All about Molly

I've been struggling to know what to write recently. The novelty has worn off and the heat means I have been totally lacking creativity. I have decided to introduce you to one very special young lady. 

Something about Mol had me immediately. I don't know if it was her joyful smile or her beautiful eyes but i knew she was a child I wanted to work with. So much has changed since those first weeks.

At the beginning, it was all about playing with her. We read fairy tales I wasn't sure she understood, made various princess related crafts and attempted to play board games. I knew she was bright but I didn't realise until much later just how clever she is. In a way, I regret not beginning to work with her properly earlier but I realise that the time we spent together just playing was important. I learnt how she communicates, I started to see how much she could understand and it gave me the chance to think about what I wanted her to learn. I can safely say she has supassed my highest expectations. 

At some point I realised just how bright Mol is. I started working on reading with her using matching puzzles. She could do them all instantly. I was concerned she was only reading the first letter so I gave her options starting with the same letter and she still did it with ease. I googled how to teach non-verbal children to read. I followed the instructions anticipating it would take at least a week for her to be able to tell me a word on a flashcard independently. Boy was I wrong. I showed her once and she was off. Of course she made a few mistakes now and again but she was reading 90% of them correctly. I continue to work on reading with Molly every day, now working on sentences and grammar. I am slowly learning to abandon any expectations I have of her and just see what she can do. I have been doing an activity this week wich involves choosing a word to complete a sentence. Initially I was reading the sentence to her and just getting her to read the options for the missing word. Yesterday I decided not to read the sentence to her. She completed the sentences with the same accuracy as when I was reading them to her. This girl will go on to achieve so much, I can't wait to see what.

Molly brightens my day every time I see her. Her whole face lights up and she grins from ear to ear. She has the best laugh and cracks up when I pull faces at her or pretend to do something stupid (or actually do....). She's a very sensetive child. She cries when something happens she doesn't like and she starts tearing up if I make a joke about going somewhere without her. It's in those moments I can see the scars from her childhood and I realise yet again just how amazing this young lady is. 

Her communication skills have just exploded recently. Every day she says something that makes me laugh. Today she used her communication book to say 'me, drink, you, please'..... She was asking/telling me to get her chai wich is normally just gives to the adults! I got her some and she was thrilled! She has also learnt to trick me. I was looking for he book we were reading together and had just given up when she said 'book, behind' then looked at the door. 'Is it behind the door Mol?' With a very serious face she nodded yes. As soon as I pulled back the door, she burst out laughing! She thourght it would be a great way to get out of school work. This girl has such a big personality. 

I like to think that I am making a difference to her life. I hope she can continue to communicate so effectively once I leave and that she will have many more words at her disposal. I hope that she can read well enough that she can occupy herself with a book and learn about all the things I would like to teach her but don't have the time to. But overall she is having a bigger impact on me. She has taught me so much about expectations. She has taught me about determination. She forces me every day to be more creative. She highlights how what we say does not always come from our mouths, that so much can come from the way we look at something or a gesture or a facial expression. She reminds me that people can do so much more if you give them the chance. I think back to that first month when I hadn't realised just how incredible Molly is. It makes me wonder how many people I don't give a real chance to. It is so easy to discredit people. To say that because they can't or don't do something the same way as other people they can't do it at all. I love Molly so much and wish I could bring her home with me. Instead, I will bring the things she has taught me home as these are thourghts that will be with me forever. 

Bumblebee cafe on Saturday. Lovely to relax and just let Molly, Lilly and Nolan play together with other children.

She's getting so good at counting! All I needed to do was help her move her finger!

The first book she read by herself. Can't be sure she read every word correctly but certainly enough to answer my questions.

Play time

Saturday's are my favourite time with the kids. That is the time when I can hang out and have fun with the children without having to think about what they're learning or what new skills they're learning. Don't get me wrong, I love teaching both in a group and one-to-one but the fun activities we run on Saturdays are when you really get to know the kids. 

The first Saturday doing something other than my normal schedule we spent the morning at Jubilee home painting nails. The girls LOVED it! They showed me their nails every time I saw them for the next 3 days! The best part of the morning was painting the ayah's (India caregivers) nails. They do such a difficult job, some of them 24/7 and rarely get enough recognition. It felt great to do something for them to show them how much they are appreciated by everyone here. We also took the children in wheelchairs for a walk. I have been working wih Bells on moving herself in her chair so the walk was a great opportunity for her to practice. She did so well but was exhausted but he time we got home.

