Meet some of the Kids!

Hello all! This week was the beginning of full physical therapy sessions! Scratch that.... almost full a week :) Today is a holiday, apparently it is Eid al-Adha, a Muslim holiday.

Girls Night
Saturday night I had my neighbors over for a movie night complete with popcorn (which I burned horribly) and nail painting! We watched the movie "She's the Man", which they found hilarious, but I kept trying to remind them that the movie did not portray actual life in America! We had lots of fun!

Girls Night! :)

Meet Sumaya
So technically you met her 2 weeks ago. (She is the little girl that stole my heart as soon as I got here). She is a 12 year old with spastic quadriplegic cerebral palsy. She has very little use of her arms, BUT she can do amazing things with her mouth! In the picture below she is coloring using her teeth to hold the crayon! (We do rinse her mouth out after, because the crayon dyes her tongue!) She also eats by just sticking her face in the bowl... while this may not sound impressive to you... BUT she NEVER gets food on her face! She has one of the cleanest faces when she leaves the dining hall! She is such a sweet heart and has AMAZING English skills. She is so bright, and has the most beautiful smile, so you have to love her! :)

Sumaya coloring

Meet Kato
Kato is a 17 year old boy. He is a twin, and in Luganda Kato means twin and distinguishes if he was the first or second born! (I dont remember which ) He also has spastic quadriplegic cerebral palsy. This boy is so sweet and communicates so well although he has very little use of his body. He can use his hands to feed himself, but that is about it. Today I took him out of this wheelchair and put him on the mat to work on his back strength. All he can do is lay there, he has very little muscle mass in his legs and trunk. He is very funny though! He stashes food in the pocket of his school uniform, so when he moves on to the mat for therapy all his food comes falling out. Early this week it was peanuts (ground nuts here) and today it was popcorn. After therapy I have to collect his food off the floor and return it to his pocket! In the picture below we are working on his fine motor skills. He was very proud of the picture he made with pegs. Thanks Michelle for sending the peg game with me, many of the kids love it!

Kato so proud of his accomplishment! Putting these pegs together is very difficult for him.

Meet Clare
So apparently this week, I am introducing all of the kids with cerebral palsy! (That just happened to be the day I had my camera with me). Clare is a young girl that also has quadriplegic cerebral palsy, although she has a little more use of her arms and legs than the two above! Clare does not use a wheelchair to move around, but often falls while she is walking, or has to stop and rest. In the picture below we are working on standing and reaching for a puzzle piece. Thanks to Julia Foster and the Park Moms for these great puzzles (the kids AND teachers LOVE them) and all the other wonderful supplies!

Working on her puzzle (I think she is sitting here because I am not behind her to force her to keep standing)

Meet Maria
Maria also has cerebral palsy, but hers is athetoid type. Athetoid type means that her body she wiggles and wiggles and she has no control over it. She is such a sweet girl and loves to laugh! I do not know too much of her history. My goal for this week is to get into the office and learn more about where each of these kids come from and how long they have been at the school.

Maria & me

Maria trying to stand by holding on to the chair and her teacher

Please pray for these kids. Therapy is not always the most fun thing, and yet most of them come with a smile on their face! Pray that through therapy God's love can be shown to them! My hope is that each one will know that they are too made in the image of God and he loves all of us just as we are.

On a completely different note, here are pictures of my newly recovered couch thanks to my amazing neighbor!!! These pictures are specifically for Katy B who made fun of my couch before!

Couch Before

Couch Now

Well, I think that is it for this week! If you want to hear about something specific on my blog, please just email me!

Physical Therapy in a Skirt

So I just finished a whole post and accidentally deleted it.... Here goes round 2.

This week has been very full and busy as I evaluated 23 kids at Kireka Home (its also a school but called Kireka Home), celebrated by 26th birthday, and went to 2 training sessions.

First... I am officially 26 and over the hump to 30...
Being in Uganda was a wonderful way to celebrate my birthday!  I started the day by attending a training with Julie Propst at Dawn Children's Center (more on that below). We then went into downtown Kampala to the fabric market. It consists of a bunch of stores in a row that are filled with fabric from floor to ceiling. I picked out 3 to recover my couch, recover the pillows on my couch, make a table cloth, and make a skirt. It ends up being only about $2 per yard. I am so excited to take my mom there!

