September - October 2011
We have been very busy attempting to get the Preschool open and I am happy to say that we finally succeeded! It took a little longer than we had hoped but school opened its doors on October 3! The painters were there working hard to get the ceilings finished late on Friday afternoon and had to continue through the next week in the afternoons. The carpenter and electrician were still working in one of the classrooms at the beginning of October but the children were able to come on Monday and enjoy all the extra space!
All 18 of the children with disabilities have been identified. The children with disabilities and their mother’s were thrilled when they first saw the preschool. They have been squished into our tiny preschool classroom at the rehabilitation centre for so long, 12 to 15 children, some siblings, many parents and our staff all in the tiny space at the same time.We have a few able bodied children to start initially but we are confident that the news about our preschool will spread quickly now that we are actually open. As soon as we have 10 paying children we will hire a second preschool teacher. Naomi has already been interviewed and is anxiously waiting for the chance to come and teach our children.
We have just received word from ERDO (the relief and development branch of PAOC) that they have identified funds for us to use to buy mosquito nets to hand out to the children with disabilities. This is the perfect time of year to give out the nets as malaria season starts. Already this year one of the children in Alisa’s class at school has died due to malaria. According to the World Health Organization, “Malaria is especially a serious problem in Africa, where one in every five (20%) childhood deaths is due to the effects of the disease. An African child has on average between 1.6 and 5.4 episodes of malaria fever each year. And every 30 seconds a child dies from malaria.” Many of the children that come to us for therapy have their disability due to cerebral malaria. This makes it doubly important for our kids to have nets!
We have just received word from ERDO (the relief and development branch of PAOC) that they have identified funds for us to use to buy mosquito nets to hand out to the children with disabilities. This is the perfect time of year to give out the nets as malaria season starts. Already this year one of the children in Alisa’s class at school has died due to malaria. According to the World Health Organization, “Malaria is especially a serious problem in Africa, where one in every five (20%) childhood deaths is due to the effects of the disease. An African child has on average between 1.6 and 5.4 episodes of malaria fever each year. And every 30 seconds a child dies from malaria.” Many of the children that come to us for therapy have their disability due to cerebral malaria. This makes it doubly important for our kids to have nets!
The good news for the rehabilitation centre is that as the preschool and school programmes move out there is more space for the therapy activities. The kids who are learning to crawl and stand will no longer have to share their space with all the standing frames. This means that they will have twice as much room as before. On Monday they had 15 children squished into a very small space. Now the standing frames have moved into another room so they will be more free to move around.
This is good news as our numbers continue to increase even though we have opened up 4 outreach clinics and are seeing many children out nearer to their homes. On Monday we had 37 children at the rehabilitation centre and 15 at the preschool, a total of 52!
This is good news as our numbers continue to increase even though we have opened up 4 outreach clinics and are seeing many children out nearer to their homes. On Monday we had 37 children at the rehabilitation centre and 15 at the preschool, a total of 52!
Charles started attending our centre just before Christmas last year. He was not able to sit by himself and was very stiff. He had not been able to sit in a chair for a long time and was afraid to sit alone. He came to the Epilepsy clinic and was prescribed a drug to help relax his stiff muscles. We began working with him to get him used to sitting in a chair again and standing in a standing frame. In July he had an operation to fix his dislocated hip. Now as you can see from his picture he enjoys sitting in the chair. He attends the Special Education programme and is working hard. Keep it up!
Kevin has been attending therapy at out centre since we opened our first house in Area 25 in 2008, He was enrolled in our school programme due to his age and size but he was never able to settle down and work hard in that setting. Since we started the Occupational Therapy programme he as blossomed. He really does best with one on one assistance. He is now changing and has learned his shapes and colours.
Kevin has been attending therapy at out centre since we opened our first house in Area 25 in 2008, He was enrolled in our school programme due to his age and size but he was never able to settle down and work hard in that setting. Since we started the Occupational Therapy programme he as blossomed. He really does best with one on one assistance. He is now changing and has learned his shapes and colours.