A series of unfortunate "episodes"

Salam! Things went much smoother today at the orphanage. We decided that I would go to my class as usual and Abdoullah came to check on me a couple of hours into it. There was one point when I was led to the back room and told to stay there as she hit all of the kids without me looking, but other than that, it went much smoother!

I was in charge of 6 kids today outside in the garden where there is a somewhat functional playground and a load of garbage for them to play with. Zacharias is one of the boys, and he has got to be about 4. He has this cute little smile and cross eyes that he occasionally wears glasses for. He appears to have some form of autism and while he doesn’t speak himself, he understands what you are saying to him.

Zacharias overreacts to tactile and various other inputs, often putting things in his mouth, smelling things, and throwing huge tantrums when something doesn’t go his way. Back home Zacharias would be put in several different forms of therapy, most likely including seeing a psychological therapist, an occupational therapist, and go through some sort of sensory re-integration (I’m guessing on all of this- I really don’t have any idea EXACTLY what he or someone like him would need). Here, he is shunned from his housemates, yelled at to stop crying when he can’t control his feelings, and pushed off to the side when experiencing a tantrum.

Today I grabbed him during an episode after another boy stole a piece of garbage he had. I held him tightly in my arms, bouncing my legs and “shh-ing” in his ear. He repeatedly hit me and arched his back at first, but eventually calmed down, started sucking his thumb, and stopped crying. It’d take 5-10 minutes before it would happen again, and the nurses would look at me like I was hurting him when holding him so tightly, but it totally worked, and he was much happier after feeling the movement of my body and being soothed. Eventually I’d even get a smile or two! I really like working with him and trying to figure out how best to accommodate a boy that will most likely spend the rest of his life in that orphanage due to his disability.

In the midst of soothing, chasing after, and entertaining the 6 boys I was in charge of, a major stomach ache hit me! I started running toward the orphanage, yelling “un toilette, un toilette!” and eventually found the wash room in the back of the building. Much to my surprise, there were only squatter toilets available, which is basically a ceramic hole in the floor. It was quite an interesting experience to say the least, and the several proceeding visits just made it that much more…. interesting…

Tonight I went out with a few other volunteers to Tex-Mex here in Rabat to celebrate Ray’s 21st birthday. I had smoked salmon taco salad in a Tex-Mex restaurant in Morocco… Pretty crazy if you ask me! No one in Morocco drinks due to being Muslim so it’s few and far between that you can find places that serve alcohol. We were still able to have a good time, and met a few Americans on the way.
Off to bed before an early day of work tomorrow. Night!