September 6, 2015 - 13:33
In high school I volunteered for the Orphanage Club at my school. I wanted to give back to the community and I also liked working with kids, so I thought that this would be a fun experience.
We were paired up with a child whom we met once or twice a month. I was expecting to get along with this kid right away. I didn’t anticipate it to be as difficult as it was. My kid was four years old, was called Justin and was not open to meeting new people at all. He constantly threw tantrums and never wanted to hold my hand when we went on outings to amusement parks or to zoos. It was difficult for both me and all the chaperones because he was not only creating a lot of extra work, but also threatening his own safety.
Still, I persistently tried to talk to him and coax him to talk to me. The chaperones from the orphanage said that it was really hard for him to get close to people because of his history with abandonment. I knew that as long as I continued to try to familiarize myself with him, he would come around.
Finally, one day I brought him a box of puzzles. He had never played with puzzles before, so naturally he was curious. He began to piece the puzzle pieces together, and when I tried to join him, he didn’t protest. I realized that even though he still wasn’t talking to me, he was finally opening up a little and allowing me to be a part of his activity. After this, I constantly brought new puzzles to work on together. We connected through our mutual love of piecing broken things back together. He became more comfortable around me, and eventually even started telling me about things that were happening in his life. I was happy to have finally formed a solid relationship with Justin.