Ups and Downs

I would like to think of myself as a halfway decent teacher. The kids seem to enjoy my classes, and it sometimes appears as though they might be learning something. Two weeks ago, I had a little hiccup. Coming back from a 3 day weekend the old dean of studies pulled a fast one on me and added 2 more classes to my schedule midway through the last term. It was also a little frustrated that he didn’t bother to tell until after a student asked me why I dodged their class, a student I don’t teach, well didn’t used to teach. I casually asked the dos (dean of studies) if by chance this student was right and he was. “oh yeah, I was meaning to tell you about that” Sweet

It’s really ok though because it’s adding GP classes which are examinable current events classes and I absolutely love teaching it. I also wasn’t such a fan of their previous teacher. So this was just another hurdle I could deal with.

The first week of classes with these new students went by without any hiccups and I thought that I would cruise to the end of the term with them. The second week got a lot tougher. In one of my new classes I started to notice this one boy who sat in the back who just stared real hard at me the entire class. I didn’t think anything of it at first but after my 3^rd class with these new students I walked to the back of the room to see what was up. The student sitting next to him leaned over and said, “oh teacher, he can’t hear anything, he was born that way”

This news threw me backwards. This student has been attending normal classes his entire life while being deaf. He learns from reading lips and is now reading lips in a language not his own. Not that he could fully embrace Kinyarwandan being deaf. I asked his friend who all knew this. Apparently the Headmaster and two other teachers knew about this kid and that’s it. I will say that it’s quite amazing that he has made it this far. There is an admissions process for all secondary schools in Rwanda and our school is a top performing school. Since that day, I have felt a little intimidated in this class. It’s hard enough teaching 50+ kids with varying English levels using only a piece of chalk but now throwing in a student with very special needs, it’s just too much. I’m just not qualified. But this is Africa, raw Africa and you have to make the best of what’s around. I try to teach his class the best I can and try to see him at the end of every class for questions but that’s all I can do.

This isn’t the first time that I have been deeply struck by people with disabilities in developing countries. Life is already a lot closer to the edge here and it just pushes it that much closer having a disability. Each time I see it, I become overwhelmed with the challenges facing them. It hurts to think about all the obstacles that must be faced living with a disability. On the other hand though, seeing students like Emmy also brings a lot of strength and joy. He has made it through so much and works so hard. His determination to learn is I think even inspires his fellow classmates to learn. He really takes his challenges in stride. Please join me in praying for strength and mercy for all those with disabilities in developing countries. Pray that our loving God has a plan for everyone with disabilities in creating his peaceful kingdom.