Orphanage

I want to tell you about the orphanage because I've already been there four days this summer, and I haven't told you anything about it. The first time I went there was two years ago.

So much has changed since that day. My entire life has changed as well as the atmosphere of the orphanage. I believe this is the direct result ot Lili's prayers, and then later, other volunteers who cried out to God for help. God, who loves these children more than us, has answered.

I saw Adriana in her wheelchair when I first went up the stairs of the orphanage six days ago. Because she can not walk, she did not get to go to camp with the other kids. She screamed with emotion for a bit and then started crying. I hugged her and kissed her. She asked how long I would stay and if I could take a walk. "Taking a walk" means I push her around the hall and living room upstairs in the orphanage. She loves to see people in the hall and greet them. Besides greeting people her and I talk. She is never ready to be wheeled back in the living room to stay by herself.

"... but there are other kids I want to stay with, too..." I try to tell her.

The orphanage director was very kind to me and chatted with me in her office, asking how camp was with the kids and how my studies were going in the U.S. She told me I could make a schedule to chose the children I wanted to work with. I told her I wasn't certain I was properly equipped to practice speech therapy with the kids, because I still had three years (at least) of school left and she said she was sure I could practice and do good with what I had learned so far. I told her I wanted to work with Bogdan, teaching him basic math and reading, more than speech therapy. Bogdan's a discipline problem. He's an eleven-year-old who was dropped off at the orphanage by his parents who had no idea how to handle him. He has ADHD and can be very agressive. Well, I've tutored him the past three days and I LOVE it! When I taught third grade, it was boys like him that I loved to teach the most. I feel so happy with what feels like success, but I know I can't be too quick to determine how things are really going.

With Bianca and especially Ana Maria, I need some help with Speech Therapy and discipline. I can only hold their attention for about 30 seconds to the sounds I want them to attempt before they are distracted. I need to adjust my methods so that I can hold their attention or else I must do the "play therapy" that is so popular in the U.S. Both girls scream and throw tantrums when I tell them our session is over and they must go back to the other children. I talked to two Dutch volunteers about their tantrums and Diana recommended a sticker chart for the girls that will culminate in a reward every three days that they walk away from therapy calmly instead of being dragged away. I'd like to do it, and think I'll start tomorrow, though I don't have stickers yet or a chart. Paper and pen will do until then.

Lili showed me a book with American Sign Language over the weekend and encouraged me to use it with Cosmin, a deaf boy at the orphanage, who appears developmentally normal. Cosmin speaks Romanian Sign Language, and I've been intimidated by that, but today we sat down and worked on some sign. Mostly he taught me Romanian sign, and I showed him the pictures of how to count on one hand to nineteen in American Sign from Lili's book. We both learned this counting together. However, just being with him and listening to him is maybe more what he needs than anything else. After our session I caught him smiling in the hall to himself for "no apparent reason." I'd like to think it was because it felt good to him to get the full attention of an adult for more than a half hour. Teaching me sign may be some kind of therapy to him. I hope it is, because I don't know how else to start.

There's more I could write, but not enough time and energy. Suffice it to say, when I was coming home on the tram I felt so happy and satisfied with life. It feels so full with dreams of what I could do in the future and total happiness with what I'm doing right now. I love the adventure of Romania, the dirty tram, the walk to the apartment, and that I used the correctly gendered adjectives in a converstation I had with Lili on the phone about a book.

And thank YOU ... for listening to me. :)