Another Saturday highlight was spending time with the girls at Joy home. They have so much energy and are great fun to hang out with. We painted their nails, then they painted mine! Such a mess but they were so proud of themselves. We also had fun playing in the park opposite their house then relaxing with a film.

Saturday's always make me think about the amount of time spent doing school/therapy with kids. In other places they would not get any of this and I am so pleased that SCH recognises how important education of some sort is for all these children. But sometimes I forget that they need time to play and have fun. I appreciate that they are not all working all the time but many of the children do not know how to play. Many have been institutionalised prior to coming into our care and need to be shown what you do with a toy. They have lost so much already that as volunteers we have to make an effort to give them their childhood back. So this week I will spend more time listening to the children, more time holding and feeding baby dolls and playing with toy cars because play is important too.

Here are some of my favourite photos from the last couple of weeks:

Sunrise on the roof

Finished castle

Going to church- a bigger culture shock than coming to India

Hungry caterpillar lessons

Spelling/building a tower, depending of your point of view

Finally, on Monday I took Bella into the classroom to see what she could do. She is very strong but doesn't do much physically. I decided to try standing her up. I put her on a chair near the window, put her feet in the right position, put her hands on the bars then pulled her into a standing position. I was expecting to have to hold her up but I didn't need to! I did this every day last week and on Thursday she didn't even wait for my help, she pulled herself up! I am so proud of her! Can't wait to see how else she will surprise me.

1st week of school

As I mentioned a week ago, jubilee house have just started lessons for the children who are unable to attend mainstream school. I have now been teaching four classes for one week so I thourght you should know how it was going.

My first class is probably my most challenging class in terms of knowing what to do with them. 4 out of the 5 are immobile due to cerebral palsy and there is a huge range of abilities. 2 are bright, alert and keen to learn new things. I've been working on colour sorting with them. The other 3 do not respond to much I do with them. When they do respond they only do it in a one-to-one setting, never when I'm doing something with them as a class. We sing some songs and I read Dr seus books to them wich they seem to enjoy. I've been trying to remember how the children with profound learning difficulties were taught when I did work experience in a special needs school but I can't remember much about it.

My next class is my phonics class. They are doing really well. Hey could already recognise all the letters but have no idea what sounds they make or what words start with wich letters. So far we've done A, B and C and they can all tell me things starting with those letters. I have also been getting them to point to letters/words when I read them stories which they're getting the hang of. 

My next class is my most challenging in terms of behaviour. They all have autism and a lot have very difficult behaviour such as hitting and spitting. Their behaviour in class is actually very good compared to usual but it is a constant battle getting some of them to stay in their chair. They can all now sort two colours and I plan to move on to more next week. I only realised on Friday that one of the children can sign all her colours. All the children have been learning ASL for some time but I didn't realise she could do it because she has her own version of all the signs. Now I can recognise them, I realise what she is saying to me more. I also want to find out if she is trying to sign other things to me. 

My final class is doing really well. I started teaching them colour sorting on Monday and by Thursday they could all do it perfectly with 4 colours. I have now moved on to shapes and am planning on playing shape and colour dominos with them next week. I always read to them at the end of the lesson. Their favourite book is 'mr brown can moo' by Dr seus and they all do the sounds with me!

I'm really enjoying teaching. There are still issues that need to be resolved with regards to the school but it's great that the kids are learning. They have all achieved so much in a week, I can't wait to see what they do by the time I leave.

In other news, the princess castle is coming along nicely. I work on it every day with Molly and she loves it. She can also now spell the colours blue, yellow, green, red and orange! Here are some pictures of the castle so far, wih Molly's choice of colours!

Religion and prayer

So a lot of people have been wondering what it's like for a Jew volunteering in a christian organisation and this weekend seemed like the perfect time to write about it. 

I want to start by writing about Passover. On Friday night I hosted my first Seder meal. It was a wonderful experience and probably my most memorable Seder. We had to make our own matza, try to cook in someone else's kitchen with unusual ingredients and figure out what to do for some of the more unusual items on the Seder plate. 

Yes, that is a carrot for the lamb bown and chillis for the bitter herb :)

We had a wonderful evening. I found a great Haggadah online written by an American rabbi. It's all in English with only the blessings in Hebrew. It was the perfect compromise between tradition and making it accessible for those who had never experienced it before. Instead of traditional hallel (the songs of praise) one of the other volunteers lead worship. This included the two Christian songs I know from RSY-netzer. We all had a lovely evening and I am so greatful that I was able to share my tradition with my friends.

