. . . So who am I? What makes me uniquely me?
Is it my imperfections that make me, me?
As a teenager, I dreamt of my ideal life; happily married to the “perfect” man, living in the “perfect” home and having 3 “perfect” children. In my dream, we were always smiling, all of us “perfect”, very happy in our perfection. This dream lasted till I fell pregnant at the age of twenty. And there I was alone, my dream was ruined. I was the outcast of my family as I did not want to be married at this young age. I focused all my energy on my son, my spirituality and my career in ECD.
I’ve always been very community orientated and rendering the ECD service gave me a lot of satisfaction and my years flew by as I was having so much fun. Loving and nurturing every child that came my way. It gave me so much satisfaction creating this beacon of hope in my community, I loved my job but…I still wanted more. I wasn’t quite sure what this more was but, I kept on searching. Until, I was introduced to my first learner with a disability. At first I was devastated, confused, and sad, I was overcome by fear, and I feared the unknown. As I grew up in a community where disabilities were not a topic for discussion, I knew nothing about disability but, I knew that the child placed in front of me was a child and with fear still very much inside of me, I embraced him as I would any other child and everything was perfect! This was my introduction to inclusion and I never looked back. My journey has been beautiful at most and I cannot imagine life without all my children.
I’ve learned to rely on positive sources in my life, I once read a recipe for living: “Each morning, when you arise, recognize your powerlessness over the situation at hand, turn this problem over to God, as you understand Him, and begin your day.
Inclusion is not my practice, its my way of life.
Take one day at a time, fears of the future may immobilize one. Living with the reality of the day which is at hand is made more manageable if we throw out what if’s and what then’s of the future.
For as long as I can remember I’ve had strong women in my life, moulding me, at times this moulding process was extremely painful and confusing. To be truthfully honest, most times I didn’t appreciate it much, but today looking back, I am grateful. As a matter of fact I am still being moulded daily as each ECD Practioner, parent and a child but it is especially the children with disabilities that I meet who contribute to, making me …..me!
I have enough to focus on get through each day, one step at a time.
And my life is perfect, I am married to my perfect man, I have my perfect son, I have my perfect job and I love my perfect inclusive life.