Millicent almost didn’t continue in school. When she started pre-school at Petals, she didn’t talk or draw or interact with any of the other students. Her mother, a single mom with three other children, had been told Millicent needed a special school, but that was out of reach financially. Instead, she enrolled her at Petals, where an older sibling attended. After a year or two at Petals with little progress, Millicent’s mom felt it wasn’t worth having her go to school and decided to withdraw her. But Petals convinced her to be patient, and the teachers continued to work with Millicent, loving and encouraging and playing with her. In 2nd grade, Millicent began to scribble and form letters on the paper. In 3rd grade, her teacher worked with her during breaks and had her play with younger children. And Millicent began to talk! In 4th grade, she was proud to be given a new uniform (which her mom couldn’t afford) and she did very well on tests. She can now communicate in her local language, knows some Swahili and English, plays with her peers, and is on to 5th grade. Imagine how those teachers must feel to hearing Millicent say, “Good morning, teacher!” with the rest of the students. That's the power of Love!