Wow, time certainly flies! It’s almost Christmas and I’ve only posted once this month… My appologies! 🙂 Several weeks ago I had a chance to visit Project Grace. This School for the Disabled is located near Bai Ma right here in Kunming. A friend of mine invited me to come have a look at what they, maybe visit an English class.
If you’ve been in contact with disabled or have really thought about it, there is quite a challenge there! In my home country it can be difficult for a moderate to severely disabled person to find a decent job with which to support themselves. In many Asian nations, including here in China, it is difficult indeed. With such a large labor pool and so many things done by physical manpower, what niche can you find if you are for instance missing an arm? I believe that in general our lives are what we make of them. Yes, disabled people can be happy & satisfied with their lives!! A bold statement, but I believe it. However it would be foolish to ignore the fact that they face many additional challenges as a result of their state.
(Teaching English at Project Grace)
Enough of that. if you’re interested in hearing more about Project Grace, check out these links on it (or google for your own): Homes International, Bangkok Post (older article).
So! Invited to visit an English class? That was apartently code for teach the English class! Uh oh! Thank God for Palm Pilot… I was grouped with 3 girls and a guy, all of whom had rather meager English skills at this point. So on my little palm screen I showed pictures of family, picture of home, pictures of animals, etc… Simple questions of what is this animal? Is it rough or soft? What sound does it make? You get the idea… 🙂 We had a great time! I’m so pleased to see what this place is doing and I believe it will make a huge impact in the lives of the children!