Day 7: 1/2/12

Aminata teaching me how to dance

Alieu

Another perfect day at the CRC. This morning at crafts, Alieu, a young man with a mental disability came to visit us. I was hoping that I would get to meet him, as he is so special to my mom. When she first went over, the kids were not accepting of him at all and she had to work hard for him to be included. Now, they are all so friendly and give him high fives and hugs. I helped him make the wooden cross we made that day,  and then helped him make a hat, a necklace that said "Alieu", and a WWJD bracelet. He kept pointing at my rubber HCW bracelet, so Jeremy went and got one for him. He put it on and kept holding it up to mine, laughing because we matched. I want to become a special education teacher, so I was completely enamored with him and his gentle spirit. I caught Ibrahim staring at the two of us and he smiled and said "You know he was your mother's favorite. Watching you with him- it is like she's here." That was the best compliment I've ever received. During the civil war, Alieu's head was cracked open with a machete and cocaine was planted in his brain so that it would never heal. He was five. I shudder every time I see the X shaped scar on the back of his head. He has no speech and has some other characteristic mannerisms. But he's in there. You only have to look at him once and you know he is. He gets so giggly and I've never been happier to be around anyone. He colored one of the canvas bags to keep all his crafts in and Abu told us that we should be careful because the townspeople often steal his stuff. People with mental disabilities are not accepted in third world countries. Later that day, we began painting the playground. Alieu came and found me and I let him paint with me for a while when I noticed that he didn't have any of his crafts. I asked him where he put them and he nodded towards the dining hall. I asked him to take me to them. He took my hand and led me to the dining hall, back in the little kitchen area. He crouched down and pointed all the way underneath the shelf in the corner. There was his little bag filled with crafts. Maybe that is where they have him keep his stuff, maybe that was a little quirk, but I remembered what Abu said and I think he hid them so no one could steal them. I nodded that it was ok for them to stay there and gave him a hug before going back outside. I think about that all the time. We made some serious progress on the playground and it already looked awesome. Part of me was bummed that we weren't doing more serious labor. I didn't want to come all the way to Africa to paint a playground. But when I saw how much better the playground looked once it wasn't covered with rust and how excited the kids were, I knew this was something that would make a lasting imprint on the CRC. The paint made a lasting imprint on us. We ended up needing kerosene to get the oil based paint off- I was so covered in paint I practically took a bath in the kerosene. Never smelled so bad in my life. That night at the dance party, we were dancing to one of their favorite songs, "Forever". The lyrics are cheesy but it goes "I promise I'll be lovin you forever and ever, I'll love you forever, I'm givin you my word". After the song ended Aminata waved me down to tell me a secret. She said "Kathryn, the song. I mean it. I love you forever. I give you my word." I love that girl. That night, Jeremy led a devotion on moments we would never forget. I started talking about Alieu and all of the sudden I just lost it. Someone asked what happened to him, and although I've heard the story a number of times, to hear it said out loud now that I had met him, talked to him, seen those scars and that little bag of crafts slid underneath the shelves- it all came crashing down on me and I snapped. I think I was long overdue for a good cry.