I had to meet him with a high level of patience. He always faced the ground and never smiled. He was not like the other kids. This boy did not simply express something with his silence, he SHOUTED all of the pain that he hid in his soul.
One day I was surprised to find that he completed one of the activities I had set. Voluntarily he had removed a box of coloured pencils and started colouring. I was surprised to see how fascintated he was in colouring, and in his care of his pencils, and as a result for quite a few weeks he completed work that I set. Finally at the end of one week he came close to me, put his hand on my shoulder, and gave me his first smile.
Surprised by his new interest I devoted to understanding Marlon. I saw in this one smile a door opened to his heart. I wont forget his words "teacher, look at the pencils that my mentor brought me from Australia". It amazed me that a box of pencils - a simple box of pencils - brought out in Marlon what I was unable to achieve in weeks of working with him.
As weeks past I saw many changes in his behaviour. Sometimes he would work, at other times it was impossible for him to even open his workbook.
My interest in the behaviour of this small boy made me wonder what had happened in his life. Who was he? Why was he in an orphanage? What motivated him? I tried to find the answers to my questions where I could, but many of my questions had no answer.
To find a way for him to express to me was difficult, yet alone to tell me about his life. It was something that I worked at for many months.
One day as I was trying to get Marlon to participate in class when one of his classmates told him that they were "going to tell Jon, so that he wont love you any more". In that moment something big happened. The boy became silent and he transformed into a monster. His reaction was like a light for me...there was something or someone that had influence with him.
Behind this boy was his mentor, Jon. Jon was the person who helped me not only understand the boy, but also in finding the answers to my many questions about his behaviour.
From that moment my interest in the boy only grew. He had something that most children in orphanages do not have : someone concerned for them. Above that he knew, as did I, that the boys quietness and passiveness was not normal for him, and that this child needed more help than the other children.
I became to understand that this person, this mentor, Jon, was the person that God put in the boys path to help heal the hurts that he carried in his heart.
Many months passed, we implemented many strategies, and we made many steps forward and some steps backwards in our search for what lay at the core of this boys heart. Many things done were not in vain. There were many smiles, much work completed, positive results achieved and play and laughter.
Above every barrier we hit was my desire to see this boy find a future. On this journey his mentor was always by his side, trying to find the doors to open so that the boy could find a way to scream his hurt with his words, not only with his look and expression of pain.
On one occassion I remember his mentor taking some children on a holiday and not being able to take the boy. I think that this was the hardest week of my professional life; to see the look on his face tore at my soul. I would have preferred him to scream, jump, and scale the walls; but the pain in his face impacted me more every day that passed.
The following year the decision was placed in my hands, and I was able to give the opportunity for him to enjoy the holiday with his idol, his hope, his mentor; with his dad. And that was the door that I had been trying to find for so many months. He was given a motivation, an incentive, a hope for the future, and he came alive.
The following weeks I decided to use this newfound motivation for good. He converted into my new assistant, and he was soon the student that worked harder than the others to achieve his goal. He reached the goal of flying in an airplane and seeing the ocean for the first time in his life.
For the first time the boy was motivated by something...
And for me it was a joy to write this account...
I wrote this story as an account of all that I saw in this small boy over 3 years.
The greatest satisfaction was the prize that I recieved when he was about to travel to Australia. The boy waited outside my classroom door until noone was around and he called me to say "teacher, tommorrow I am leaving, and I want to say goodbye". At that moment, for the first time, the boy gave me a hug. In that hug I found the answer that I had been searching for for years. This boy needed a family, someone to liberate him from the four walls and show him the world, but not only for the weekend, but someone who would give him the warmth of a home.
"Thankyou Jon. Thankyou" was what Marlon now shouted. Not with his silence, but with his smile.
In the photos below you will see a spark in his eye that I searched for for 3 years, and which Jon brought out with love. This brings me much happiness.
And so I say thankyou Jon. Thankyou for giving Marlon his smile, and the opportunity to discover the talents that he never knew that he had. And thankyou for sharing his walk with me. Thankyou, thankyou, thankyou.
LINA MERCEDES MARIN AGUIRRE