The 3 fabrics I bought

After this we went back to Julie's flat and started the long process of making tortillas to make tortilla chips since I was craving Mexican food. Shortly after, I was surprised when the women missionaries in the area showed up with lots of yummy Mexican food AND HOMEMADE CHOCOLATE CAKE! Lets just say I went to bed with a stomachache but so happy! I am truly blessed by these women, they have become my family here and I am so glad that God blessed me with this missions team!

Teachings
Julie is a special education teacher, and her ministry is to help communities, parents, and other teachers understand what it means to have a disability, what causes disabilities,  and how to help someone with a disability. Every other Saturday for the last 3 weeks, Julie has shared at Dawn Children's Center about the different aspects of autism and how to manage them. Some of the people that come are parents and others are workers at the center.

Julie teaching at Dawn

My favorite part of the week was going to a village last Sunday. Julie shared for about 2 hours about having compassion on people with disabilities as Jesus did, what causes disabilities, and the details of a few common types. Afterwards, people could come up for prayer and questions. I worked together with an occupational therapist to work with a couple of families. One little boy was had cerebral malaria when he was about 2 years old and as a result now has hemiplegic cerebral palsy. I don't think that he had ever seen a white person before, as he SCREAMED at first when we came near him and his eyes were so big with fear! After awhile he got use to us, and we were able to give his mom a few ideas for how to work with him. There was another little boy that appeared to have microcephaly (small head). It was interesting because the mom attributed it to having malaria as a child, but in reality he was probably born that way and it took awhile to notice there was something different about him. The last young girl I saw had a leg length difference of over 1.5 ft! She walked with crutches and was fully functional but was having pain in her hip. I was able to give her a few stretches in hopes that would help.

Kireka Home this week
So it was a BUSY week and I still have lots of paperwork to do, but hopefully that will make next week much simpler! The kids and teachers here are so fantastic. Even the children that cannot speak when they give you a big smile it makes your whole day worthwhile! I am so thankful that God has placed me here. Not a lot of new details to share, but next week I will try to have a story and picture about one of the kids so you can get to know each of them too. Oh and yes.. I do PT in a skirt... the long skirts area awkward because as I stand up I stand on the skirt and then almost pull it down trying to figure out where I am stepping. And the shorter ones are equally awkward as I crawl and sit on the floor with the kids. Thankfully that's what shorts are for!

"Bulletin Board" that will also have the children's names and stickers for each time they fully participate in therapy. Yes I know there is a border missing... the kids pulled a few down, and I didn't have enough to fully fix it.

Two children at the school. I will not be working with these two fro PT, but they LOVE the camera! :)

Funny story of the week:
I was working on my notes, and one of the youngest girls at the school came and sat in the chair next to me and crossed her legs just as I was sitting and kept watching me. So I gave her a little book to write on, paper, and a pencil, and next thing I know she is fully copying me writing my notes. It was so sweet. Apparently I need to change how I do things more. Jack (the little boy I babysit at home) use to mimic how I always stood with my hands on my hips.

Thank you all for your support and prayers!

Kireka School & 50 years of Independence

This week has been my first week at Kireka Home & School. I spent last weekend just trying to get settled in and meeting my new neighbors. Next door to me is the headmaster and she has 3 girls between about 17 & 23 (not quite sure) living with her. The girls befriended me right away, and I am so incredibly thankful! The children here are amazing, their smiles and laughter can brighten anyone's day. The girl in the picture below has already started to steal my heart! She has the most brilliant smile and speaks English very well.

Sumaya & Me

I do still feel as if I live in a fish bowl, but I am getting use to having the kids around all the time. The ones that initially drove me crazy, I am starting to understand and love (and he has not tried to come into my house in awhile which helps!) Kireka is starting to feel like home. Today I will finish up my last day of observing the kids to determine who needs physiotherapy, and then next week will start the crazy process of trying to evaluate the gross motor and fine motor skills of more than 20 kids! (LOTS OF WORK!) Normally, and occupational therapist would work more with the fine motor skills, but since there is not one here, I am will do my best!

