We held a farewell party for Maria Lourdes, Maria Auxiliadora and Maris. Thinking that they could learn something at Ruach, they did a 45 hours’ internship with us as part of their 3rd year Psychology course at the Marin Luther King University.
Of course 45 hours is not very much, but in our activities centre we can easily accommodate some extra pairs of hands, so from the end of December they joined in with the afternoon rota to learn something from the way we work at the activities centre. For all three of them it was the first time that they had contact with people with an intellectual disability, and related to them .
We at Ruach are pleased that we were able to contribute to their professional training and that the interns made good use of this opportunity and were able to demonstrate their talents and improved skills in the way they related to our work shop participants.
At the farewell party the participants of the activities centre presented the interns with the drawings they had made and they sang a song. In line with the local customs, Ana Alicia, the chairperson of our Foundation, presented them with a certificate as a token of appreciation for the efforts they had made.
We trust that we have three more ‘ambassadors’ who will contribute to a more positive perception in society of people who live with an intellectual disability!