Educator describes meeting 'miracle' teen

By Lois Knapton
Director, Special Education
Derby Public Schools


Whew, what a week.
Part of the development of a new disability education program is outreach to parents, so we did one impromptu session last week on Friday.
We let the parents know that is ok if you have a child with a disability, and you can contact the CHE (Community Health Evangelism) disability worker in your school to get some help.

Lois Knapton

As an outsider, I use the current resources they have here, and I do not include myself in any of the sustainable systematic changes I am trying to develop.
After our outreach meeting, a mother came to the school and said she has a son who needs help. In this culture, this is brave step for her to take. So, on Monday morning we were led by the mother, through the Huruma  slums, to her house.

This is what I can only describe as the Miracle of Moses: His mother explained that Moses is 16 and cannot do anything by himself. He is deaf, he does not speak, and has been in the house for 10 years and bedridden most of the time.


 When we got inside the house we noticed a lump on the bed, covered by a blanket. Our team included me, with two social workers, Isabella and Margaret, and an occupational therapist, Mitch, and a physical therapy assistant, Michelle (how convenient) and kinesiology graduate named Laura, from the Flip-side church in California; they were here on a short-term mission trip for one week.

We started asking questions of the mom, then we decided it was time to see Moses. The mother woke him and dragged him over the back of the couch. I immediately noticed Moses climbed over the couch and landed in a sitting position on the couch.
He was clearly startled and confused, but alert. We talked and assessed him, the OT and PT tried to stand him up and take a few steps supporting him. Moses tolerated it.
We thought that was a miracle.
But there is more...Mom said she needed help for his skin and we told her to bring him to the clinic, a 10-minute walk; she said it was impossible.
We left and told her we would try to bring a nurse back with us the next day.

       As the team was eating lunch at the school and preparing for afternoon community work, the mom shows up at the clinic with Moses on the back of a bike.
I can only assume that she felt some hope and gained some courage to get more help for her and her son.
The  team members who visited him in the a.m. were in tears. We could not believe our eyes - she brought him to the clinic.

Then, as I was sitting near Moses, I saw his eyes start to track, and he found Laura, the redheaded student.  And then, he simply stood up, walked over to her and sat down. It was a 25-foot span. No one said a word.  If I had not witnessed it  with my own eyes, I never could have believed where this child was functioning in the a.m and where he was now.
           We visited Moses every day this week, and every day he improves. It is not easy, we spend a lot of time teaching mom techniques to teach her son.
 On Thursday his mom turned to me and said, "So he can learn?"  I said, "Yes, absolutely."
We are teaching him to put on his shoes and on Thursday he held a spoon and fed himself for the first time.

 
      His mom is learning very quickly how to teach Moses. She has two other younger children and I explained to her it is like teaching an 18 -month old how to do things.
I believe Moses will continue to make great strides.
In addition to visiting Moses, we saw nine other new clients this week in the community.
The word is quickly spreading throughout the  village that you can get help for your children who are disabled.
        Next week, I will work with Isabella and Margaret to train some teachers to do informal assessments to see which students need extra help to be successful in school.

We will also be doing teacher training to help the teachers understand that all children can learn.
We certainly have our work cut out for us.
Thank you for joining me on my journey. I am sure there are many more miracles awaiting.

Knapton is contributing weekly posts about her three-month mission trip to Nairobi, Kenya.