A few years ago I got a sub assignment that turned into a seven month assignment. It was not the greatest assignment for sub/student relationship in that it was study hall and absolutely no talking was allowed the whole hour. I had one student who was a great challenge. She was a talker, she was defiant, she was angry and explosive and it did not take much to get her there. She hated me because I stuck to the rules. In due time I wrote a little proverb for her that more or less went like this. "My name is........., which means queen. I will learn to respond, not react to people who upset me, because that is what a queen would do." We did become friends, and across the few years I have known her since, she comes up and hugs me.
Today my assignment was in a behavior disorder class. She was the guest speaker in the Social Development Class! I knew she had a rough background, but I had never heard the story!
She and her little brother were sexually and physically abused by their dad on a daily basis. When the police came to their home to take them away from their dad (their mom had disappeared to get away from the abuse) she was 5 years old, weighed 16 pounds(Jonathan weighed 18 at three months!) they were both tied to the bed by their necks, they were naked, their legs and arms were broken, and her lungs overlapped because of having been kicked in. They were in the hospital for months, were placed in 87 different foster homes. The dad gave up his parenting rights and the mom could not be found. They were given up for adoption to two different families. She was given to a family in Australia where she lived for a year and a half. The Mom came back and claimed her children, thus making the adoption an illegal adoption. Eventually the children were given back to their mom, whom they did not know. She does not have parenting skills at all. The little brother was born normal, but due to the abuse he has become what is officially called retarded(her words). He is a senior this year and is a very dear person.
As you can well imagine I did not do a good job of holding back the tears today! I wish I would have brought her home back in her sophomore year! Actually, I remember having wanted to do just that.
She talked about praying a lot when she was little and asking God what she had done to deserve this life. She was sure she did not deserve it. God never did answer her, so she quit praying.
She works two jobs now, is taking on line courses for college credit and her boyfriend has proposed to her.
Her job today was to encourage the kids in the behavior disorder class to stick with it and graduate because "people like us can do good things too."
She gave Mr. Kruger a lot of credit for where she is today. Several times over she said she would not be where she is today had he not been "in her face" making her finish school.
I have spent the last two days in this class as a sub. I have been in there many times in the past. This teacher has to deal with kids who feel it is just fine if they do nothing at school....most are on drugs....many adults have no hope that these kids will graduate.
Not Mr. Kruger! He will call them to get them out of bed and to school!!!!!
Gratitude? This man rarely gets that! Yet, I have seen him in this position for 6 years and I am sure he has been there more than that!
This man has definitely been Jesus to these kids!
Leo is 3 months today :)
14 years ago
5 comments:
What strikes me about this whole episode is: How many times have I done this? Have I dismissed someone and said "That's just how they are" without finding out their story. Thanks Joyce, for reminding me that EVERYONE has a story and I need to dig deeper to find out what it is.
That hits me right in the face.....My school has children in it that deal with more than most people will deal with in a lifetime. It breaks my heart. And most of the teachers say that these kids are crazy and have no hope. There was a 4th grade girl who threw a rock at a teacher's head and hit him. After back from court and suspension, they asked her what teacher she wanted to mentor her. She chose me. I had never seen this girl or spoken to this girl. So, for the past week, she comes to me every morning and every afternoon. It is a challenge....but hopefully a worthwhile one. I just have to pray everyday that my hope for these children will never cease. We all have struggles and hard times. And I don't know where I would be if my teacher's and support system would have given up on me. Praise the Lord that they didn't....and Praise the LORD that I've been given the opportunity to invest in another child's life.
We are praying for your mom, and for you!!! Let us know if there is ANYTHING!!!! you need.
Thank you. I will be staying with them during the day the rest of the week. I spent the night the last two nights. My main concern is the fact that we have plane tickets to go see Jonathan and Sandy from the 28th - 31st. We need people to check in on them possibly on Mon and Tues. My sister will probably be with them on the weekend.
Just let us know.
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