I am going to be honest, Ebenzery is hard to write about. There is a lot to talk about with Ebenzery so that is not the problem. It is difficult to truly tell you about Ebenzery without addressing what would be described in most developed countries as a learning/development challenge. You see Ebenzery is in his third year of being in our Baby class. There have been marked improvements but there are still challenges ahead.
Ebenzery goes agains most molds of Tanzanian children. They love group activities and crawling all over each other. Even in our Standard 3 class they sit almost on top of each other. Ebenzery does not like group activities and will only tolerate the closeness most students here enjoy if it is initiated by him.
During the mission team visit last year, Ebenzery did really well. He particpated in some of the skits. He normally did what the group was doing and not trying to be off by himself. There was a day when you could tell he had enough of group activities because he started striking out whenever anyone wanted anything he had. Sharing has always been a problem with Ebenzery and when he gets agitated or stressed it is more obvious. I actually had to pull him out of the group and just sit with him on the porch to calm him down some.
While Ebenzery can be difficult to assist at time, he loves physical activities that he can concentrate on by himself. He loves to color and gets fully engulfed in the activity. He does not like to play on the playground equipment he just likes to play in the dirt. He also is not a big fan of the videos. Probably the only student that is not. He has gotten better about sitting down to watch them. He still loves to be just outside beating on the door though.
He loved doing craft activities that allowed him to build things, though even though he is the same age as some of the Middle and Pre-Unity students he needs the task to be simple like the rest of the Baby class.
During morning devotions, he does not so much sing as shout out the words he remembers to the songs. Normally at prayer time he wants to wander around. However if I or one of the teachers just simple gets his attention so he knows we are watching and put our hands together, he will mimic the activity for the remainder of worship singing . They teach the kids to close their eyes and hold their hands like they are praying for specfic worship singing.
While I mentioned that he has problems sharing and working with others, he does well if paired with Sajida who I wrote about last week. They are a good pairing because Sajida does not grab for someone else’s crayons or pencil, she waits until it is given to her. Ebenzery likes to run with Joan, Precious and Brayton who are full steam when they are not napping.
In the photos below are a good example of some of the changes I have seen in Ebenzery over the first two years. That first year he was always combative and very protective of everything that was “his”. He would be released to go to the bathroom (yes they let the really young ones go to the bathroom building by themselves so we have to stand outside some times to remind them where they were headed when they see something shiny) and he would just go around the building and do his buisness. This year he is making the trip all the way to the bathroom and I have even seen him helping the younger ones make the trip. One thing great about Ebenzery is that he seems protective of the new kids, younger more reserved students. Again another reason why he and Sajida work well together is because he will not let others push her around.
The first Christmas, wary and protective of himself 
The second Christmas, open smiling and more interested in me than his gift
When I first met Ebenzery I could not figure out what they were calling him. I thought the teachers refered to him as baby and that bothered me because I thought they were making fun of the fact he was developmentally challenged. Then I finally got someone who pronounced it well enough for me to make out they were calling him “Ebe” short for Ebenzery. That first year I would have trouble getting him to pay attention to me or do anything I asked. Now he tends to always listen and try to do what I ask. Whenever he sees me during the day he gets the look in the picture to the right. When I see that look, I know I have to turn because he is about to bull rush me to hug me. Unfortunately he is at that height where that really hurts.
Steve and Barnabas 
Does Ebe have siblings? So much of behavior reflects home life and maturity. He is blessed to be with you and attend your school. I hope he continues to progress; Sajida is another example of how it takes a good woman to settle down a man😂! Love these posts about your kids….brings back memories of my teaching days. Grace and Peace, Phyllis
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Phyllis, I know he has an older brother at the school who has struggles academically but does not have the other issues. Both parents are teachers. Problem really is that this type of thing is ignored there. Actually if he was at another school he would be getting whipped daily is my fear.
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