school in the clinic! For math we’ve counted and organized beans, worked on learning his letters by playing letter memory, letter bingo, and some letter games I found online, we’ve compared and contrasted Honduras and the USA for social studies, watched a YouTube clip on deep sea creatures and had him invent his own for science and I’ve read aloud to him for literature and had him answer comprehension questions. He has really enjoyed this and it has been fun for me as well.

But…

Another thing that I learned pretty quickly is that this boy is not potty trained. He has worn a diaper his whole life. At first I heard that he had a medical problem but he recently went to the doctor and this has been denied. So just a few days ago I started trying to train him to use underwear. I could use a lot of prayer for this. It has not been going well so far. I know that he is most likely afraid of this change and I’ve spent a lot of time encouraging him and providing incentives but I have also learned that he can have a terrible attitude and terrible behavior when he has to do things he doesn’t want to do so I have also had to be very strict and had to discipline him a lot. Please pray for strength to both be encouraging and loving but also strict and hold fast to discipline. To all you mothers out there, I am amazed by you—and I think that will only grow during my time here. Unfortunately this potty training business has prevented us from doing much school work lately (for example this morning he spent about 2 hours bathing himself and going to the bathroom because he was crying and moping the majority of the time). I don’t know the root cause of this boy’s delayed potty training. I was talking with a friend the other night and she mentioned to me that often when kids are older and have this type of issue it is linked to abuse. I don’t know this boys past, all I have is the present, so please pray that this boy would feel God’s love through me, in my encouragement, my discipline, my forgiveness, and my effort to do what is best for him.