Outreach the Community; First Step Together ...

Visiting FISTA on PhotoPeach


“We care about you!”, “Your smile is more expensive than all the treasures of the world.”, “We share the same dreams.”, “We are all equal!”, “We love and care about you!”, “The world hasn’t forgotten you”…
These are some quotes my students wrote for children with special needs.
Teacher:
On Monday, 17 December 2012, at 8:30 am, for the purpose of this year's project; Community Service, my students and I went to FISTA (First Step Together Association). (FISTA is a non-profit organization for individuals with special needs.) We participated in their classes and shared things together, like songs, crafts, emotions, drawings, cards, and letters … We spent our day with them and tried to see the world from their own eyeglasses.
My students understood what individuals with special needs mean, and they discovered that this community is also a part of our community and that we complete one another.
Here are some thoughts, reviews, and description of our visit to FISTA, written by my students.
Students:
-Jamal Yamout, “When we arrived to FISTA, the teachers welcomed us and they divided us into groups. My friends and I joined FISTA’s SE4 class and made new friends. We drew, sang, read stories, and played together. We had a lot of fun!”
-Hiba Soubra, “Our visit to FISTA was an amazing trip. I felt very glad to meet and have new friends.”
-Nivine Omran, “When I visited FISTA, I thought I was going to be afraid of the students, because they were different than us, but when I met them and became their friends I changed my view and opinion about them, because they were children like us; they wanted to play, dream, have fun, and enjoy life. After my trip to FISTA I realized that FISTA’s students were special and they shared the same dreams like ours.”
-Lama Akl, “When I visited FISTA, I saw that children with special needs were very smart and they were able to do things that we couldn’t do, like handmade necklaces, candles, soaps, cards … They did things I couldn’t do as a child.”
-Ghida Itani, “When we went to FISTA, at first I was scared, but then when I met the children with special needs, I was never afraid again, on the contrary I was ashamed that I had bad thoughts about them.”
-Hala Shatila, “I will never forget our trip to FISTA, and I will keep in touch with my new friends at FISTA.”
-Reina Agha, “I will never forget this experience in my entire life. I learned that no matter what is difference between us and FISTA students, we are all friends.”
-Riwa Bleik, “I have to thank my English teacher for giving us the opportunity to visit a school like FISTA that care about children and adults with special needs.”
At the end of our visit to FISTA, FISTA’s principal told us a very wise quote, “The future depends on what we do in the present". And I agreed, since NOW my students know how to behave and help individuals with special needs; most importantly they know how to change the world’s view about individuals with special needs.

KSPS 5th graders and
their English Teacher
Ms. Gassia Topoushian