I have been assisting with grade 2 reading…challenging since reading is not my thing. Grade two only has two students, so I am surviving. They just finished up the unit called Traditional Tales. We’ve been reading traditional tales from other counties. We did not even read the first story until the third day because it took 2 days to explain what winter and seasons were. Here there are two seasons: hot and hotter. The next story made much more sense to the students after we talked about where the story was from which was Iraq. The last story was the best one. It was from Japan and told about a stone cutter who kept making wishes. First, he wished to be rich because he wanted a nice house and clothes. Then he wished to be a prince because they have servants. Then he wished to become the sun, then a cloud, then a mountain because he wanted to be more powerful. In the end, he wished to be a stone cutter again. Because being a stone cutter made him the most happy.
While working on the worksheet for the story, the last question in the end was "What do you wish for that would make you happy?” Right away one girl (we will call "Veronica") said, “I wish to see my family.” My heart sank and I did not know how to respond... Veronica came into our care directly from the hospital. At 12 years old she had been brutally raped and left for dead by a man while his friends looked on and forced her younger sister to watch. She and her family had to flee the village as it was no longer safe for her. After her private parts were reconstructed, Veronica couldn't walk for some time, and she had to be carried everywhere. Her caregivers lovingly brought Veronica back to health and today she is thriving. Veronica loves Jesus because He has healed her. Her smile and sense of humor are infectious. She is the reason we do what we do.
I can never understand the pain Veronica went through but I know that even now God is blessing her and one day she will have the best wish ever: to live in a world that is perfect and where nothing will ever hurt again. Please pray for not only Veronica but all those children who have suffered abuse of any kind.