There is a little girl in my class and her name is Precious. She’s about a year and four months, and she is timid. She isn’t one of our students but she might as well be. Her mother, Cynthia, is the teacher of Kendall and I’s class. Teacher Cynthia has told us that Precious was very sick as a baby, which is evident when you look at the fact that she doesn’t attempt to walk or talk, she has a receding hair line, and she is unusually small for her age. Precious is attached at the hip of her 22 year old mother, crawling after her as she sweeps our class’s spilt rice bits, and fritter crumbs.
Every day I smile, wave and say hi to her, and slowly but surely she has begun to open up to me. The only contact, apart from me saying hi, was when she screams because her mother has walked into the other room, so I pick her up and move her closer to her mom. She hates that, she’s not fond of other people outside of her mother…or outside of people with food. That baby will eat anything, though she likes to rub whatever food particles she has on the floor with all the sand and ants, extra protein right?
As this month of ministry has gone by, she has opened up to me more. This last week she was smiling and letting me rub her back. She often lays down on the cement floor in the middle of the classroom and falls asleep, so I bend down and give her a little back rub, which she doesn’t seem to mind.
On one particular day, she was being extra outgoing. I caught her playing in the mop bubbles her mom was cleaning the floor with, so I snatched her up from that wet mess expecting her to scream and cry for her mother, instead she sat in my arms with a face of contentment. My goal has been reached, to hold this small child in my arms, without her not crying and with her liking my presence. It may have taken a long month, but I finally earned her trust! I’m looking forward to my last week with her, looking forward to her sweet smile, and sneaking my way into her little heart. Precious…you are one precious baby.
Love,
Teacher Marley, a wannabe mother
