Healing Touch

I have a feeling that reading about my day-to-day activities will soon grow boring!  I continue to settle into a daily routine of sorts.  I help the teachers who come in from 9:00-9:50ish, and then I set up my little “therapy” areas.  The first kids to come are the babies.  I focus mostly on Phonsley while the other little ones just play.  I “work” with them at their play therapy for about 45 minutes.  I have to admit, it’s a pretty good gig!  Then comes Christina.  Today I added stretching and massage to her routine.  I learned the techniques I used this morning by watching a YouTube video and by watching another guest here who demonstrated on Phonsley.  It’s like being a first-year teacher all over again—I’m barely staying ahead of my students!

Christina stood in the make-shift stander for a little bit before she became obviously tired.  I decided that Thursday I will time how long she stands so that I have some baseline data to measure growth (who thought I’d be using RtI jargon here in Haiti!).  Christine received about the same therapy as Christina.  After we were through, I put Christine in a walker to see what she would do.  She actually pushes herself along; I noticed that she would prefer to push backwards because then she doesn’t have to lift her feet much.  Need to figure out a way around that.

The one piece that I added for all the kids I worked with today was massage with lotion.  Each child quickly settled in and just smiled at the feel of the touch.  Their skin soaked up the lotion.  These children are touched so rarely that I can only imagine what they are thinking and feeling.  But, to a child, they smiled, relaxed, and calmed down.  I saw today the power in loving touch and how much children need it to grow and thrive.  Five children received massages today.  There are a good15+ to go. 

There is a small group here from the Kansas City, MO, area.  They helped me quite a bit with the kids today.  It was one of their members who showed me how to do some stretching with the kid.  Their main work this week is to check in on some water filtration systems that they have worked on in some remoter areas.  Providing clean water is a growing area of work, it seems.  As new technologies develop, the more opportunities there are to provide the clean water needed out of the major cities.

Today’s child profile is about Mickey.  I’ve mentioned him lots in my school presentations, but most of your probably haven’t seen those!  Mickey is about 18 years old and has cerebral palsy.  He is quite smart and has an outgoing personality.  Even though he isn’t able to go to school, he has received tutoring in English in the past because Gertrude has had money donated to provide tutoring.  Mickey seemed quite sick when I was here in November.  He was coughing a lot, had lost weight, and seemed more lethargic.  I looked for him when I arrived last week, and I was told he is in the hospital.  He tested negative for TB, but the doctors put him in the TB anyway at the hospital.  He doesn’t have pneumonia.  All the doctors can say is that one of his lungs is very bad.  Gertrude went to visit him yesterday, and Mickey begged her to bring him home.  Gertrude wanted to, but the doctor said that if Mickey came back he would die soon.  Please pray for Mickey.

It has been so much easier the last few days, but there have been many guests here as well.  It helps to have other English-speaking folks here.  The place will pretty much be filled until Sunday.  Then I think everyone leaves.  By that time I hope I feel settled enough that I will be okay on my own.

Okay. Last bit of news for tonight.  My friend Oriol is coming tomorrow to begin my tutoring in Creole.  He has helped me before on my other trips, and I am excited to keep working on my language skills.