My Flat

My bedroom

My cooking area (as you can see blends into living space) and there is a sink outside

Living Space - I am so excited to go to the fabric marked this weekend and my neighbors are going to help me recover the couch and pillows!

Bathroom complete with shower, sink (with no drain just a bucket :) ) and toilet that flushes!

The Market - Buying a Chicken
So my neighbors have been so friendly and have taken me to the market near the school a few times. The first time, I did not realize quite the adventure that I was on as we went to buy a chicken! When you buy a chicken here a lady takes the LIVE chickens out of a crate and you hold them by their wings to "weigh" them. And did I mention it smells horrible! So my friends were each holding 2 chickens to determine which one was the best. Oh and did I mention that the chickens do not just willing let you hold them, the flap around and squawk and feathers fly! After determining which one weighs the most they then tie the feet together and just stick the hole chicken in a bag... yep...and no it does not suffocate on the way home! However, it remains very calm in the bag! They then cut the head off, pluck it, cut it up and you have fresh chicken for dinner!!! It was an interesting adventure!

My new friend Judith & I in the Market

Uganda has now been Independent for 50 years!
Tuesday marked Uganda's 50th year of independence. Most everyone was very excited and the city was decorated with flags everywhere! We celebrated by watching the festivities in town on TV and the children were excited because not only did they get the day off, but they also got to eat meat! (A rare thing because it is so expensive) We then went out to the headmaster (Teacher Annette)'s garden and to visit her mom in the village. It was a very busy but wonderful day!

Week 3 - A few things you may not have known about Uganda

So lots of new things this week: Ugandan concerts, Ugandan rainstorms, Ugandan plants, Ugandan language, and the BIG MOVE.

Passion Kampala: Chris Tomlin Concert
Last Saturday I was super excited to be able to attend the Chris Tomlin concert here in Kampala. It was so amazing to be able to worship alongside of thousands of Ugandans. Louie Giglio shared about being part of God's symphony worshiping him. All and all it was a great night! One of the big differences I noticed between here and home was the lack of cameras and phones glowing up ahead of me... that is the staple at home as everyone catches a picture or a video, but there was none of that here! 

New friends at the concert - Sarah, Rebekah (visiting a friend here), Julie, and Erin

Not the best picture, but I had to add a concert photo

African Rainstorms

My attempt at capturing the rain

Words cannot do justice to rainy season. Every day at least one LARGE storm comes rumbling through. In a matter of minutes everything is soaked and the streets become partial rivers. This pictures does not capture it, but it had rained for less than 5 minutes at this point and you can see how soaked the ground is. Everyone hides under anything they can when it rains... and if it rains during your commute to work, you generally are excused for being late if you stop to hide from the rain. 

Ugandan Plants
We were in the market the other day and there were all these funny looking berries drying out in the sun. I learned that they were coffee beans! I have now seen a coffee bush, mango tree, avocado tree, and guava tree!!! I LOVE the fresh fruit here. And as a plug for Uganda... their pineapples are better than Hawaii's!!!

One of the missionary kids in front of a coffee bush

Luganda Training
So I can now officially use about 15 phrases in Luganda after my 6 days of training. The great part about using the LAMP method for language training is it teaches you how to learn the language on your own with the help of those around you. My goal is to learn a new phrase 5 days a week! (Be praying that I will stick to that!)  I am so thankful that God blessed me with Jessica for my language helper. She is so incredibly patient!!

Those of us in language training and our language helpers (Jessica is to my right)

I am officially living in Kireka where I will be working!
Just this afternoon I moved in to Kireka where I will be working. I have a nice little flat, and still have a little unpacking to do. I have lots to learn here so please be praying for me and that I will be able to build some relationships quickly. The only down side to living where I am working is that the kids like to look in my windows! Please be praying that I will quickly get use to that! I have no pictures of my place yet, but I promise there will be some next week!I am very thankful to be where God wants me and am so thankful to be in his hands. Please pray that I will have a willing and open spirit to however God wants to use me here.