The little girl on my right didn't let go of me during the entire visit at this site. When we drove away, she looked so sad....I hated to think what her living circumstances were like!
Wednesday, July 30, 2014
The van
This is a picture of us in the van we rode everywhere. The shocks were bad, and I was hitting my head and knees frequently!
Wednesday, July 23, 2014
Thank you, thank you, thank you!
This post is a huge THANK YOU to all of you who have contributed to my trip! Because of all of you, I have been able to do the following in those communities:
1.) See about 40-50 disabled Zambian children and provide recommendations to their parents about what their disability is and how to work with it.
2.) Provide an inservice to the teachers at the University special ed school on differentiating instruction to both higher and lower learners in each classroom.
3.). Provide individualized instruction to teachers at the community schools for the disabled so that they provided instruction at the child's level and did not perpetuate learned helplessness.
4.) Saw two families on an individual basis who were very concerned for their child's health and learning and were unable to find speech therapy anywhere in the country.
5.). Worked with graduate students and trained them in the evaluation process.
6.). Participated in screening events in impoverished communities to assist parents in understanding their child's disability and reccommending an initial plan of treatment.
Gospel singing
So my old camera just does not do this justice. The singing was moving, and the harmony was beautiful!
Picture of me with more kids
I must have hugged hundreds of kids on this trip! They all needed so much attention!
Zambian construction
I was interested in how buildings were constructed. Some of it seemed to be slightly off square. In this case at the hotel, they went to the effort to make granite stairs, but each stair was a different height. Not good for a clumsy person like myself!
Pod hotel between red eyes
I rented a pod hotel at Heathrow between red eyes to get a little sleep and take a hot shower. It was kind of fun--was kind of like a train compartment.
Summary of the (somewhat too explicit for children) play about disability
Mother: (comes in carrying an adult on her back in a sling) "I can't do this anymore. We have to do something!"
Father: "This is all your family's fault. If they weren't bewitched, this child would be normal. Look at him. He can't walk, he can't talk."
Child: (drools water out of his mouth)
Mother: "This is not my family's fault. This is your fault because you are sleeping around with too many women!" (they begin arguing)
Father: (takes a punch at his wife, who ducks. Crowd roars with laughter) "Well, if it is not your family's fault, it is the neighbors. They have bewitched the child."
Community Elder: (appears on the scene and explains what disability is in very simple terms)
Father: (to wife) " I am sorry I was blaming your family. I owe them a chicken."
Community Elder: (calls all families with disabled children to the tent)
Father: "This is all your family's fault. If they weren't bewitched, this child would be normal. Look at him. He can't walk, he can't talk."
Child: (drools water out of his mouth)
Mother: "This is not my family's fault. This is your fault because you are sleeping around with too many women!" (they begin arguing)
Father: (takes a punch at his wife, who ducks. Crowd roars with laughter) "Well, if it is not your family's fault, it is the neighbors. They have bewitched the child."
Community Elder: (appears on the scene and explains what disability is in very simple terms)
Father: (to wife) " I am sorry I was blaming your family. I owe them a chicken."
Community Elder: (calls all families with disabled children to the tent)
Saturday afternoon community visit video
I'm finally able to post a video from the community visit. Here are african dancers/drummers providing entertainment and encouraging people to come out and see us. You can see the tent in the background--that is where we saw kids. The kids were so curious about what we were doing that the community mothers had to keep pushing them out from under the tent.
Malnutrition
So, we learned about malnutrition by eating this traditional african meal. The main staple is something called nshima, which is made of corn meal and is like very thick instant potatoes. You eat it with your fingers, by taking a small piece, dipping it in "relish" (cooked vegetables) and adding hot sauce. It"s actually pretty good, but these folks are missing protein and healthy fats. Also on my plate this time are the caterpillars and cooked tiny fish. I heard that most eat one meal a day. The saddest part is that most of the kids look 2-4 years younger than they would look in the states. :(
Night out with Grad Students
Circle dancing with Church Elders
I haven't been able to post this video because the wifi in Lusaka was so slow. This is a dance where a small group at a time is encouraged to come to the center and shake their hips a little! We even pulled out the disabled kids as you see.
