JUST ANOTHER DAY in UGANDA

The "Barfing" PT Door

Today was rather fun...Shafique, the little guy I see who has hydrocephalus, was in rare form today. All of the kids were, really. They were acting goofy and silly most of the day. Saturdays are more relaxed here. The kids have worked very hard in therapy all week and are less inclined to work hard today. I tend to focus on the kids that are in school all week instead.

I was in the dorms looking for another boy to work with and started drumming on beds and plastic buckets with the boys. Several were dancing around and laughing. I turned to see Shafique had gotten up to his feet and was standing holding onto the bedrail with one hand. I gave him lots of praise as I usually do when I see him try to move on his own. He then let go of the bedrail and with a wide partial squatting stance and hands in high guard, proceeded to rock his hips in a slow circle to the beat of the music. He had this serious partial smile on his face as he had to focus on maintaining his balance when he did this. I about fell off the bed laughing. I grabbed him and gave him an airplane ride for being so pro-active! It was hysterical! He had the Brothers in stitches too.

The New Doorway (Gremlin sized)

The therapy department progress continues....the pick axe (they bought with the cement money I gave them) did not work to break up the cement stairs so the guys were hand chiseling and taking turns. It was tedious and hard work. I never thought my past house building experience would come in handy but it did. I asked them if they had a skill saw. They did. I gave the Mason cash to buy a cement blade and told them how to make a grid cut in the cement to make the cement easier to chisel out. This worked like a dream!

The New Doorway (10 yr old boy get
in trouble sized)

1 hour later, the Mason returned with another "problem". There were 3 rebar in the old stairs that they could not cut. He wanted to know if he could extend the ramp out another foot or two instead. NOPE...this will NOT work. I could just see the wheelchairs getting to the bottom of the ramp and then launching off the 2.5' drop off from the veranda. I was "Rebar Betty" when building our house in Portland and knew that the rebar could be cut. I gave the Mason more cash to go buy a metal cutting blade. Again...this worked like a charm.

I was managing my PT session very well with my new helper, Brian. He was a new resident of about 14 yrs old to the Home. The Brothers had taken him off the streets where he had been living for over a year, abandoned by his family. He struggled with a severe skin condition that looked like leprocy but wasn't. The Brothers took him to the hospital for treatment and he has been with us now for about 2 weeks. Brian is very smart and speaks fluent English and Luganda. He has been watching what I am doing and has jumped in to help. I now have recruited him as my official helper. I don't know what I would do without his help especially in translating the kids Luganda for me. I need to find a way to treat him. He does this on his own volition and asks to help. How many 14 year olds do you know of that want to help disabled children????

My "helper" Brian on the Left

THE MOST SPECIAL thing I have had the blessing to witness is the tenderness between the boys themselves. Granted, this is not always the case but generally, they look after each other. I work with Peter (Shafique's PT partner) and usually am followed around by Matoke (Masoke) who is a 5 yr old Albino boy. I was watching the 2 of them interact following lunch. I was sitting nearby feeding another boy. Peter had been struggling to move with his quadraplegic type of CP but had just started crawling then (2 weeks ago). Peter had crawled to the sink waiting to be washed off by the Brothers and Masoke was standing there with his cup of water.

I watched Masoke squat down and pour the water over Peter's hands carefully and then sweetly wipe off Peter's mouth. I could barely hear Masoke from where I was sitting but I swear I saw a light around the 2 of them and I could see Masoke saying " I will help you Peter, I will wash you up" Peter was sitting there smiling back at Masoke with a look of complete gratitude. I have never witnessed such caring and love and coming from 2 very young boys. They taught me that moment to be sure that ALL of my interactions with anyone is with sincere tenderness and affection. THAT is what LOVE is!

The lower courtyard at Busega with the dorms on the Right