Frinton's Got Talent

Linda Edgell's Story

How did God first involve me?
It all started one evening last July, when Sylvia asked me the question “Do you know anything about Autism?” And my reply...”Yes a little, but I have a friend who knows a LOT!”

When I asked my friend Maggie to help us, before I could barely finish my request, she opened her diary and asked “When are we going then?”

When Maggie and I met all those years ago, chatting at the school gate whilst we waited for children, God knew then how he would put this one together! Over the years, she has become highly skilled and experienced in working with children and young people with Autistic Spectrum Disorder.

My background is in Special Educational Needs, working in schools, and more recently for the county specialist teacher team.

So a new ministry began for us both, unplanned by us (but ordained by God), and so unexpected!


The First Visit (Oct 07)

This was really a fact-finding task for us, but a very full week.

We spent most of our time at the Silvia Day Centre with some very special children who quickly found their way into our hearts. Most of them have a formal diagnosis of Autism – of varying degrees. Some of the children are very vocal and demanding, and others prefer to be left alone to ‘do their own thing’.

We began by...observing the children, meeting and sharing information with their parents.

We had a ‘mums night out’ evening – Maggie shared her expertise in Autism with both parents and local professionals. (We were delighted to have local educational psychologists, speech therapists and teachers with us that night).

There was an opportunity too for us to visit the local Santa Maria orphanage – a useful contact to make – more later!

We discovered very early on that, in Romania, disability is viewed from a medical perspective and that there is little support or practical information given to families or teachers to guide them through the process of caring for their special children.

As is often the case, we went with one agenda...and God had another. We expected to focus on the educational needs in the Day Centre, but clearly the more urgent need was to meet with (sometimes distraught) parents to listen and suggest news ways to manage their children. Almost all said they had never had an opportunity like this before.

Many of these parents (sometimes single mothers) have unswerving dedication to their children and a real thirst for knowledge and support.
The Second Visit (Feb 08)

How wonderful it was to plan for this visit with the anticipation of meeting up with new friends. Though our visit was only for five days, the schedule was packed:

For the Day Centre, our focus was to spend a little time with the staff, sharing thoughts and ideas about their work with the children. These ladies have so much love for the families they work with, offering a ‘safe’ place for parents and unconditional love and total acceptance to the children. We are always conscious that we are so blessed to live in a country where there is now so much more provision for families coping with disability. How we take it all for granted. It is therefore extremely difficult to appreciate just how new and ground-breaking our ideas about education must seem to Romanian folk!

A computer, which had arrived from the UK sometime earlier needed to be ‘brought to life’! We managed to get it up and running and installed some simple software which could be accessed by all the children. There was much excitement (and some fisticuffs!) as they scrambled to have turns. We also hope the staff will find the PC useful for making resources for the children.

Maggie managed to fit in endless ‘home’ visits and consultations with parents at the centre – not quite sure how she did it! These were times where advice was given, needs were discussed, but also where tears were shed – for the ‘loss’ of the child that might have been.

The Santa Maria (orphanage) hosted a training session led by Maggie for teachers/parents of children with Autistic Spectrum Disorder. Once again, our agenda was replaced with another. Instead of teaching a handful of staff from the orphanage for an hour or so, we received around 60 folk (spread over two sessions) who came from other schools in the area! It seems we will need to plan for a whole day next time.

Remember Cristina? (The little girl with Down Syndrome who featured in the very moving DVD). We had the privilege of spending some time at her school – she is now in her local village school. Staff there were loving, caring and longing to know more about Down Syndrome and how to help Cristina. We have been asked to return next time to work with them on this. Another door has opened.

We enjoyed another, special celebration meal with the mums at the day centre. With a Valentine’s Day theme, there was talk of God’s love for them and a chance to acknowledge the amazing job they do as parents of special children.

So we experienced another challenging week, with God sometimes leading to unexpected places and situations. I feel wholly inadequate when I think of the task so far, and what lies ahead! But we have an extraordinary God who uses ordinary people, like us.

Please pray for us!

Praise

• For the loving and caring staff at the Day Centre

• We have recently forged links with Shorefields Special School, who have been so helpful and supportive – pray that God will use and develop this in the future

• We have been blessed with safe travel so far, even in ‘big’ snow!

Prayer

• That we will use the opportunities God has given us effectively and wisely

• For staff working in state schools with ‘special’ children – so many of them do not feel equipped

• That God will continue to change attitudes in Romania regarding disability

May 2008 Visit

Only a short visit but a very busy one!! The lorry had arrived a few days before us so all the parcels had to be sorted. The six second hand bikes purchased for the children in the day centre caused much excitement and quite a few tears when it was time to go home but the children were happy to discover the bikes were still there the next day.



Mum’s enjoyed sharing some lovely clothes sent by a member of Frinton Free Church and we had another lovely Women’s meeting on the Friday afternoon with ladies from the Baptist, Pentecostal and Brethen churches all joining together to praise and pray. Again, it was a privilege to share our testimonies and to bring greetings and gifts from the Women’s Fellowship at the Free.

The highlight of the week had to be our first ‘coffee morning’ for the elderly clients that we care for through HST. We had planned to hold the meeting in a small village church but discovered it was being used by someone else. What could we do? We so wanted this first meeting! But God works in mysterious ways and very quickly (unusual for our Romanian friends) a meeting was arranged to take place in Piatra Neamt church. The church currently uses the basement whilst the rest of the building is still under construction.

About 30 people came, some from the villages, some from the town and others from the church. The mini bus worked hard that morning. What a wonderful time of fellowship they had. Such a new idea for them to join together just to have coffee and chat. We asked them what they would like from future meetings and had some interesting suggestions. We have arranged to have monthly meetings and at the next one they will stay for lunch.



We understand from Pastor Marin the main sanctuary of the church will be in use from about October this year thereby leaving the basement free so we pray that it will be possible for us to develop this area into a day care centre for the elderly.

There are two more trips planned this year - a youth mission in August and a Men’s outreach visit in October and we may even go at Christmas to give our elderly folk a Christmas lunch!

Thank you for your prayers and support.