This is a belated blog post summarising the work in Guatemala. My only excuse is that although I’ve been in the country, I haven’t been home. So here goes:
The ten days we were out there we visited 4 schools, 4 churches, 2 children’s homes, a hospital, and a disability club. We were able to give tips to the teachers and prospective teachers about how they could include children with disabilities. It is very hard in a class of up to 70 children to do much more than crowd control, but the teachers came to the workshops because they wanted to find out how they could help the children who were slipping through the net. Quite a lot of the questions were about children who were behaving badly in the class room. We explained that this could be because of a disability such as ADHD (either diagnosed or undiagnosed) or autism. Some children were reported to be fiddling with things all the time or in some cases with the child next to them, or not interacting with the group etc. in our team was Alice who has been a teacher in a special needs school for a number of years, and she came into her own sharing tips with the teachers such as giving children something to keep in their pocket to fiddle with like a stress ball or a stretchy man, giving the teachers strategies to try and stop bad behaviour or answering back such as “speak and spin” (saying “I would like you to get on with your work” then turning and walking away) or “broken record” (not listening or responding when the child answers back, simply repeating the instruction such as “I would like you to do your work”).
Michele and I made play dough which was a novelty out in Guatemala. We explained that it could be used to make shapes and model things, such as getting the children to model characters to go with a story that either they or the teacher was telling.
I shared my personal experience of growing up as a blind person in a mainstream school, and, where appropriate, my testimony as a Christian.
We also gave the biblical basis of disability wherever we went, which Mike read out and I tried to expand slightly on the verses.
Alan also gave his testimony (as well as being the team leader). He told about losing most of his sight overnight when he was 9 and how that had affected his school and home life.
At the churches we spoke to youth leaders, Sunday school teachers, church pastors, church members, and children about how to include disabled people and their families in church life.
We visited a school that already include children with disabilities in their school. We were able to spend time with the students and teachers, and were very impressed and touched by the caring attitude of the teachers and the happiness of the students. They were mostly included in the main classes, but were taken out if a lesson was too difficult for them and brought into a class especially for them.
We spent time at the family day of the Ministry of the Fragile, who run a monthly club for people with disabilities to meet together and do activities. It was so nice to be there and see how much love there was for all the people in the club, and to be part of their special family day.
We visited love the child again this year, spent time with the children as they played. We also visited another children’s home and ran a brief workshop on including children with disabilities, including parachute games, singing a well-known song “Jesus loves me this I know” and showing them the English signs to it.
It was a joy to visit all these places, and a joy to see all our partners again. There is so much hope for Guatemala and I believe that God has his hand on that country and will continue to bless those who work in his names sake.
I am hoping and praying that there will be another trip next year, and look forward to seeing what God has done then!
Thank you all for your support, prayers and interest. Until next time, God be with you all!
