Matinale
September 14, 2009 (originally written on the 17/07/2009)
7h06, Offenburg. Sophia waves her father goodby and steps into the red train, an omnibus serving all stations between Offenburg and Basel. Sophia looks for a seat downstairs, on her own as usual, among a flow of youngsters on their way to school, workers commuting to destinations somewhere down the line, often all the way into nearby Switzerland.
7h42, Emmendingen station. Sophia alights onto the platform and walks to the already waiting bus.
'Most times the driver has already got the engine running, but sometimes we wait in front of a locked up bus. At best the driver will ignore me, never does he say good morning. They are just never nice to us, it's something about being a bus driver I guess.'
7H55 Integrative Waldorf Schule bus stop. A shoal of pupils rushes out of the bus to try an take part in the last minutes of play. Having carefully avoided being trampled by this swirl-wind Sophia walks to the left corner of the wall by the main steps where she invariably meets with her friends Chiara, Klara and Lara.
In just a few minutes they will start together their 6th year of school.
Sophia is one of four children in her class of 28 whose special needs are being met by an additional specialised teacher assisted by an FSJ. A student who has volunteered a year as social worker.
Sophia suffers from a rare gene defect on the 18th pair of Chromosome, also known as DeGrouchy Syndrome. She was diagnosed shortly after her birth and classified as mentally handicapped. For Alexandra and Jochen K., parenthood had taken a new turn, which at times seems to resume itself to a succession of fights and difficult choices. Sophia was meant never to be able to ride a bike let alone a horse or attend a normal school. Sophia learned to ride a bicycle on her own. It took her a few days of trials and falls and one she could ride. One of her best friend outside school is her horse Jette. 'I still have not galloped yet, but I will one day. I am scared it might be too fast." 12 years down the road, one could say from her gene defect that it makes Sophia different, somewhat slower than most of her normal classmates.
www.esistnormalverschiedenzusein.de
]]>