The older woman in traditional dress with the blue apron is a church elder and was my interpreter. When I wanted to talk to a mother about encouraging language in her child, this woman just took the information and provided extra suggestions on her own, which were brilliant and on point. I told her she was a natural speech therapist!
Tuesday, July 22, 2014
2:30 AM over Tunisia
At 2:30 AM over Tunisia at 41000 feet it is -72 Fahrenheit. The stars are so brilliant and easily visible that it looks like a blanket of little points of light. Even saw a meteor!
New friend in the airplane
This child had to sit separately from her family on the flight to Johannesburg. I helped her with her meal and drinks, so we became best friends! She fell asleep on my lap and I grabbed this picture.
Dinner with cranio-facial surgeon
We invited the cranio-facial surgeon who referred his cleft palate patient to me to dinner. He said that he is practicing surgery the way it was done 20 years ago out of necessity. I asked about hygiene and he said they do the best they can. He has had doctors volunteer their time, and when they arrive, they decide they cannot work under these conditions and leave.
I mentioned to him that I had seen this locked wooden drug cabinet in the nursing station. He said "oh yes, we do that so no one can get to the morphine and Demerol ". (Uh, huh, except all the staff)
Then I told him about our Pyxis machines (standard equipment for years) which are a computerized drug cabinet which records names of patient and nurse who withdraws the drug and when. When it's administered to the patient, the patient's bar code is scanned. He had no idea that was being done. He's been working in Africa for 22 years.
Monday, July 21, 2014
Leaving Monday AM
We're are leaving for the airport now and won't be home until Tuesday evening. I have a lot more pictures and videos and will begin to publish late Tuesday or Wednesday.
We're having respiratory issues due to all the dust and dirt flying in the air! We're told that it will calm down in a couple days.
Sunday, July 20, 2014
Zambian church
Sunday morning we attended church with the group that has helped us organize our sessions in the community. I have never heard such beautiful music! There was a little girl running through the aisles (see below) and she let me hold her several times (ie Carolyn Stine heaven).
The pastor talked about how they themselves did not realize how much disability was in the communities and how thankful they were for our work. The pastor had taught us a song in Bemba and they asked us to sing in front of the church! A little nerve wracking, but the congregation loved it anyway.
Also shown trees in the parking lot and Sunday school.
Videos forthcoming!
Saturday, July 19, 2014
Eating bugs
Had a fascinatating conversation with a grad student last night about eating insects. I told her that I has eaten a caterpillar, and she asked if it was one of the brown ones or the black thorny ones. I said "what???" She said "oh you would have known if they were the black thorny ones, because they poke you on the way down your throat!" Ew!!!
Then she went on about the culinary delicacies related to grasshoppers and flying termites, which apparently, are especially delicious in December.
Language brain--updated
Okay so my language brain has been working overtime. The vowels in Nyanja sound just like Spanish, and I keep hearing Spanish words. I heard the word abuela (grandmother), which means "she came" in Nyanja. Then I heard "zapato", which, are you ready, means "shoe" in both Spanish and Nyanja. Ooh, research project for Carolyn!!!
Also, they use English words for numbers and colors in Nyanja. Why? I have to find out!
Update: what is the Njanja word for "good"? "Buino". Verrry interesting.
Circle dance for kids
We have a call and repeat circle dance that we do at the special ed schools. We make funny movements and have the kids repeat. Here's MY silly performance!
Saturday PM--wildest trip so far
So after the marble tile floor house, we went to an extremely poor community to hold a short play about disability, and see new kids.
