Reflections on our experience at the Village.

I believe that I did a good job of being a Community-builder, I just didn't anticipate how difficult it would be to do. I lived my plan out by being friendly and starting conversations with the residents, I was just shocked by the amount of effort they put into speaking even though I knew they could not communicate very well before we arrived. As we talked about on the bus on the way back to Orange City, it was incredibly difficult for the man in the reading room to speak one mumbled word. Watching the residents communicate with the workers I learned how much we depend on speaking to communicate and saw first hand how frustrating it is when others cannot listen to you. I was also challenged to use different forms of communication like posture and facial expressions to see what the resident was trying to communicate. One thing that was tough about this morning was watching the residents try to communicate with me. Seeing them struggle to form sentences and listening to their stories about why they cannot talk very well made all of the difficulties in my life seem small. As I talked about in my previous journal response I was hit by how much I take for granted my ability to do simple things like talk and walk. It was also very tough for me to communicate with the residents because I am used to speaking quickly with my friends and had to deliberately slow down when I responded to their questions. Though it was difficult to communicate with the residents, it was delightful to hear their stories and how they ended up at the Village. Each resident was full of happiness even when they were describing the horrible car accidents that changed their lives forever. Despite their situations they were able to find joy and I enjoyed talking to them about my own life as well.

Yesterday, I picked the community-builder knight's armor trait. I was working on using peace, encouraging, and being honest. I didn't do as well as I wanted, but as a group, I believe we still build community. I went with some of the residents well they were drawing and painting. Well, I was there the lady told us that through art the residents have a way to paint their emotions. I learned communication is really a wonderful gift. I tried talking to many of the residents and most of the time I go no response verbally. Even though some didn't respond verbally I still got lots of smiles. This morning was tough because it showed me truly how blessed I am and how I take the simple things like talking for granted. It was also a struggle because you want to do more to help the residents. It was also delightful because even though the residents have everyday struggles they are also so happy and joy-filled. Overall I really enjoyed this experience because it helped me realize my blessings.

I think I successfully lived out being a Temple - Respecter. The people were delightful, so it really wasn't that hard. I learned that communication cannot just be a one-way interaction - even if it seems like you really won't be understood, or the person doesn't verbally respond, there are still responses that you get, even if it isn't verbal. So getting a response by form of some kind of eye or hand movement in the nonverbal room was pretty cool. I always find it tough to see people not be able to do basic tasks, not that I don't love them, it can just be such a harsh reminder to me that the world really is broken, and there isn't anything that we can do to make it truly unbroken. Yes, we can help maybe mend it a bit by loving others, but it can just be such a reminder that some things are out of our control. However, it was really delightful to talk to some of the people, or even just be by their side and see how the majority of them seemed so happy. I thought it was really enlightening how many people just had smiles on their faces, especially Todd, a man that sat at my table near the end of our time, who just had a smile on his face the whole time. 

In our visit to the Village this morning, I was awed by the employees' ability to glean meaning from the residents they assisted. What came across as jabber to me was obviously a request for a puzzle, what seemed to be a spasm was clearly a reach for a cup of coffee. Communication can be built upon significantly by time spent observing the sender, and much patience is required from the receiver. I struggled in knowing how much to say or do: Would I come across as ignorant or rude if I asked a resident a question they couldn't answer? Am I going to provoke a poor reaction if I touch them? However, it was delightful to make re-connections with residents that I knew from church or volunteer work, and it really was encouraging to witness the dedication each employee had to the residents.

The Gift of Communications

The first chapter of our communications textbook refers to communication as a gift. My learning target was for students to live out communications as a gift. So yesterday, the Communications I class experienced, through role playing, what it is like to lose the ability to communicate. One student lost the gift of speech and had to communicate that she wanted to watch a ball game on television. Another could only use her eyes to communicate. to ask that her left leg be moved. The class found it difficult and frustrating to try to figure out what these people needed. They also found it frustrating to try to communicate.

They were then assigned a pre-flect to prepare us for our block schedule class the following day. We were going to travel to Sheldon to visit The Village. My deep hope for the students was that they realized the gift of communication and also saw the blessings of technology that enables folks to communicate today. So in their pre-flect, they had to come up with a game plan for our visit. I asked them to pick a Knight's Armor that they could live out and also notice how impacting  and perhaps life changing it is to  know the story of the residents. 

The visit was great. One section of students worked with souls who were non-verbal. Another group went to an art room. The room I stayed in was a reading/ conversation room. The men in there were very willing to share their stories. And we were shown the many ways workers at the Village used to assist in communication. After that we went to the break room with the residents. On our way back to school, we reflected a bit on the bus. The students enjoyed talking to the residents. One student noted that for one man to say three words it took him about two minutes. He said, "It looked like it hurt him to say a word." One girl noticed that the art work helped the residents communicate. She said, "The art work was awesome." 

On Friday, we will write a reflection, talk about our visit more, write thank-you's to the residents and workers, and discuss the blessing of communication. The learning target was to see the gift. We did that and even more.