7 years of teaching special needs children and counting

It takes a special person to teach children with special needs and Prossy Kajubi is just that.

Prossy Kajubi has such a strong attachment to children, which comes out through the charming smile, and the way she draws the children to her in tight embraces, a clear sign that the affection is two-way.

The 43-year-old Kajubi teaches children with special needs. She is dark skinned, and clad in grey trousers, long sleeved blouse and a blue apron on the day we meet. Seated atop a desk in her classroom, plastered with colourful charts showing animals and letters of the alphabet, she narrates how she ended up in a career she so clearly loves.

“I started in 2006,” she says. “Before that, I was teaching at Ntinda School for the Deaf.” She was later transferred to the Kampala School for the Physically Handicapped, upon completing her diploma in Special Needs from Kyambogo University. “I saw this as an opportunity since I had already taught children with similar needs,” she explains.

Teaching the children
Much as she is qualified with a diploma in handling such children, Ms. Kajubi says teaching them does not need one to have gone to school. She says it is only an added advantage. “Books do not really matter; what counts is having a gentle heart and extra patience because many who were qualified have come and left because they lacked these qualities,” she says.

Having children that seem normal, when they are not, or those that do not understand what is being taught, is a task she admits to enjoy. She teaches children with autism, a disorder that is identified when a child’s social interaction is limited and in some cases, one may have defects. She also handles children with Down Syndrome, which is not easily associated to those who have it, and teaches dyslexic children, a condition that presents itself in children and affects their reading and interpretation abilities. “It feels good because at a certain point, we are not many who do this kind of job. Much as the children can at times be hard to deal with, the ability to help out and be a part of their lives is a blessing,” Kajubi says with a smile.

Testing times
But it is a piece of work that has not come easy. She tells of “days when you come to class and that’s their day of not responding. You ask a question, but get no answer. It is not that they do not know; they just do not feel like it. Even with illustrations, they still stay silent and when you give an exercise, you end up doing it yourself.”

This is really challenging and as if to add salt to injury, the children may then ask, “Teacher, teacher are you angry? Have we annoyed you? Sorry, sorry teacher.” “At this point, you cannot get angry at them,” she says. When she responds yes, they then answer when asked and everything returns to normal.

With this kind of task, she admits that at times, she wants to give up on them. Leaving them, however, would seem like betrayal to the children because not many people can tolerate them. So, much as it can push her to the limit, the love she feels for them keeps her glued to the children who call her mother.

Happy memories
“My best moments are during the music days. The children are excited as they sing, dance and even clap their hands. Some can play some of the instruments and their mood is always high.” People think that because they are disabled, they are useless but watching them play and actively involve themselves in the activities is so exciting. I never tell them what to do,” Kajubi excitedly talks about her memorable days as a teacher.

Another moment was when she had taken the pupils to swim and one of them exclaimed, “Maama Nze! Amazzi! (Oh My! Water!)” The child repeated the words. This was to everyone’s amusement because and these were the first words she had said.

Gloomy memories
Kajubi notes with sadness some of her worst moments: “Being the senior woman, I was once called in the middle of the night because one of the boys had collapsed and they told me I was the only one they could reach. I was in shock and panicking at this time, which was around 2am since the whole boys’ dormitory was full of chaos and they could not calm down.

“While helping the boy who had fainted, another boy pushed his friend out of the dormitory and off his wheel chair, dropping him to the floor. He was injured and blood was oozing and the skull was visible. This was my worst night because I felt my patience had been tested and I felt like giving up. However, as I rushed to get help, an ambulance was nearby and we rushed the boy to the hospital. On arrival, the nurses were few and I had to act as the nurse. I watched the entire process as they stitched the boy’s forehead.”

Another trying moment was when she received a phone call from the parents of one of the children, announcing that he had passed on. “He was a nice boy who usually got seizures but while in comma, he got an attack and that is when he died. It was a sad and devastating moment for me because the parents were really caring towards their son.”

Challenges
She notes that the parents of the children are fairly easy to deal with since some of them really care for their children by constantly checking on them and responding immediately when called upon. She also notes some stubborn parents who do not care and when informed that the children are sick, do not show up until the school takes the children back home.

There are also parents who do not buy anything for their children, and send the children to school with no requirements. Her wish for such children is, “If in future they could be self-reliant and not have to rely on anybody, if they can be able to clean their clothes, wash their bodies, fetch water, and brush their teeth so that they do not feel like they are a burden to anyone they live with.”