All the Little Children...

Here is a little bit about the amazing children that get me up at 6:20 every morning. Those of you who know my sleeping preferences know that I have to have a very compelling reason to drag myself out of bed that early, and I have not overslept yet. :) Although there are probably 30 kids total at Daya Dan and at one point or another I have worked with them all, there are a few that I work with a bit more consistently. One of these is Shantu. Shantu is the first child I ever worked with at Daya Dan and he has claimed a special place in my heart ever since that Tuesday morning. Although he is really five, he looks like he could be two or three. He can sit up on his own and is now working on being able to stand on his own. Most of the time we just scoop him and then lean him against one of those play stands where he will happily balance himself for most of the morning. I think he may be the happiest resident of Daya Dan. He is never too busy to give you a smile- or maybe a yell. Even without the ability to verbally communicate, this kid has the charisma to charm an entire room.

Another one of "my boys" is Bhasker. Only three, Bhasker can also sit on his own, though he would much rather lie down if given the chance. Now, he is working on walking. He's actually getting really good at walking around when someone holds his hands and walks with him- one of my more favorite activities. The past couple of days we've been working on stairs- which he REALLY doesn't like. It takes a lot of ingenuity to keep him from grabbing onto you and if he does, well then you have to start all over again. He has an iron fist- which he likes to grab hair with- so once he grabs on you have to sit down, calm him, and reposition. I can't really blame him- stairs are terrifying if you really think about it. When he's not walking he's generally standing holding onto a railing or a window sill. This can actually get pretty funny because since he has limited neck control he has a tendency to lean way over backwards, drop his head, and grin at you upside down. This has lead me to, with an amazing amount of fondness- don't get me wrong, to nickname him "the exocist child." (Of course I don't tell the Sisters that- I don't think they'd get the joke.) When we walk and he tries to lean his head back onto my legs I will quietly tell him, "No, no, no. We don't want the exorcist child," and he smiles and lifts his head up.

Potentially the most gentle child I've ever met, Aloke is frequently likened to a cat because he sleeps ALL the time. I've always said that if I were to be an animal I'd want to be a housecat, so I actually really like this about him. You can be in the middle of an excersize and suddenly he'll just be unconscious. If that happens, good luck waking him up. He has cerebral palsy with some mental retardation, so he has trouble moving his legs and can't sit himself up- though I personally have hopes that he will get there someday. He doesn't verbally communicate- but he absolutely loves to be tickled. Tickle his stomach and he just starts rolling side to side and giggling- sometimes even snorting. It's absolutely adorable. Sometimes he'll even wake up from one of his sleeps when tickled- just long enough to giggle/snort, but then he'll go right back to sleep. <3

Although I didn't meet Pompa right away, once I met her I could never forget. Only four years old, she is bright as a whip. She has trouble walking, but she has a very sophisticated crawl and just a few days ago was equipped with crutches that hopefully soon she will be able to walk with in combination with her special shoes. I told her my name right before we left one day, and the next day when I came back and walked by her she cried "Hannah!" Ever since then I like to teach her English when I have the time and she has the will- usually we learn while coloring. (I myself have learned that the Bengali word for "repeat" is "bolo." So that comprises all I know of Bengali- not really that helpful except when working with kids but I'm still proud of it, lol.) She speaks Bengali- has absolutely no communication problems. Today we practiced the colors and counting to ten. She is actually developing really good pronunciation. I'm really proud of her- I think everyone that works at Daya Dan is. She is very loving... when we do "meditation" she likes to sit with Shantu and put his head on her lap or give him little kisses. She also refuses to wear a bib at meal times and feeds herself. She is always the last one eating, but she also eats every last bite. Sometimes she combines Allison's and I's names into one: "Alliehannah!"

Puja is like Pompa in a lot of ways but she's a little rougher. Apparently she lived on the streets for a while (unlike Pompa) so I like to think that she has "street smarts." She also can't walk, but crawls really well. She goes from very happy to extremely sad really quickly, which can be a little alarming, but I think it may be because while she has the ability to speak, everyone has trouble understangding her. She speaks something, and she speaks a lot, but because she lived on the streets the Sisters say that what she is speaking is not Bengali or Hindi or English- it a combination of all of them and some other language that no one has been able to identify. I find this quite fascinating. I can understand how frustrating it would be to be able to tell people what you want but having them be consistenlyunable to understand you. She's learning both Bengali and English now though- and very quickly too. Today she wanted me to put special shoes on her. Although she doesn't like it, she's been standing every day and so hopefully she'll be able to walk eventually. Her special standing shoes haven't come yet, but they've been ordered and should be coming soon. I am very encouraged that she actually wanted the shoes today- I can only hope that her opinion on standing is changing into a positive one. As soon as she and Pompa can walk they can go to school- which they both definitely have the mental capacity to do, so obviously I'm excited for them to be able to walk. :)

Goon goon is the newest edition to Daya Dan- she only came this week. Like both Puja and Pompa she also cannot walk, but crawls, and so has developed these amazing calluses on her knees from moving around on them so much. She is absolutely adorable- she "talks" all the time but it's only, literally, "la la la la la la la la." All while grinning, all the time.

Finally, I spend a lot of time with the girls Pinku and Aradhana. Although I couldn't tell you precisely what their diagnosis is, suffice it to say that both have severly physically deformities and development delays. They have no verbal communication and essentially no motor control. There muscles are very tight and so volunteers need to massage them and help them stretch. You must be very patient and gentle, but I personally find it very rewarding. As there is absolutely no way they could do it for themselves, being able to give them some semblence of physical comfort makes me feel very useful. Also it's very nice just to sit with them. They are very sweet, but sometimes I worry that they don't get as much attention as the children who are more responsive (understandably). I myself can be intimidated by them- I find myself terrified that I'm going to hurt them, fragile as they are, and the last thing I want to do is put a child who is already in pain in more pain. But I am overcoming this, so they've probably done me more good then I could ever have done them. Isn't that just the way of things? Bless them for it.

Oh but of course these are not them all, and all these children are so special. There's Raju and Angeli (she's been very sick and would appreciate prayers) and Pryia and Dipti and Sonia and Sneha and so many more. All are an absolute blessing in my life every single day I get to see them. But hopefully this will give you a bit more of an idea of the types of wonderful children I've been working with.

Love and more love.
Hannah