I have also had the chance to watch a volunteers worship session organised by some of the world race team. It really made me think about how I do prayer, particularly in the context of a youth movement. The worship night was, in many ways, quite similar to an RSY service. We all sat in a circle with acoustic guitars (and a ukulele) to sing. There were also some noticeable differences. There was no obligation to join in with the singing. It struck me when we first sat down that one of the people leading said 'please feel free to join in, read your bible, write in your journal or do whatever worship is to you.' Many people chose to do one of these things or just sat quietly. People were also free to get up, move about and find there own space. There was no standing or sitting for certain parts and no set prayers. People behaved however felt right for them. I love tefillah (prayer) on RSY but it was interesting to see how other people did it. I look forward to continuing to learn about other people beliefs and I hope that I can continue to teach people about my own.

Mega update

Sorry I haven't blogged for ages, I've just been so busy here! Unfortunately, due to government regulations we can no longer post pictures of the children online. I know it's a shame you won't be able to see their beautiful faces. 

We've just said goodbye to the wonderful world race team that was with us. The world race is a Christian organisation wich organise gap years around the world. This team were travelling to 11 countries in 11 months doing volunteering projects in each one. The extra pairs of hands meant we took the opportunity to take the children on trips. I went on a trip to the children's museum with some of the children in courage home. I had great fun playing with Molly and doing lots of silly things. Molly loved wearing the different coloured wigs and painting on the walls. I have to admit, the wigs were great fun! I really adore working with Molly and am getting better at understanding exactly what she is trying to say to me. In the afternoons I do school work with her. She is currently working on reading the names of colours and matching them to the correct colour picture. She has learnt this so quickly that I plan to move on to spelling them soon! With Molly I have been reading some fairy tales wich prompted us to make a princess crown for her to wear. She loved this activity and wanted to wear the crown all the time! When we finished the crown we decided to build a princess castle. I have collected cardboard boxes and we started it on Saturday. Whenever she has to choose a colour I give her the words only so she has to read them and choose which one she wants. It's a great way of doing school without her realising it. I'm also going to introduce the idea of mixing colours when we start the painting. I'll keep you updated on the progress of the castle. This project is also helping her develop her functional communication. For school we use a large board wih Velcro strips on it. She can use her hand to choose from 4 options although this takes a lot of physical effort for her. I would love for her to be able to use a communication book like I have seen used with other children with CP but we don't know how to start teaching her to use it. If anyone has any advice, please let me know. 

Dinah has finally mastered the ring stacker. Her foster mum has been workin on it wih her for 9 months and it suddenly just clicked. It fills me with confidence that she will get the things I'm trying to teach her if we continue to repeat them and don't give up on her. It's very easy to give up when a child simply doesn't seem to get it but this shows that she can learn it, but she needs time.

I am no longer doing 1:1 work with Brianna, although I still love to hold her when she's in a good mood! I now work with selah instead, a sweet toddler in the same house. She has recently started preschool but is quite far behind so we're trying to help her catch up. She can now colour sort and we're working on recognising the names of colours. Her fine motor skills are also very poor so we work on puzzles and 'writing'. When working with her the other day, I was trying to get her to draw straight lines. I know she can do this when she wants to. We're working on lines first, then circles. I drew a line, then did a hand-over-hand line with her, then she drew a circle. Then another circle. Then another. She was ready to move on from straight lines I think! The can be quite stubborn when she wants to be. 

On Monday I went to the park with 2 other volunteers and 7 of the jubilee house girls. The girls were so excited when we told them to get their shoes on! (Finding shoes is a different story) The girls had a great time uhaving henna done on their hands and climbing up onto the big boulders. At the top of the park. All the girls did great, no meltdowns, arguments or injuries! My slightly less exciting trip with a jubilee child was to get an X-Ray of her foot. She had fallen down the stairs a few days earlier but on Tuesday she was in a lot of pain and her whole foot looked very swollen. In India you can just turn up and get an X-Ray at the diagnostics centre so that's what we were recommended to do. She has only been and SCH a couple of weeks so we weren't sure how she'd do but she was great. We took her to Starbucks afterwards as a treat. (The first Starbucks in southern India opened a few months ago and just so happens to be in our neighbourhood!) She wasn't sure about the milkshake at first but soon decided she liked it. After all that, the foot wasn't actually broken and looks much better now but we were all glad we checked. 

