STUTTERING - A Life Rescued from Obscurity
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| Eugenie |
The purpose of this feature story is to shed light on the challenges facing school-aged children who stutter from disadvantaged backgrounds and to give some insights about our efforts for positive change. And it’s also to invite each of you to Support our Efforts (Here), about our anti-bullying initiative. At the end of this feature story, there is also an additional short video (one minute).
A Life Rescued from Obscurity - Eugenie, a 12 year old girl who stutters, is a pupil living in Africa in eastern Rwanda, where the teachers are in a total blackout with respect to the problems involved with stuttering.
Eugenie's life degenerated a day when she was at school. Eugenie said that one day, when they were in class, her teacher asked her to say her name in front of her new classmates. She got up to say her name, but her speech blocked, because of stuttering and she could not speak up her name.
Eugenie said “My teacher kept on asking me again to say my name. I felt upset and I sat down quickly. “Says Eugenie. ". Then my teacher came in front of me and asked me to stand up and to say my name,” She says. “I refused to stand up, knowing very well that I could not speak up my name in such a situation. My teacher insisted again and he began to hit me with a stick, saying, "Tell your classmates your name". I felt anger rises up in me and I began to shed tears while all the eyes of my classmates were turning to me" Said Eugenie
Eugenie added “On the second day, my teacher asked me to go in front of the whole class and apologized for the incident that occurred last day. I did not hesitate, and I went in front of the whole class, when I tried to say something, the stuttering blocked me (no sound), my teacher still insisted ... and the tortures against me have resumed ... And my classmates started to tease me, " Says Eugenie, a 12 Year Old Girl Who Stutters.
Suddenly, the child has decided not to go back to school", Says Eugenie's mother". And then she fell silent and often aggressive towards her parents. Parents worry and feel guilty.
2nd part:
From Darkness... to Hope
My teammate and I (Dieudonne, Coordinator of the African Stuttering Centre) met Eugenie's family.
The first time, Eugenie did not want to cooperate with us. She tends to close down when directly approached with questions about her stuttering. So, we left the booklets and brochures on stuttering to Eugenia's family, so that they would be available to all family members, including her.
After a few days we had returned to Eugenie's family. Astonishingly, I was impressed by Eugenie's progress through the children's book, entitled "Sometimes I Just Stutter." by Eelco De Geus
Then this book also has made us and Eugenie's family comfortable to speak about stuttering. and this book explains questions about stuttering in simple terms.
Remember that it was Eugenie’s teacher who caused this to degenerate. That is why I was going to see him. In short, he is a man in his forties, tall...We discussed Eugenie's case... and he asked for an apology. He explained he did not know what he should do when he has a child who stutters in his class.
The teacher wants Eugenie to come back to school and he swears that this incident will not repeat.
Then I gave Eugenie’s teacher a package, called" Resources for Stuttering - Teacher Package. This teacher package is available, at no charge, and contains a number of booklets and brochures, of our translation.
Eugenie has received the message from her teacher. And she agrees to go back to school. But at a condition: She does not want to be taught by her recent teacher. Eugenie said she has bad memories for him and wants to change class.
Immediately, the school head agreed this. And I believe that through education, the hopes and dreams of Eugenie growing up.
Meanwhile, all the teachers of Eugenie’s school have got this teacher package of resources for stuttering, thus helping them to develop knowledge about stuttering to better assist in the classroom, students who stutter.
In addition: Here is a short video (one minute). Please watch it:
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