Duke

Another entry from my journal...

This photograph is of my friend Duke. I met Duke the second time we went to Kewtown Primary School. Duke is about ten years old and lives with his mother and grandparents. His father abandoned his mother and him when he was only a couple months old, leaving him in the hands of his ailing grandparents and mother who was addicted to Tuk.

We went to Kewtown to work with a special program/support system, ran by the school, for young children whose parents suffer from addiction. We were warned that some of the students might be excessively shy or slightly anxious around us because they are mistreated and abused at home. Duke was anything by shy. He was not only the first one in the room, but he was also the loudest in the room. As all of the other Kewtown students nervously stumbled into the room, holding onto each other and looking at their feet, Duke walked around the room, shook all of the Canadians? hands and enthusiastically introduced himself.

Before going to Kewtown, I had written a page about myself and pasted it into a scrapbook I intended to give to Duke. Although Duke could barely read, together we managed to get through what I had written about myself. I could tell Duke was having a hard time reading and understanding what I had written, but he refused to stop until he finished reading the page and understood what I wrote.

Duke then told me all about himself. He told me his favorite thing to do was play soccer, his favorite food was spaghetti and he really wanted to learn how to surf. After Duke told me these things I helped him write his own ?About Me? page in the scrapbook. He worked slower than all of the other kids and had a harder time communicating his thoughts; but when all of the other students had finished writing in their scrapbooks he continued writing in his with a large smile.

I then taught Duke how to use my camera. Duke and I were going to take pictures then glue them into his scrapbook. Duke and I took pictures of him and his friends, him alone, him playing basketball, flowers, my friends, me, dogs, trees and many other things. Because our group did not have very much photographic paper, every Kewtown student was told they would get a picture of their class, of them and their Canadian friend and their two favorite pictures they took.

Duke had chosen to have us print a picture of him playing basketball and a picture of him holding a camera. While waiting in line to have our pictures printed, Duke suddenly started jumping up and down and pulling on my arm. When I turned around he was pointing at bulleting board full of pictures. He eagerly pointed to one specific picture and told me that he wanted that one. I had no idea why he wanted this picture. When I took a closer look I saw it was a blurry photograph of four adults and only one of them was looking at the camera. Duke told me the man looking at the camera was his Principal and the other women were his teachers. He wanted this picture so he could show his mother what his teachers and Principal looked like. I was emotionally moved when I heard this.

I tried to dissuade Duke from choosing that picture and to print something more fun, like one of the pictures of him playing basketball that he was so excited about, but he was adamant about showing his mother the picture from the bulletin board. I managed to speak with the group leader and have them print all three pictures he wanted; two for his scrapbook and one to show his mother.

As I was saying goodbye to Duke he abruptly interrupted me and asked, ?Are you rich?!? I said I?m not and he replied, ?Oh, nobody?s rich are they? We?re happy though.? Luckily he did not give me a chance to respond, for if he did I would not have known what to say. He quickly asked, ?When you come back will you bring me a present?? I did not have the heart to tell him I probably would not see him again so I said, ?What would you like?? He enthusiastically responded by saying, ?Pencils! Can you bring pencils? And books! That way I can learn.? I told him that if I ever came back I promise I would bring him lots of school supplies and books. He then hugged me and said goodbye. As I walked towards the van I turned around and saw him standing by the door smiling at us. I've never had a more rewarding feeling in my life.

Spending time with Duke was one of the greatest experiences I?ve ever had. I was overwhelmed how somebody so young and disadvantaged can be so up beat and hopeful. He was eager to succeed and determined not to allow life?s challenges get him down. He basically has been on his own since he was a baby and is constantly abused and victimized by his mother. Duke has a million reasons why he could be depressed and scared of life, but he does not allow them to overcome him. He pushes on and deals with his issues. I learned a lot from Duke and I hope I can be more like him.