Wow have we been busy since our last newsletter! It is a good thing that the new house opened when it did because we have had an explosion of new clients coming not only to the two houses in Area 25 but to the outreach clinics too! 47 children have attended our new preschool—fortunately only once did they all come at the same time! Of course that was for the Preschool Christmas Party! On that day we had 71 clients (not including their siblings or parents!) in the new house. That is a record for us. Previously our highest attendance was 58. Of course we also had 24 children at the other house that day which raised the number to 95.Then the next week we promptly broke that record with 110 clients attending the Rehabilitation Centre Christmas Party (again not including siblings or parents or any of the preschool children). It has definitely been a crazy time!Our average attendance at the preschool is 20 children. This includes the able bodied children as well as the kids with disability. So far we have registered 3 able bodied kids and are hoping for a total of 12. The integration is working very well with all the kids playing together nicely. All of the children with disabilities have been assessed in Occupational Therapy. One of the able bodied kids took me aside one day and asked me to take him to my assessment room as well. He was feeling left out!
We were able to get 250 mosquito nets with funds from ERDO (the relief and development branch of PAOC). Everyone was so excited to get the nets. All of the parents know how devastating malaria can be! We have been able to give out nets for the past 2 years. However everyone needed them again as most of the parents reported the nets they once had were eaten by the rats and had large holes in them!In December 11 children and 3 adults with orthopedic problems were able to see the Orthopedic Surgeon from CURE Hospital in Blantyre. This year many of our children were able to go to the CURE Hospital for surgery. Janice was born with Arthrogryposis. This means that many of her joints were malformed and did not move normally. As she started walking her knees began to bend backwards which resulted in a lot of knee pain.
Janice had surgery to correct the position of her knees and then was sent to 500 Miles Orthopedic Centre in Lilongwe to have custom knee braces made. She is now walking independently again but without the constant pain! Janice attends our Integrated Preschool and is also seen in Occupational Therapy. Her wrists, elbows and fingers are also affected but Janice is working hard to learn how to use her hands and to write as well so that she will be ready to start school when she is old enough.
