Nyumbani (Home)

There are 8,760 hours in one year. Of those hours in 2010, I worked 2,386 (in comparison, if you were to get 8 hours of sleep every night in one year, you would be sleeping for 2,920 hours). I spent 27% of my year working in group homes for people with special needs. When I think about that number it seems extremely low to me because I would go weeks and weeks at a time without a day off. I would work a 20 hour shift, go home and sleep for 5 hours, and then be back at work the next day for a 14 hour shift. I worked doubles on most weekends and I rarely ever saw a Saturday off. Once, I even spent over 30 hours at work due to a snow storm.

In my job, I worked with adults who had a wide range of disabilities. Some were in wheelchairs and completely dependent of their staff while others were fully functioning and pretty independent. Some were high medical clients --including diabetics, catheters, wound vacs, and feeding tubes -- while others were highly behavioral. Behaviors included yelling and screaming, stealing, running around, hair pulling, tearing clothes, slapping, hitting, swearing, throwing things, and biting (all to other clients, and especially, to staff members). I have had hand fulls of my hair pulled out, clothes that were almost ripped off of my body, bruises all down my legs from electric wheelchairs running into them, swollen feet and toes from electric wheelchairs running over them, plenty of scrapes and scratches from being clawed at with long finger nails, and even multiple bites on my knees, hands, and head.

My job can be so challenging and extremely frustrating at times, but at the end of the day, I absolutely love it. When I have to leave it for good when I move to Chicago, it's going to be one of the hardest things that I will ever have to do. As hard as it can be to work with some of the clients at times due to their behaviors and needs, it's the most rewarding job I have ever had. It is unbelievable how much these clients have had to endure throughout there lives, but they are still some of the happiest and genuine people that I have ever met. I absolutely love walking into work and hearing the "I love you"'s and getting hugs and kisses from them. Before I left, one of my clients said to me "Casey Dear, don't leave me. Take me to Aca (Africa) with you!"

I have spent so much time with these clients over the past three years that I have been with the company and I can't help but fall in love with every one of them. I love them like they are my own children (and some days, it really feels like they are). If legally and financially I could adopt each and every one of them, I would do so in a heart beat. Without a doubt.

One of the things I was very much looking forward to when I left for Africa was seeing the living conditions of people with special needs. Last week, I spent the entire day at Neema Orphanage Not only did I have an absolutely wonderful day taking care of and playing with babies, but I also got to talk to one of the sisters there about the orphanage. There is one girl there, her name is Mary, and she is the orphanage's only disabled child. She is about 8 or 9 years old (no one really knows for sure). She was being raised by her mother and father until her mother decided to leave them both and leave her in just her father's care. After his wife left, he was not able to take care of her (or at least that's what I keep telling myself because the idea that he just didn't want her, totally horrifies me). One day her father went to the hospital with her and was sitting out in the waiting room. He asked the person next to him to watch Mary for him while he went to the bathroom. Well, Mary's father got up to go to the bathroom, but then he never came back. The hospital, police, and also social welfare all investigated and tried to find her father (I'm not really sure how that worked because she did not have any type of identification so I don't know how they would have even known where to start looking). They never did find him so they needed to find a home for Mary. Social welfare was having a lot of difficulties finding a place because in Tanzania, homes for people with disabilities DO NOT EXIST. There are day care centers for families to bring them to during the day while they go to work, but that is it. These people just live with their family, and if they don't have any family, they are just left somewhere, like Mary was.

Mary

Hearing that there is not one single home for people with special needs is completely appalling to me. I have spent so much time working in them over the past 3 years that I really can't imagine the idea of not having any here. My new placement, BCC, is one of the day care centers for people with special needs. I work with children who are very much like the clients that I work with back home. Granted, the conditions of this center are pretty horrifying compared to back home. It is very unsanitary and would definitely not be up to code in the U.S., but the sad part is, that is one of the better places for these kids to go. There are many volunteers who come in and want to do everything possible to make their lives' better.

This is Isidori, one of my kids at BCC. He is 22 years old, just like me.

I feel so blessed to have an opportunity to try and help these kids, even just a little bit, but I always feel like I'm not doing enough. I would love nothing more to be able to give these children and adults with special needs a home to live in. A place that is safe for them and they can get the care and attention that they need and deserve. I keep thinking that I'm only 22 years old, I barely have enough money to afford my own school books, let alone build a home for someone, there isn't much I can do to help. But I also know that if no one has helped give them a home yet, who knows when someone will, if ever. When I am done with school and actually have enough money to support myself, I want to come back here. I want to live in Tanzania for awhile and build a home for these people. I want to use the experience and knowledge that I have gained from my job and education to help give them a better life. Just because they can not function like everyone else does not make them any less of a person, they are all amazing people, and they deserve a home, just like everyone else in this world does. And someday, I want to make that a reality for them. They deserve it.