TEAMWorks Guatemala - Day 4 - April 28, 2014

"This project was in the Lord's heart before He put it in mine."

A perfect quote from a parent at the school for Autism we visited today.  Charity, Paige and Kelly visited the School for Autism this morning and were amazed by the teachers, students and facility!  We were inspired by their creativity and resourcefulness with making homemade equipment from everyday items.  They were so gracious and we feel like our work there will be carried over after we leave.  We visited a new orphanage this afternoon with great needs and met with caregivers, therapists, and staff about several of their children.

Caroline, Allison, Sophie and Mike went back to a school this morning to visit with a couple parents from that school.  Mike was busy adjusting wheelchairs all morning while the rest of us were able to meet with some teachers and give ideas for group therapy activities for 2-5 year olds to implement in their classroom.  That afternoon we visited Mama Carmen's Orphanage, where we were able to love on a child we have visited every time we have been in Guatemala,  Caesar!  Mama Carmen commented he has been talking about our visit for weeks and she said that he was so happy, because this was his day!!!  We configured an adaption to his wheelchair to add a tray so that he can play with his friends and interact with his two "buds" who were attempting to help Mike break down his wheelchair for adjustments.  While Mike spent the afternoon fixing two chairs we were able to do some therapy techniques and strengthening activities on the mat for a couple hours.

We ask for prayers that the caregivers we visit tomorrow will be receptive and open to suggestions.

TEAMWorks Guatemala - Day 3 - April 27, 2014

Today we saw over 100 kids at a community clinic held at a local school before 1:00pm!  Complete chaos broke out early as more kids than expected showed up around 8:00am.  Initially, we started out with two PT/OT stations and two speech stations.  But due to the large number of kids waiting for us, OT's and PT's separated after an hour to try and reach six families at once!  God is good and He placed the kiddos in front of the right therapist today, even with our group separated.  

Some highlights from today.....

Caroline and Allison saw a boy with Autism brought by his grandmother, who was flapping and running around the gym.  They were able to place him on a physioball, reluctantly at first, to help him rock and bounce with more control, and by the third trial he was bouncing independently and demonstrating less self- stimming behaviors!  His grandmother was so grateful.  She asked for our picture and was tearing up!

God also provided perfectly for Charity when she took a piece off of one child's brace that wasn't necessary and was able to apply that piece to the very next child's braces!  Amazing, how he provides when a tiny piece of fabric could have been easily lost in two minutes but was required for the next child she saw!

Kelly was able to provide a little girl with a bright pink thumb splint. The little girl was thrilled to have a splint in her favorite color and left the station waving and blowing kisses.

Speech was able to give group lessons to reach more children. Paige was able to take a large group at once and educate multiple parents on eliciting communication through Milieu therapy.  Sophie was blessed with the opportunity today to help more than five children with severe to profound hearing loss!  Each child was eager to participate and their parents were actively willing to learn, making the experience truly remarkable.

Mike was able to provide families with three chairs and modified 4 others to increase positioning. God provided the perfect chair for a small girl with spina bifida who looked too small for any chairs!  Through Mike and Leo's wheelchair skills and an hour and a half of work, she had the perfect chair to roll out of the gym in!

Thank you for your prayers.  We felt them today amid all of these families!  We shall be visiting two new places tomorrow, one with an Autism Clinic and a new orphanage.  We will also try to see more families that we were not able to get to today as well as visit the first orphanage we worked at in Guatemala, Mama Carmen's!  

TEAMWorks Guatemala - Day 2 - April 26, 2014

"Teach me and I will forget

Tell me and I will remember

Involve me and I will learn"

- Benjamin Franklin

We started off our day at Universidad del Valle de Guatemala lecturing with a packed house!  Diana estimated more than 300 people, they were sitting in the aisles and standing by the door!  The TEAM covered everything from efficient swallow techniques, sensory processing, range of motion to wheelchair positioning!  Sophie was the champ of the day presenting her speech lecture in Spanish.

We realized half way through the lecture that we forgot all our lab handouts at Anita's house. We called Anita just in time before she left for a soccer game and she brought our handouts 10 minutes before labs started. God has perfect timing.

For the labs we separated into disciplines and demonstrated specific techniques.  The labs were well received.  We were adamant to have only 25 people per lab, but in Guatemalan spirit we had twice as many students as expected, with many sitting on the ground.  Speech and occupational therapy ran out of handouts.  PT was able to demonstrate strengthening on a specific kid, OT was able to demonstrate sensory activities and give treatment ideas for using everyday items available in Guatemala, and speech provided education on a communication system.

No trip would be complete without a Wal-Mart run, so in northwest Arkansas style we braved the Guatemala City Walmart.  We wrapped up our day with dinner cooked by Anita.  She made us a wonderful American meal with homemade tortillas from across the street.

We ask for prayers for all the families at the community clinic we will visit tomorrow and that we can touch every child and provide each with helpful information!

TEAMWorks Guatemala - Day 1 - April 25, 2014

We received great blessings today with all of our luggage fees getting waived at the airport, including a 103 pound tote that held Mike's tools. Thank you Delta Airlines!  We made it to our first flight with time to spare, however the second flight we barely made it before they closed the gates!  Thankfully, we arrived with all our luggage and equipment although, Charity tried to take another Guatemalan man's walker that was gait checked as well...whoops!  Upon arrival in Guatemala City we were greeted by old friends Leo, Diana and our driver Juan who rented us a huge bus for all our equipment!

Diana's mother made lunch with a homemade Guatemalan dish Pepian and homemade tortillas as well!  We are so thankful for friends around the world.  We spent the afternoon organizing 19,000 copies of paperwork for our lecture tomorrow and for the week here in Guatemala.  It was a long afternoon but filled with laughter in Diana's mothers beautiful home and time spent catching up with friends.  We found out at the end of the day that our lecture of 200 attendees will most likely be closer to 500 attendees and that our labs of 25 people will probably be closer to 75 people tomorrow.  Diana's dad summed up that news perfectly- "complete success!"

*Please continue to pray for our TEAM this week as they work educating and loving those they serve.

Guatemala – April 2013, Day 6

We spent the entire day at Anini today and really enjoyed getting to know a lot of the kids. There’s so much we could say about each kiddo, but we wanted to share a few of the highlights from the day.

Paige’s biggest moment was when the director of Anini agreed to start incorporating safer feeding methods using proper positioning and thicker liquids for the more involved kids with CP. This is a HUGE breakthrough!! Paige also shared a lot of information with Allen, including incorporating PECS with some of the non-verbal kids. It’s so encouraging to know that information was able to be passed on to someone who will be there consistently.

Guatemala – April 2013, Day 5

This morning we visited an orphanage we’ve never been to before. We were told there were lots of kiddos that need speech therapy, but as soon as we walked into the children’s school room our eyes were drawn to one particular boy. Little Alejandro is the son of one of the orphanage workers, and Paige and Julie were able to work quite a bit with him. It was so nice having his mom right there to give her important information for Alejandro.