Kokobe

            Kokobe.  I can’t stand that word.  No.  I hate that word.  It is the Creole equivalent of retard.  I hear it on the streets when we take our children with special needs on walks in the neighborhood. 

Interns and Brilner taking a walk

Christine--child of God

  People stare. 
  Sometimes they follow us. 
  I hear them whisper, “Kokebe.”
  
 I say nothing to the people.  My language skills aren’t that strong.  I don’t know how to beat down the cultural stereotypes in just a few words during a shorter-than-brief encounter.

I do talk to our children.  I tell them they are strong and brave.  I tell them I love their personalities.  I tell them that they are beautiful.  I can say that in Creole.  I hope the gawkers overhear. 

Kokobe is a curse—someone did something wrong, and now the child is kokobe.  Best to put it far away from you and the family.

 Kokobe is catching—don’t get to close or you might catch it and be kokoke, too.

Kokobe is less than.

One time last summer, a young man walked along side me as I walked with one of our special-needs girls.  He asked what was wrong with her.  I said, “Nothing.”  I explained that when she was younger she had a kriz—a seizure—and that was why she had to re-learn how to walk.  Well, a kriz is right down there with kokobe.  I told him that she liked to walk, that she was shy, that she liked to play with dolls.  He looked at me as if I had four heads—how could kokobe have likes and interests and wants and personality?

Manda and Rosaline

I have spent the past 3-4 years getting to know these kids.  They have personalities.  They have senses of humor.  They have likes and dislikes.  They have friends. 

I know that Rosaline is shy.  She is modest.  She loves to draw.  She loves to have dolls around.

Nathalie has a wicked sense of humor. Careful when you walk around her because she loves to stick her leg out and watch you stumble.  She loves her school teachers.  She loves music. 

Wilcia is ready for that beach!

Wilcia is a princess.  She is perfectly content to let others wait on her.  She dances to music every time it comes on.  She is a people person—the more the merrier!  She and Junior laugh and joke for hours on end! 

Phonsley playing catch

Phonsley is good friends with Jonathon.  Phonsley loves to draw and play with cars.  He will throw a ball to you forever.

The kids here are not kokobe.

There is no kokebe.