Tomorrow I start teaching. At jubilee house, 4 of the girls will be going to maintream school. The rest will be taught at the on site school organised by the Rippees. Eventually they hope to have qualified teachers but for now all the teachers are going to be volunteers/foster mums. I will be teaching a phonics class and some preschool classes, working on shapes, colours, animals ect. The children understand some English, some better than others. I love teaching and am really looking forward to it but I've never had to teach phonics before. If anyone has any advice, let me know. It will be great for the girls to have some structure in their day.

When I'm not working, I have great fun with the other volunteers. The other night a group of us did laser tag. It was so much fun, even if I did come 7th out of 8.... 

The other week we also went to a blind resteraunt. All of us who work with blind children were invited to go. It is run by an organisation which aims to decrease stigma surrounding disabilities in India. The resteraunt is totally dark. You actually feel like you are blind. All the waiters were blind and the food was delicious. It was a great experience and I totally understand why many of the blind children have sensory issues and struggle with food. 

I know that was a really long blog and I'm sure there are other things I wanted to write about but I can't remember them now. I'll try not to leave it so long next time! 

Meet the kids

The I've now been working according to my schedule for nearly a week so I thourght it was time to introduce you to some of the kids I work with in particular. Please note, the names used are not the children's real names. 

In the mornings I work at jubilee house. Jubilee is the newest house in Hyderabad-they moved here from a small village called Ongole where SCH stared on Saturday. Currently there are 12 girls but another 16 are coming up tomorrow! The girls range in age from about 10 to 24 years old with a range of difficulties. Fortunately some speak great English and are able to translate. I've also learnt some American Sign Language as many of the kids have little formal language skills so signing is a great way for some of them to communicate. Tomorrow I will be moving from my room in rescue home to one in jubilee, two doors down. There's much more space there so I'm looking forward to it. 

In the afternoons I work in courage home. I work with 3 different children for 40 minutes each then go downstairs to play with a group of little boys. 

First, I work with Dinah. Dinah is a sweet little girl who is always smiling. She has learning difficulties and has trouble focusing her eyes. At the moment we're working on sorting colours, learning parts of the body and giving herself a drink. She's a very sociable child and loves to listen to music and play games. I'm so excited to get to know her better.

The next child I work with is Brianna. Brianna is the baby of the house and is just so cute. She was born without eyes and hates touching anything. I spend my time doing sensory activities and reading to her. She screams for most of the session but music always calms her down. She also loves to be held and carried and will give go a lovely smile! Brianna is still in need of sponsors. If you would like to help, here's the link you need http://schindia.com/children/brianna/

The last child I work with is Molly. Molly has spastic cerebral palsy and has very little control over her body. She is a very bright and understands everything you say to her-or to other people, no such thing as a private conversation! She's a very funny young lady and loves playing with the toy kitchen. Today she pretended to cut off my fingers! We also read stories together. I downloaded a Paddington bear book wich she loves, much to my delight. She communicates her wishes very clearly once you get to know her but cannot speak. It would be great to get her using some sort of communication device so she can have more complex conversations. This picture is of Molly, covered in paint at the birthday party of one of the boys downstairs. His birthday happens to be just after holi so the party involved throwing lots of paint and water balloons, and cake of course. 

Finally, I go downstairs to play with some of the boys downstairs. They are typical little boys and when I'm not breaking up arguments about who gets to go on the bike next, I'm teaching them how to make paper planes. One of the boys, Andrew, also loves puzzles. He was so proud when we finished this one.

Andrew still needs sponsorship to cover his school fees. 

http://schindia.com/children/andrew/

I'm in India

I've now been in India for 3 days. They've mainly been spent getting to know the place, the kids and the volunteers. It felt a bit surreal at first. I've been planning this for so long, I couldn't believe I was finally here! Yesterday I went with the other volunteers to a big indoor bazaar to buy clothes- the auto rickshaw was quite an experience.

All the short term volunteers live in rescue home, the house with all the babies and toddlers, so lots of cuddles! I've been getting to know the kids and thinking about what I want to work on with them. Some are doing great and are happy and sociable however some have spent a long time in government orphanages and are lacking even basic play skills.

Starting on Monday, I will be following my schedule so I'll get to work with children in the other homes. I'll write more about that next week!

It's currently pouring with rain!!! Despite it supposedly being the dry season! Must be because I'm here.... Rain always