Sonia Thacher, Special Education Teacher, explains the phenomina of our CITTI Project Ripple Effect.
The CITTI Project ripple effect--a puzzling and delightful phenomenon we´ve observed over the past two weeks as our message of increased participation and independence through simple assistive technology spreads throughout the communities we visit. It has, of course, always been our intention to share information and resources with the teachers, families, and individuals affiliated with our three partner associations. For me, one of the most exciting parts of this capacity-building has been the unintended effects on the people we´ve sort of picked up along the way.
Our first day at Asoplejicat, we presented our demo kit of materials to an audience of adults--compañeros-- with various physical disabilities, aided greatly by three skilled translators from the local community. Delighted by the response of many compañeros, and their ideas for how these materials might help others that they knew, we set about making duplicates so that the center would have its own library. As we worked side by side with the members of Asoplejicat, it became apparent to many of us that Tania (an English teacher with no previous special education experience) was churning out materials with one hand while gesturing with the other--bringing both our words and our ideas to life. The second day, our occupational therapist stepped away from the table for a few moments and returned to find that Tania had finished making the hand splint and was now helping a compañero try it out: we´d definitely made a convert.
Tania and the other translators joined us again at the Institute in Ambato, where we were to work with the entire staff of 20 teachers and a handful of allied professionals. Assuming that having childcare would help faciliate these teachers´ participation, we brought along two wonderful babysitters. As it turns out, we didn´t have a single child at the school the first day, and the kids the next day stuck close to their parents. Undaunted, the babysitters set to work making communication boards and helping finish with the construction of a ramp. The second afternoon, they presented their materials alongside the teachers, beaming with pride and blushing at the applause. "I am hoping to become a teacher", said Belan, "and I have learned so much. I think these (materials) can help all children."
Our last stop, Huambalo, brought out the best in a resource we hadn´t tapped yet: on the second day, our two van drivers took their first tentative steps into the special education center. ¨These are the children¨, said Chaya, our photojournalist, indicating the two smiling faces in the wheelchairs beside her, and gesturing towards Maria, a mischeivious little bright-eyed girl whose Down´s Syndrome doesn´t stop her from dancing, playing ball, and literally climbing the walls for attention at times. Chaya noted the pity in the drivers´ expressions--we´ve all felt that, maybe all even started from exactly that place. The drivers nodded solemnly and moved deeper into the room, taking note of the activities swirling around them before heading back to the familiarity of the van.
The next day, they went to work. Helped by a speech pathologist and a special education teacher, they put together six communication boards--the ones Mimi laid out for them and several others of their own design. The father of one child showed us all the board the drivers had helped him make to communicate about elements of their daily life in agriculture--a shovel, water, seeds, and earth. They presented the rest, finishing (with a grin like Maria´s) with a board devoted to "the means of transportation", including, of course, busses and vans. After the
applause, Marco spoke again, saying how much they approved of the work we had been doing, how proud they were to have been the ones driving us from place to place, and how much they wanted to leave these boards as ¨recuerdos¨ for the children they had gotten to know. ¨Now I know about these things¨. said Marco, "and I want to be a part of them." (picture : our bus drivers share the communication boards they made for the children of Huambalo)
These, then, are main stories I tell to illustrate the impact we´ve been blessed to have on many of the people surrounding the Project. There are others I wasn´t as close to, who have their own stories as well. The people at the hotel in Ambato asking Andrea, ¨where do you go every day?¨and listening intently to her answer. The hardware store employee who wanted to know exactly what all the tourists would do with PVC pipes and shower hooks, who got an earful from Tania about the students and compañeros. The woman from Huambalo whose children do not have any kind of disability--she stopped by on Monday just to see what was going on at the Center, and stayed the next two days making mouth sticks and matching games. It has been amazing, humbling, and incredibly satisfying to bring our ideas and information to the people of Tungarahua province, and to watch how people from all different walks of life can give those ideas vitality and depth.
