For the final installment of our 10 Adventures in 10 Days series, I wanted to write a little bit about what Lynn has been up to this fall. She has been mentoring and tutoring Santia, a troubled young woman (age 18) who lives in Ti-Rivier (not to be confused with the 7-year old orphan also named Santia who formerly lived in the Mission Haiti compound). She is an orphan who has bounced around from home to home for many years and hasn't been able to succeed in school. She has a bad reputation in the community and has been abused in many ways. Pam asked Lynn to work with her and see if she is capable of learning. If so the plan is for Pam to relocate her to another community where she can start over and take one more chance at finishing school. Lynn works with her each weekday afternoon. The following is Cory interviewing Lynn about this work she has done with Santia (Lynn says this reminds her of when Cory interviewed her for the High School newspaper almost 20 years ago)...
C: What was your first reaction when Pam asked you to work with Santia?
L: I was excited and happy about the opportunity, because I enjoy the 1-on-1 setting for helping people.
C: What was your first impression of Santia?
L: She is small for an 18-year-old, and appeared relationally immature for her age, but there was something about her that was endearing.
C: What did Pam ask you to do during these sessions?
L: Basically she wanted me to find out if Santia could learn. She has only gotten up to 2nd grade. We needed to work on math and reading and see if she had some kind of developmental problem or if she really could grasp these concepts with some extra help. It was also an opportunity to pray with her and help her in her spiritual journey.
C: What is your current assessment of Santia's abilities?
L: I'm pretty sure she has dyslexia. I did some research online and the descriptions of that condition seem to fit her very well. I wish I was better trained in how to teach someone with that disability. She is learning how to read, but the math isn't going well.
C: What are the sessions like? What do you do each afternoon?
L: We have some of the books from the schools here, written for the earliest levels of study. We work through those together. I am teaching her how to read Psalm 23 in Creole, but she is also learning to read in French. At the end of our meeting we read the Bible together and pray.
C: Do you give her homework?
L: At first I did, but I found out she was just getting other people to do her work for her. After I told her not to do that anymore, she continued to do it, but before she came she erased the answers her helpers had written, leaving just enough on the page to be able to still see what they wrote and trace over the answer herself during our lesson. Her little scheme was pretty obvious. Now we do all the work here. She can practice reading at home, but we do the math here to make sure she is doing it herself. I encourage her to work on the things she learns at home for extra practice.
C: How is she responding to the sessions? Has she matured at all?
L: It is hard to say, because she seems to be a different person here than she is out on the streets. Her reputation outside our property is that she picks fights, argues, and gets in trouble a lot with her mouth. I haven't heard from anyone that her life has changed much outside of our sessions. She doesn't like anyone else watching when we work together. If they try to listen in, she tells people to go away.
C: What have you learned about her personal life?
L: Supposedly her mother was crazy and dropped her off when she was a baby to some other family. They adopted her and treated her well. However, at some point she took her things and just left them. Since that time she has bounced around from house to house. She says they kick her out, but we don't know if that is exactly true. She has requested to live in the Mission Haiti orphanage, and has told people on the streets that this is her plan, but that is not an option for her and we let her know that. She does seem grateful for our time together.
C: Do you know where she is staying now?
L: Judlyn's house, from what I hear. (a girl in the youth group with a pretty good family)
C: Do you think that could be a good situation for her?
L: From what I know of Judlyn and that family, it could be helpful for her.
C: What do you know about her relationship with God?
L: She says she believes in God and goes to church, but everybody in the community seems to think her behavior indicates otherwise. She sometimes acts crazy to get attention.
C: What have you learned through this opportunity?
L: Santia is helping me learn Creole. It is a challenge to try to teach someone basic skills in another language. I look forward to seeing her every day, and she is special to me already. I hope this will bear fruit in her life and somehow draw her closer to God, helping her blossom. It is hard to know what her future holds. If she does see significant change it might work to put her in a different community to get a fresh start. It might be too hard to overcome her reputation here.
C: How has this impacted your personal walk with God?
L: I'm thankful to God for bringing her into my life. Everything down here improves my prayer life. I constantly pray for Santia. I pray for God to help me overcome my own weaknesses, which become evident when I try to teach others. I ask God to equip me for this work.
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| Lynn and Santia |
Enjoy the Adventure of Helping Someone Less Fortunate!
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