I split my time at the Therapeutic Day Care Center between the school, working in the therapy hall, the nursery class for special needs children and the workshop and vocational school down the road. While I have spent almost three weeks at this school, today was my first day at the workshop. There are about a 100 young people that work here. They are graduates of the primary school and have been allowed to continue on to the vocational school to be taught a trade. The hope is, that they will learn a trade (such as carpentry, batik making, sewing, weaving, hairdressing or other various skills) and be able to use these skills to make a living. Some day, becoming self sufficient. I am going to be devoting a large chunk of my time at the workshop to a young man with Autism named Arinze.
Arinze has a sad history. When he was young, his parents were interested in bringing him to this school. The drove several hours, from another state, so he could meet Hildegard and enroll in the school. They, like most people, fell in love and decided he would go here. On the way home they were murdered, in front of Arinze’s very eyes. He lost both of his parents in the blink of an eye, and his two siblings were sent to Canada to live with family there. Arinze was left behind, with no one to care for him, as is often the case with disabled children in Nigeria. Somehow, through the charity and good will of Hildegard, a place was found for him and he started school in Enugu. Now he is 24 years old, and developing his skills as a tailor. The going is slow, but he like all the others here, shows great potential and keep improving.
To be quite honest, Arinze reminds me of the character from Office Space, the one with the stapler. He is very funny, and through out the day has made me laugh so many times. He is very verbal and doesn’t want to stop talking. He is so afraid of losing my attention that he is constantly tapping my arm, for fear I will go somewhere else.
I worked with him for five hours today and this was the extent of our conversation,
“Auntie, I really like school. For Arinze is a hard working boy. Arinze is the hardest working boy here. Auntie headmis (the headmistress) says that she will get me some more sewing materials because I am such a hardworking boy. I came back from the holiday yesterday. I am so happy to be back in school, because I love it and Arinze is a hardworking boy. I love to sew. I want another pocket on this shirt I am sewing, can I have more pockets?”
Me: “Arinze, if there is time, we can start on another pocket.”
Arinze: “Ok. (pause) Is there time? Auntie, I want to teach you to sew because I like your watch. Arinze is the hardest working boy.”
Now add a dozen pokes and multiply the conversation by five hours and mix it around a little bit. That was my time spent with Arinze. One might think that I would not enjoy such time spent with this man, but he was hilarious! I think that such people have a lot to give to the rest of us. I am excited to spend more time with him.