It was a rabbit warren of cement block walls, dirty dusty streets and block houses that were about 15x15 with metal roofs and fabric doors. When we showed up in the center of town, all the children ran up to see us and touch us. We sat in a large circle to watch the play and I must have had ten children hanging off of me! It was so much fun! They thought my skin and blue veins were funny and kept touching my hands.
At one point all the drunk teenage/20 year old boys who had been playing soccer came up behind us at the circle and started to get a little pushy and rowdy. It was a little nerve wracking, but the community elders were able to shut them up.
After the little play, the theater group kept calling us doctors, and had trouble explaining that we were speech therapists. When we asked people to come to our tent to be seen, we had quite a motley crew of speech disorders and cerebral palsy as well as a kid who got hit by a car, a lady with sciatica, and a kid with a really deep 3 inch wound on his leg.
Amazingly enough, one of the community's women invited us into her home. It was about 15x15 and had a TV and a small fridge. She was very proud of it!
It was quite an experience. One of younger therapists cried the whole time because of the poverty. As we left, kids ran next to the van, or hung onto the van in the back. We thought they were going to get hurt!
Saturday AM in a wealthy home
So, this morning I went to the home of a wealthy family to do a private assessment of their autistic child. They lived in a 3 bedroom home with marble floors, flat screen TV's and multiple servants.
These people were professional, but have no access to speech therapy and their seven year old is non verbal and difficult to manage. They had no idea what to do. I was able to work with them for about 2 hours to give them ideas about how to communicate with him.
They were very gracious people. They had heard Americans were not very nice, and was surprised that I was friendly with them!
Traffic
Most people who work here have a car and 2-3 cell phones. Traffic is terrible and can take 2 hours to drive from one end of town to the other.
Floors
OK so the people here are obsessed with their floors. They use these short little brooms with no handle, and then actually polish the floors on their hands and knees. The students at the special ed school do this too so they can have a job. I also used these brooms to clean our work area, an it really hurts your back!
Making an arm splint
Okay, so here the OT and I tried to make a splint out of water bottles, tongue depressors, sock material, and duck tape for a girl with CP. It worked pretty well, but was not aesthetically pleasing to our student. :(
Thursday, July 17, 2014
Hearing and speech center
For some reason, the only children at the university's hearing and speech center are deaf kids. All the autism and articulation disorders are in the special Ed school....?
Community day
After we did our speech therapy screenings in the community, we gave out bread and drinks, as well as little blue backpacks with toys in them. They had no idea what to do with the Playdoh!
Presenting at an inservice
One of my collegues and I presented an inservice at the special ed school run by the university. Lauren spoke on behavior management in autism, and I spoke about differentiating instruction in classes where there are multiple skill levels.
HIV training
We attended an ASL signed class on HIV at the deaf school. Also found some fairly explicit literature on protecting yourself from AIDS available to teenagers.
Wednesday, July 16, 2014
The Handshake
Shake hands, move to shake with thumbs up and move back to shake hands. If you really like the person, then you hug check to cheek on the left, then cheek to cheek on the right.
Eating outdoors
We eat outside in a gazebo type structure, and since it's winter, it's in the 50's in the early morning and evening. Brrrr! The cool cheetah statue is right next to the table. They bring us out a container of coals next to the table, but it only warms to person right next to it.
Brothers
Brothers who have special ed siblings go to school in the AM, then go with their sibling to school in the PM. This particular boy sits with his arm around his autistic brother and calms him when he has a meltdown. He's amazing. He wipes the drool with the scarf he carries around his neck.
Tuesday, July 15, 2014
Visited grad students at UNZA
This is the most spare university I've seen. Also has bars on all doors, even inside
Traditional Zambian dinner
We had a maize based food called nshima, that you eat with your fingers along with vegetables. We also had fried caterpillars--I ate three and that was more than enough. Tasted like insect zerky.
Wheelchair charity
We toured a charity that makes wheelchairs out of papier mâché for $20. They are custom to the child. I'm putting the mom of the ten year old who is the size of a two year old in touch with them.
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