Sometimes, you drop a stone and it just sinks in the water. Sometimes, the ripples go on and on and on.
The CITTI Project ripple effect--a puzzling and delightful phenomenon we´ve observed over the past two weeks as our message of increased participation and independence through simple assistive technology spreads throughout the communities we visit. It has, of course, always been our intention to share information and resources with the teachers, families, and individuals affiliated with our three partner associations. For me, one of the most exciting parts of this capacity-building has been the unintended effects on the people we´ve sort of picked up along the way.
Our first day at Asoplejicat, we presented our demo kit of materials to an audience of adults--compañeros-- with various physical disabilities, aided greatly by three skilled translators from the local community. Delighted by the response of many compañeros, and their ideas for how these materials might help others that they knew, we set about making duplicates so that the center would have its own library. As we worked side by side with the members of Asoplejicat, it became apparent to many of us that Tania (an English teacher with no previous special education experience) was churning out materials with one hand while gesturing with the other--bringing both our words and our ideas to life. The second day, our occupational therapist stepped away from the table for a few moments and returned to find that Tania had finished making the hand splint and was now helping a compañero try it out: we´d definitely made a convert.
Tania and the other translators joined us again at the Institute in Ambato, where we were to work with the entire staff of 20 teachers and a handful of allied professionals. Assuming that having childcare would help faciliate these teachers´ participation, we brought along two wonderful babysitters. As it turns out, we didn´t have a single child at the school the first day, and the kids the next day stuck close to their parents. Undaunted, the babysitters set to work making communication boards and helping finish with the construction of a ramp. The second afternoon, they presented their materials alongside the teachers, beaming with pride and blushing at the applause. "I am hoping to become a teacher", said Belan, "and I have learned so much. I think these (materials) can help all children."
Our last stop, Huambalo, brought out the best in a resource we hadn´t tapped yet: on the second day, our two van drivers took their first tentative steps into the special education center. ¨These are the children¨, said Chaya, our photojournalist, indicating the two smiling faces in the wheelchairs beside her, and gesturing towards Maria, a mischeivious little bright-eyed girl whose Down´s Syndrome doesn´t stop her from dancing, playing ball, and literally climbing the walls for attention at times. Chaya noted the pity in the drivers´ expressions--we´ve all felt that, maybe all even started from exactly that place. The drivers nodded solemnly and moved deeper into the room, taking note of the activities swirling around them before heading back to the familiarity of the van.
The next day, they went to work. Helped by a speech pathologist and a special education teacher, they put together six communication boards--the ones Mimi laid out for them and several others of their own design. The father of one child showed us all the board the drivers had helped him make to communicate about elements of their daily life in agriculture--a shovel, water, seeds, and earth. They presented the rest, finishing (with a grin like Maria´s) with a board devoted to "the means of transportation", including, of course, busses and vans. After the
applause, Marco spoke again, saying how much they approved of the work we had been doing, how proud they were to have been the ones driving us from place to place, and how much they wanted to leave these boards as ¨recuerdos¨ for the children they had gotten to know. ¨Now I know about these things¨. said Marco, "and I want to be a part of them." (picture : our bus drivers share the communication boards they made for the children of Huambalo)These, then, are main stories I tell to illustrate the impact we´ve been blessed to have on many of the people surrounding the Project. There are others I wasn´t as close to, who have their own stories as well. The people at the hotel in Ambato asking Andrea, ¨where do you go every day?¨and listening intently to her answer. The hardware store employee who wanted to know exactly what all the tourists would do with PVC pipes and shower hooks, who got an earful from Tania about the students and compañeros. The woman from Huambalo whose children do not have any kind of disability--she stopped by on Monday just to see what was going on at the Center, and stayed the next two days making mouth sticks and matching games. It has been amazing, humbling, and incredibly satisfying to bring our ideas and information to the people of Tungarahua province, and to watch how people from all different walks of life can give those ideas vitality and depth.
Sometimes, you drop a stone and it just sinks in the water. Sometimes, the ripples go on and on and on.