Abilitations in Kenya

Crutches too long? As the Kenyans say " No problem"...

As we were all ready to wrap things up and patted ourselves on the back, in walks a mother holding  her 4 day old infant. If you have been reading my blog you can maybe see a theme here. What do we all need to be on the same side? What do we all need to be part of a larger team? Not on our high horses? If you are in the States, and I know this from personal and professonial expereince, getting a team together to talk from different speciaities is alsmost impossible. Here at Tenweck this has been one of my favorite things. So, what does it take to put us all in the same "vehicle" ? Apparently a 4 day old missing missing both of her radial bones. The room was filled with 5 orthopedist, four therapists, a neurosurgeon, and a peds team. None of us knew what to do at first, none of us spoke the language, but none of us wanted to leave. In the end we sat in this room with the 4 day old, Abigael, with this family for several hours. So, thank you Abigael for bringing us all toge

March is World Cerebral Palsy Month. I see Abilitations, back in NC, is celebrating World CP Month by wearing green and promoting awareness. We  decided the kids should join the party in Kenya and wear an official green tshirt from Abilitations to celebrate..Emphasis on " World" never meant more. One more day left here and time has stood still for me at times, yet quickly moved. Solomon is the primary P.T. here who has truly opened up his heart and mind to these amazing children. And if it wasn't for Solomon meeting Penny Hage there would be no Faith Fund, no special needs clinic. As someone who loves these children and this population I am forever thankful to both of them for including me in this experience. It takes a lot of money, a lot of time, and a great deal of energy for Penny and Bill Hage to raise money for this clinic. The fund pays for clinic visits, wheelchairs, standers, supplies,  diapers, and educaitonal materials. Solomon was telling us this m

As most of you know the ACC tournament starts today. We are 8 hours ahead of home so we will miss a lot of it. However, Betsy had a strong rooting section today for the Demon Deacons. "Deacon Diana" as she has been so renamed, came to clinic dressed in Demon Deacon colors. She obviously knew they were playing today. We also sent Diana home with this positioning seat. When we asked mom how she would get the seat home she said (as all Kenyans say) " No problem". She then put Diana on her back, wrapped her in a sarong, then grabbed the large seating chair. Lots of boda bodas here, which are motorcycles. Mom says to us " I will put it on boda boda". So off she went with Diana on her back and the positioning seat tied to the boda boda. Can you say determined mommy? This lovely little girl, Dorkas, has become a favorite of mine (  I might say that about all of them). Dorkas is no different then my kiddos back home: Will work for bubbles or ball.

Monday is neuro clinic today which means we saw children with spina bifida ranging from 2 weeks old to 4 months old. One of the nice things about working in this clinic is that we are right beside either the neurosurgeon or the orthopedic surgeon. We all talk as a team and they explain what procedures they are going to do. More importantly they learn what we actually do as therapists. Back home I feel some compartmentalized from the doctors and vice versa. They have learned from us as much as we have learned from them. Recycling is important in all forms. We have been cleaning the clinic, getting shelves built, organizing the materials. In the midst of this we found a post card from a teenager from TN who sent 50 pairs of orthotics, all of which she had worn as a child due to herself having cerebral palsy. Today, the cutest thing I have ever seen came into spina bifida clinic, Ruse, to see the neurosurgeon. This family traveled from Uganda which if you refer back to your maps you w

Today we hit the ground running as Fridays are special needs clinic day. I asked in advanced what that means and what to expect. I was told mothers travel for up to 6 hours and line up to to see the Physiotherapist. On most Fridays only one PT, Solomon, sees up to 30 kids in 3 hours which is maddening. Today we had one OT, one PT, one peds PT,one aide, and Solomon on stand by. At 9 am we thought, this isn't so bad and then we saw them. Mothers walking up to the clinic in African style which is to say these mothers carry their special needs children on their backs in long wraps tied tight to hold the child in. I am talking teenagers with cerebral palsy, on their mother's backs, for hours upon hours. Wow, wow, wow. It was like nothing I have ever seen before. These mothers are dedicated with a triple !!!! So, we spent time listening to them, talking to them, and doing what we can to help. Again, thank you to the vendors who sent supplies. The Faith Fund that supports this clin