What Every Parent Dreads....

The Sunday of 30^th September 2012 was an easy Sunday. Since we woke up late, I ruled out us going to church. I was mostly in the bedroom, perusing one reading material after another in the comfort of the bedroom. Jnr was in the business of shuffling the cartoon channels – for once he monopolized the TV set as Babu was away attending a workshop on Children’s Assembly that weekend. Mercy our househelp also opted not to go to church. Japs was up and about, one minute checking on me in the bedroom, another minute watching TV in the sitting room.

It was sure an easy Sunday morning until the panicky moment set in. At around noon, Mercy burst in to the bedroom asking for Japs’ whereabouts, that she’d looked for him all over the compound including the neighbours’ houses but couldn’t find him. My heart sunk, my bowels twitched and my guts wretched – all those things you feel when in shock and despair?  My worst nightmare had just begun. I didn’t know where to start looking. Our compound is right adjacent to 4 busy roads in the Estate. My first instinct was to ask the bicycle repair men working nearby but no, they hadn’t seen Japs, I thought of going to the 2 churches nearby where the services were on-going or to the neighborhood Public Service Club but my instincts told me to temporarily shelve that, I instead ran towards the park that is between our compound and a Primary School.

I asked the first person I met in the park if she had seen a 4-yr old boy on a navy blue shirt and cream-coloured pairs of shorts and she nodded in affirmative, said that the boy I had described passed him bare-feet 30 minutes ago. 30 Minutes Ago? That scared me, I almost fainted, there is a 2^nd gate to the furthest of the park that opens to other roads including the main Highway and I lost all hopes of finding him still in the park. 30 minutes is equivalent of 20kms stretch for an Attention Deficit Hyperactive Disorder boy, I didn’t for one moment imagine that he would still be in our estate, I was already writing a statement in my head on how to report a missing boy at the police station and other media houses. I thought of calling my parents or his father or my aunts, but rescinded that thought, I knew how they would react, didn’t want to stress them on a sunday.

I prayed to God to keep my son safe. I kept walking in a trance towards the 2^nd gate. Barely 5 minutes of walking, then I saw a bare-feet-happy-go-lucky-boy in a navy blue shirt running towards me and for the 1^st time in my 30 something years I felt a miracle. I hugged my son, carried him home, collapsed and cried myself out.

The thought of Japs someday disappearing continues to be my worst nightmare, I put that in every prayer item that is available. Since he doesn’t talk, I am thinking of devising a way that would make him traceable if ever he leaves home and doesn’t come back one day.

The Speech Therapy with Fun....

Japs and his family met the speech therapist – a young student from United States who had come to Kenya in October 2011 to support children and families with speech impairment. It was a terrific experience working with Jon. Japs and Jon became best of friends and quite easily got along. Jon was easy-going and an extrovert, willingly volunteering his services to improve the lives of children who are having all kinds of speech difficulties, especially children with autism and stutter. Jon’s schedule with Japs was every Tuesday in the afternoon…this routine was consistent until mid-December when Jon took a break to go on a safari at the Masai Maraa. He sure deserved a break.

He came back in January 2012 to wrap his volunteer work and in February, went back to USA…I shall forever be grateful for the tremendous work that Jon did with Japs.  Before he left, he handed over instructional materials on how I would get into the therapy exercise with Japs. (a) Noisy play is great!! (b) Naming of objects with ONE word only. Use object immediately (c) Gesture + word is BEST! (d) Describe things in simple terms as you work/play/wash/put clothes on. (e) Try to encourage Daryle to make sounds or copy your lips (f) PRAISE and be specific, example; GOOD SPEAKING (g) Objects easier than pictures to use with communication (h) The KEY is MOUTHING objects (i) TRY TO USE LITTLE LANGUAGE. Jon also gave out two activity sheets; Objects of Reference and Now-Next. I was instructed to be doing these activities twice a day for 10 minutes, well I must admit that it’s not been easy being consistent but every time I remember Jon and his natural friendship with Japs, I push myself and all in helping Japs to become verbal – I am very confident that we are getting there.