I was worried about Ayub participating in his school’s Drama Sprint because of his speech problems and so forth. But I was wrong. He was AMAZING.

The day of the play arrives

The kids were selling snacks and drinks. When I arrived, I was greeted by Ayub’s super enthusiastic smile and an invitation to spend as much money as possible at his booth.

There were A LOT of things to eat. Sulaiman wanted everything, so we pretty much bought everything. It was dinner time.

Ayub had been put in charge of merchandise for his play, and decided to make bookmarks.

So, funny story. He made individual bookmarks for each character in his play ‘The Rusty Horse.’ There were 6 characters: Rusty Horse, Flutterby, Dad, Brad, Real Horse, and… Random Boy.

Mr Ninja and I were like… uh ok. Whatever you say. It’s your play. So we helped him with his bookmarks.

Then on the day of the play, as we sat to watch it…

Mr Ninja: Bb.

Me: Mmm.

Mr Ninja: That’s “Random Boy”

Me: Omg.

Mr Ninja: He has a name.

Me: LMAO.

Mr Ninja: Ayub made merch for a “Random Boy” character but he’s a full character!

We giggled a lot in the dark. Omg. Poor kid. His character got demoted to Random Boy on the official merch because Ayub couldn’t remember his name. And now I don’t remember his character’s name either. Nobody bought the Random Boy bookmarks hahaha.

 

Watching Ayub’s play –  ‘The Tale of the Rusty Horse’

The play was written and directed by Ayub’s teammate. Here’s a brief synopsis:

Once upon a time there was a rocking horse and it was the most popular toy in the school. All the kids loved the rocking horse. As time went by, the rocking horse became old and rusty, so the children no longer wanted to ride it.

The rusty horse was sad. A magical fairy called Flutterby showed up and said she would grant him a wish. So he wished to be a real horse.

The rusty horse became a real horse and he was happy because kids wanted to ride him again. But then, a new horse came to the farm. And this horse was younger, faster, and stronger than him. So once again, all the kids didn’t want to play with the rusty horse.

This synopsis is getting less and less brief. Anyway, it was a happy ending. The rusty horse decided to remain a rusty horse and he became a lifelong companion to a little boy.

The play was a huge success

From acting to props, directing to lighting, the kids did it all on their own. And it was very cute. If you’re in the mood to watch the play, here it is:

It’s obviously much better watched live 😉

At the end of the performances, the audience were given cards to vote for the ‘Best Actor’ and ‘Best Supporting Actor.’

Mr Ninja and I made our vote and continued eating and enjoying ourselves.

The strangest thing happened

Ayub won ‘Best Supporting Actor’. After all my fears and worries and anxiety. People in the audience thought he was one of the best actors of the night. I couldn’t believe it.

When they were announcing the winners, Mr Ninja and I were just chilling and clapping and happy. Then they said “AYUB!” and everyone cheered but we were like omfgwhatjusthappened?! We didn’t have our cameras ready or nothing. We’re terrible parents lol. Sorry Ayub. You were the best. I did vote for you as best actor. Haha.

Look how happy he is:

He was so thrilled. I’m sorry for (yet again) underestimating how amazing you are, Ayub.

The word ‘disability’ does such a disservice to people like Ayub. ‘Differently-abled’ is a much better description. Although, do we really need to describe them at all? I dunno. I always wrestle with the term disability and all the negative connotations, misinformation, and social alienation that comes with it.

But that discussion is for another day. Hah.

I love you, my Ayub.

I love you too, my silly Aisha. (She cried throughout the middle school performance because she wanted a lollipop and I was furious because the middle schoolers were performing a murder-mystery and we were thisclose to learning who the killer was and I never got to watch it Aishaaaaaaa!!!!)

At the end of the night, people were getting autographs from the kids. It was all just too adorable.

Here’s to defying expectations, to being brave, to always doing your best, to be like Ayub

Just want to add, none of this would have been possible without the hard work and dedication of the guides at ActonKL (miss you all so much!) and Ms Chitrah from SoulArist.