Personal Childhood web

 Your Personal Childhood Web

 

There are many people that I can add to my childhood web. I am in school today and keep reaching for higher degrees for my siblings who never went on to college. Some of them barely got through high school, but have great families and children that have gone on to college.  The following are the five people that I have selected to add to my childhood web:

  

My mother is my ultimate support; at eighty year old she is the matriarch of our family. She was born with a hearing and speech impairment and cannot read or write but she made sure we attended school every day.  I remember her cooking and sewing for my teachers so that I would get extra instructions from them after school.  Over the years I taught her how to recognize her name and most of my sibling’s names as well as how to write her name.  She is a great care taker and has worked with me in my childcare center in the infant room providing excellent care to many infants along with the other staff. My mom lives with me so she continues to encourage me by constantly asking if I did my homework.

 

 

My brother is another person that has supported me from childhood to be the best I can be.  He never finished high school because he had to go out and work to help support our family.  He was not around much while I was in elementary or middle school but was very instrumental in making sure I went on to high school by forging my father’s signature since they have the same name.  I will always be indebted to my brother because he made sure I had bus fare to attend high school outside of our community.  He is still now encouraging me to finish my Master’s degree and constantly says go for the PHD.  My response is always my brain is too old for school.  He is the one person that believes in me and that I was gifted from a young child and did everything in his power as a big brother to make sure I received the best education.  He calls my laptop my baby girl because it is pink and it is always with me.

 

Ms. Wong, my elementary school teacher is someone that I will always be grateful to this woman.  She was my third and fourth standard teacher who pushed me when I wanted to give up.  She was the person that assisted me with homework because my mother could not help me and my older siblings lived with family members.  She didn’t have children of her own so she took me under her wings like a daughter.  She was always very encouraging and took extra time and patience to make sure I understood every concept she taught.  This is one of the teachers that my mom cooked and sewed for to offset the cost of after school tutoring. Ms. Wong also paid the entrance fee for me to take a few standardized tests. She believed in me and that was a good feeling because besides my brother and great aunt there was no other that constantly encouraged me.  I don’t know if she is currently alive since I moved from Guyana over 35 years ago. 

 

My great aunt Dolly Pereira was the one person that I will always remember because she was our Mrs. Clause.  Every Christmas we visited her to visit Santa Claus and receive the only gift for Christmas.  We were very poor and my parents could not afford to buy us Christmas gifts so Aunty Dolly made sure we had a gift.  She also provides us with fabric so that my mom could make uniforms for us to attend school.  The one request she made was to bring our report cards to her; she took the time to look over my report card and always congratulated me on my achievements.  Aunt Dolly had older children but did not have grandchildren so I believed that she felt we were her grandchildren.  She always told me how proud she was of me with my studies and constantly encouraged me to keep doing better.

 

 

Marcia, my childhood friend and lived in my neighborhood.  We started going to preschool the same time and was in the same classroom until I went on the senior high school.  We did our homework together and were the only two girls that attended after school tutorial.  We were constantly challenged by the boys but we persevered and always did well.  Marcia and I are similar looking and most of our classmates though we were sisters.  She was my confidant with everything and when I didn’t have lunch she would share hers with me. Besides my teacher Ms. Wong helping with homework, Marcia was a great help to me because she had older siblings and they were always there to provide help to her and she would then help me.  After moving to the America I lost touch of my friend but ran into her a few years ago and she is still the same person.

Personalizing

 

This is me at age 8 dressed up for career day as a flight attendant. I remember this photo vividly because my mom made the outfit and it was not completed on time.  This was due to the amount of outfits she had to make for my sisters and other children from church.  There were pins in the hem of the skirt and it kept poking me when I walk.  It was at a “May fair” held by the Catholic Church in Guyana, South America.  Those were the fun days.

 Favorite children’s book is “Please, baby, please” by Spike Lee & Tonya Lew Lee, illustrated by Kadir Nelson.  It is my favorite because it’s a book I read to my grandson Jionni from birth.  I took care of him until he was one years old and then again for the last 4 months due to illness. Jionni is currently 23 months and he can read this book in his toddler voice.  It is so amusing and amazing to observe him read each page of the book and then walk around saying Please baby please.  I started reading to him from and infant and realize that by 14 months he would constantly pick up the book and give it to anyone around to read the book to him.  I saw such pleasure in his eyes and his attitude as the book is read to him.   Personally, the book is relatable to things that babies and toddlers do and it is also the words are repetitive   so infants/toddlers can repeat the words building their vocabulary.  It also had pictures of that Jionni could relate to because they looked like him and his family.

My story of a little girl name Cheyanne that really touched my heart.  This little girl at 2 years old entered the child care foyer with her foster mother.  As I introduced myself to the parent Cheyanne kept looking at me but did not say a word.  The parent proceeded to tell me that she wants her child to be in an environment that she could play and learn because Cheyanne was diagnosed as Autistic.  She also told me that she has gone to 4 other centers and the little girl screamed and hollered so she had to leave.  I then encouraged her to come into the center to see the toddler classroom and the teacher.  Surprisingly Cheyanne took my hands and walked into the building and into the classroom and sat down in the library area.  The mother was very surprised and immediately asked for an application.  Cheyanne started to attend the center the following day and always looked for me to be in the office as she entered the building.

About  3 months later Cheyanne was still not speaking and her teacher was very concerned about her from a developmental point view. We did a few assessments but still not speak, we also called in a specialist from the local school system to evaluate her and then she was recommended that she be evaluated by the Marcus Institute.  After about six months of attend the center Cheyanne was diagnosed with Autism. 

On her third birthday the parent had a party for her at the center and when the children was singing happy birthday to Cheyanne, I said I wonder how old she is and that was the first time she spoke by saying “I am three years old” and I love you Ms. Emily”.   The entire classroom was speechless, but from that day she continued speaking.  She did have some behavior issues and from time to time paid a visit to my office.  Overall she was very smart and academically she was within her development range.  She had some very distinctive request such as meals and snacks could only be placed in square plates etc.  If not she would dump the food out.  During the pre-k end of the year ceremony we did not have any square plates and she refused to eat until I sat down next to her with my round plate and encourage her to eat from my plate.  After that time she reminded me that she prefers a square plate but would eat because she was hungry.  Cheyanne went on to kindergarten and at times I had to visit with her to calm her down. 

She was adopted by the foster parent and is doing well.  What I realize after she left my center was that I looked like her biological mother who she last saw at six months.  Her foster mother stated to me that Cheyanne told her therapist that “MS. Emily was her mother, but I did not remember her”.  Cheyanne is now about 12 years old and in middle school and every so often I would get a touch in the Walmart from someone and when I look around it is her and her foster mother.  I would never forget this child and I believe she will never forget me.