After leaving XNA at 6:40AM on Saturday, we arrived in Dallas to catch the LONG flight to Shanghai. There were no hiccups and Dr Lin has been very kind, gracious, and helpful during our travel. We had an 8 hour layover in Shanghai so Dr. Lin took us for a nice meal. We left the airport and went to the Shanghai financial district. We had fish, chicken, pork, vegetables, bubble tea and everyone's favorite, dumplings! We made it back to the aiport in plenty of time to catch the next flight to Changsha. We were greeted at the Changsha airport by two very nice people from Dr. Lin's clinic. We will get some rest and head to the clinic at 7:40AM tomorrow. We are all ready to get started!
Continued prayers for widsom and energy as we our work are appreciated.
Today we had a great day building relationships with the Gatagara staff! We started off the day heading out on a "12 mile trip" to the festival of nuns. Two hours later we arrived to African drummers outside the church. After a four hour mass where we watched the new nuns get inducted into the church, we ate a traditional Rwandan lunch with Fanta drinks. We watched Intore dancers perform traditional Rwandan ceremony dances. They managed to pull us all out on the dance floor, even Mike! Later we were invited into the convent to eat cake and lady finger bananas with the nuns. It is customary in Rwandan to be invited into the home to eat and talk after an event instead of leaving right away. Before ending our time at the convent we shared one of our traditions with them. Calling the hogs! On our way back we were able to tour the secondary school of Gatagara and ate BBQ goat, goat cheese and sausage for dinner. We headed home with Mike gripping the car handle tightly and calling our local pedestrians alongside the edge of the road. "Left, Right!"
Today we were able to work as a team to partner with the local physical and occupational therapist. Cara and Allison worked along side the local OT with listening to her current treatment plan and providing additional treatment ideas. Allison was able to work with a primary school aged kid who demonstrated improvement in handwriting with proximal support in his chair and additional treatment ideas to address his tone.
Macey had a busy morning fitting new AFO's and shoes, as well as wheelchairs and walkers for improved functional mobility. Multiple families arrived and we had a line out the door. The families were so appreciative for recommendations and helpful equipment. Mike fitted two kids with wheelchairs. One child received a self propelling wheel chair who previously had no mobility. Mike also identified and fit a young girl who instantly able to be independent with propelling the wheelchair. She had previously been carried by mom!
In the afternoon, we were able to demonstrate how PT and OT can work together with a holistic approach to address multiple areas of concern. As therapists we were fortunate to share our TEAM collaboration experiences with the Rwandan therapists. Cara was able to educate a family and therapist on the use of Benik splint. Throughout the day we all channeled our inner speech therapist with education on feeding, swallowing, thickening liquids, as well as giving away a "P/Q" oral motor tool and a pacifier!
We are off to dinner! Some of our hosts were able to meet the Rwandan president who was in our district today. We are eager to hear the details.
"Mwaramutse Inshuti" 'Good morning friends' from Rwanda!! We arrived with all our luggage and equipment with no problems. Thank you for all your prayers. We started off this morning with meeting the staff at Gatagara and a quick tour of the clinic. We were inspired by their ability to improvise and provide a array of opportunities for the children they teach and treat here. We were able to tour their orthotic and prothesis facility, vocational facility which included a tailoring and beauty education, physical therapy and occupational therapy facility, pharmacy center, clinical psychology and an inclusive school system.
After mid-morning tea and coffee, we traveled to a secondary clinic 20 minutes away which works with 81 children who display more cognitive disabilities. We were greeted by a welcome song and dance by a sweet local pop star, we have a video to come later! We also witnessed a boy with severe tone in his upper extremities using his toes to put together a small knob inset puzzle independently! Macey and Cara measured several children for orthotics with hopes to provide improved foot positioning and weight bearing in standing. Allison and Cara were able to measure someone for a benik splint at this location as well.
We finished up our day with Mike adapting a wheelchair for a young woman here at the school. Macey, Cara and Allison were able to provide some education and distribute some supplies to the OT and PT departments. As we write this blog Mike is still working on building a new chair. We have felt very welcomed and are excited to continue to building relationships here in the "Land of a Thousand Hills"!!
Prayer requests:
Relationship Building
Energy and Vision
The ability to serve the needs