Day 3: “Enable the disabled, Translate disability into ability”
We began day 3 in the physical therapy gym with more orthotic fittings and treatment of children. We were greeted by one of the sweetest smiles and hugs from a boy, Divine, that we have been loving on the past few days. Later in the morning, we got the opportunity to give him a new pair of tennis shoes, and you’ve never seen a bigger smile. His dad was present throughout the morning and he was so grateful and supportive! One of the highlights of the day!
Kelly, Cara, and Tiffany got the opportunity to fit an older girl with a possible spinal cord injury. They worked hard to make sure the braces fit perfectly, and girl and her mother were so happy afterwards! They shook Cara’s hands and smiled so bright as they walked out of the gym.
Maggie and Katie spent the morning with 3 siblings in the physical therapy gym. The two sisters and brother (Faith, Paul, and Emahappi) loved playing with our donated playground ball, taking turns catching/rolling to us, and imitating words. They were so sweet and loved snuggling and hugging on Katie and Maggie.
Right before lunch, all 5 girls headed to the occupational therapy building. We walked in and there were five kids with parents present who all wanted shoes. Somehow, we had a matching pair of shoes/orthotics for each kid in that gym. We only had a few pairs of shoes left in our duffle bag, and it was a miracle that each shoe fit a child requesting a pair of shoes. We feel that this could be nothing less than God's hand working out such small details and we are completely amazed that we were able to have shoes and braces left for each of these kids!
We have quickly learned the term “Murakoze” which means thank you. Parents and children are constantly telling us “murakoze” after helping or giving them shoes.
The lead physical therapist, Betty, asked to do a presentation over speech therapy, occupational therapy and autism, and spinal cord injury. We presented today to the occupational therapists, physical therapists, doctors, nurses, and master of education. Everyone was grateful and asked great questions at the end. They were all so curious about each topic. After our presentations, a boy wandered up to us when we were on campus. We handed out a pair of shoes to Jean, the sweetest boy with cerebral palsy, who left us with sincere gratitude and walking much better thanks to brand new tennis shoes and socks.
We are LOVING our time here. It’s been filled with kindness, the biggest smiles, warmest hugs, sweetest personalities, and welcoming hearts. We are already sad about tomorrow being our last day here with these amazing people. Friday we will be going with Brother Kizito to Kigali to spend the day at the HVP sister center in the city before flying out Friday night.