Teddy

5 April 2012

I've mentioned a bit about the facilities here at the children's home in Kitale, and now I want to tell you about the kids. One of the first kids to latch onto me was Teddy, and that is odd--here's why: Teddy has some pretty severe needs mentally. I am not sure of all Teddy struggles with, but I recognize some autistic behaviors such as teeth grinding, repetitive hand movements, and extreme melt-downs from failure to communicate. When something sets Teddy off, he starts scratching his neck and temples to the point of drawing blood. He is covered in scars because of these melt-downs. But when I first met him, I was sitting in the room where the kids eat all their meals and the youngest kids hang out a majority of the day, and Teddy came up and put his head on my back. I didn't know anything about him before, but I noticed pretty quick that there was something different about him. He liked me holding him and clacking my tongue at him. Kids with autism don't normally reach out for people--they tend to stay in their own little worlds, so I know there's something more with Teddy. My next encounter with Teddy came about after the Aunties cleaned up all the baby toys and took the one Teddy was holding. He started to grab his ears (the first sign of one of his melt-downs) and crying out, and then he started scratching himself. All of the other Aunties were busy with the rest of the kids, so they didn't notice Teddy. I went over and rubbed his back and then picked him up, sat him on my lap, and clacked my tongue at him. He seemed to calm down a bit and even laugh, and later when an Auntie came to change his diaper, I realized he had peed all over my leg!

That night I called my mom and when she asked if there were any kids that had an impact on me, I told her I wanted to bring Teddy home with me. My mom laughed and told me I always attracted the "off" people. Teddy just needs so much more attention than he is able to get. He is unable to communicate and needs someone to spend time teaching him a form of communication whether verbal or other. And Teddy isn't the only kid here with severe needs. It would be wonderful if God would bring an individual to this home whose heart is geared towards these kids and could work with them apart from the rest of the herd. One more thing about Teddy, he loves music (talk about someone after my own heart!). Last night evening it started raining and all of the kids had to come inside. Just as they were starting to get out of hand, I borrowed Carla's guitar and sang some worship songs to all the kids to keep them entertained. Teddy came right up to the table my chord charts were on and laid his head on it. Music soothes him--I'll have to remember that for the next major melt-down!