I started the day with the regular morning sunrise walk, which included a tour of the local Genocide Memorial that displayed 480 names. That was followed by walking past morning mass. This describes Rwanda well. A dark past with new life in Christ.
We ventured to the satellite clinic we had been to a few days earlier. I specifically worked with the head PT and showed him how to modify braces to help control pronation within the brace. He caught on quickly, and was king of the trim lines. I ended up turning that all over to him because he did so much better than I did. In the afternoon, I had the joy of a few shoe deliveries and tennis ball give-aways. Most of the afternoon was spent doing wheelchair assessments. Several kids suffered from deformities that would have required custom molded seating in the US.
Kara showed developmental therapist how to do receptive and expressive language activities, as well as articulation drills. There were more kids with low tone and oral-motor exercises were shown to parents. The parents were very appreciative of these exercises and we saw some of the kids make more sound afterwards.
Allison and Cara had a productive sweet morning educating on some stretches and importance of prone work, or time on their stomach. We saw several sweet faces and loved on all of them. In the afternoon we were able to give away our transfer board to a girl who needed it for showering. We were also able to spend time with the local occupational therapist and work with several clients she had questions on, concerning attention, manual dexterity and vision skills. We were able to hand out tennis balls to several kids and in the blink of an eye we had a mob around us shouting "ball" and holding out their hands. Best gift we brought in our suitcases!
Today was a full busy day at Gatagara!! We stayed at the center and started off our day with PT. Eric was able to treat a variety of kids with lower tone, athetoid movements, and ataxic movements. Cara and Eric co-treated and were able to educate parents on head control and handling techniques. Cara was a huge help with PT as well today. Orthotic management and co-treating was happening across disciplines! Kara and Allison were able to co-treat some kids with low tone who needed trunk and neck strengthening for breath control, as well as oral-motor exercises for tongue movements and cheek strengthening. One mother was so appreciative she hugged Kara at the end and asked us if we could stay. Speech is a novel treatment in Rwanda, as they have never heard of it before. They were very interested, and Kara was able to educate one of the OT aides to start speech with some kiddos. Eric gave suggestions for the orthopedic center on wheelchairs with 22 kids, and he still has 15 more tomorrow. Cara and Allison helped the OT problem solve on how to adapt a bathroom for a girl who was showering on the floor. Cara is making plans to build a shower chair for her. Please continue praying that we continue to build strong relationships with the therapists here and for lots of work to be done in a short amount of time.
It's Been a Beautiful Day!
TEAMworks Rwanda Has Arrived!!!