Sensational Sunday

Our team started the morning with pancakes before heading to church.  The church that volunteers usually attend recently closed down so it was decided that we would attend our driver's church.  Unfortunately, it meant arriving 1.5 hours in to the service but we were able to hear the sermon and meet many of the church members who thanked us for our work at For His Children.

After church, we headed to the mall to purchase items needed for various children and the services and resources we are providing.  The team also got a chance to do some personal shopping. One cultural experience was seeing a ton of people sitting in rows of chairs in the center of the mall watching the World Cup on the big screen TV. The cook and our host do grocery shopping for the remainder of our week.  Due to the amount of shopping by our team and the cook, the team lost a whole row of seats in the van, which meant it was sardines for trip back. There were 14 people even though you can only see 12.

We were able to get back to work with the children in the afternoon to work on assessments and group activities.

Katie and Michaell spent time working with three kids for assessments.  There was evaluating of the iPad communication system for one individual. There may also have been some play with Snapchat filters as a reward.

Angie and Kris spent time with the infants doing tummy time.  They then spent time with the toddlers working on body parts, colors, and sorting.  Later they spent time with a few of the older children assessing doing puzzles, choice making, writing, and letter recognition.

Photo Credit to E age 4 on his birthday

Megan, Barbara, and Noelia continued to do their assessments and working with the Tias to show some different options for tummy time with some of the infants.

Harvey and Pam continued working through assessments.  They taught J a new word in English "boom" and how to play with a ball against a wall.  R loved getting lots of input from a R sandwich with her between a peanut ball and a mat.

Bessie spent time with both groups of kids.  The older kids explored several different instruments and Bessie observed reactions to instruments to make suggestions for future use of the instruments. The younger kids did got to play the guitar, egg shakers, do the rainbow song, Pescadito (Slippery Fish), and explore the ocean drum.

After work with the kids, it was time for an outing for pizza.  This is the first time in a long time that our Nicaraguan translators were able to be travel out at night and it was one of their highlights of the day. (Nicaragua could use many prayers.)

Jackie Chan fighting bad guys in Deutschland as we watch from a pizza parlor located in Ecuador.

Photo credits to Katie Jackson, Kris Thomas, and Lindsey Taylor.

Successful Saturday

Today was a busy day for the team.  We divided and conquered to begin assessing in the morning.

Pam and Harvey assessed three children and took notes to produce a report for each individual that will create goals and recommendations.

Barbara, Megan, and Noelia did assessments on four individuals all of whom were very responsive and all smiles by the time their time was done.  One excitedly responded with, "I am doing my therapy time!"

Angie and Kris provided an opportunity for the older children to find sensory items in slime, playing with floam, and drawing with chalk on construction paper.  With the younger children, they made masks and tiaras and helped with snack time.

Katie, Bessie, and Michaell did two music time with the younger kids and the drum and the farm song were hits.  The older kids loved the large parachute, strumming the guitar, and playing the large drum.  The Tias in both areas were very involved, singing the songs, giving the children a chance to try to participate independently, and then helping as needed.  Katie also did some general observations and talked to the Tias regarding behavioral concerns.

During some downtime, some team members visited For His Children Latacunga's mascot "Seymour".  The slogan for visiting teams is "A Llamazing Experience".

The afternoon was spent organizing the donations by specialty and providing an inventory.  The team also spent a couple of hours with the head Physical Therapist (Juan Carlos) and the new Physical Therapist (Paula) going over information for all of the children that helped guide the team in their plans for recommendations and activities for the rest of the week.

Highlights of the team today include the positive responses of the children to the activities we offered, the amount of involvement and love the Tias have with the children, the interactions with the children, the completion of some assessments, the delicious meals that our cook has provided, experiencing different disabilities for the first time, and working with various team members.

First Friday

Thursday was a VERY long day of travel, where we finally arrived in Quito at 3:00am this morning. 

Our day started with the entire team being united, 3 translators from Nicaragua and 8 from the United States.  We traveled to Latacunga from Quito to arrive at For His Children.  The team got to get a tour of the facility.  The Tias (care providers) and the children gave us a welcome party with dancing, music, and making of hamburgers with the children. 

For His Children has a great facility in Latacunga that is clean and has lots of tools, including 3D visuals to identify rooms at the accessible level for the children and well-stocked physical therapy room which also offered musical instruments and sensory equipment that will be useful for occupational therapy.  The Tias show a genuine love for the children they care for as evidenced by them staying up late to prepare food when children are asleep so that they can spend more time with the children and the genuine smiles from both children and Tias.  For His Children has already expressed receptiveness of input on ways to improve and excitement to have us and the resources and training we will share.

Tomorrow, the team will begin assessments of children, meeting with the current physical therapists, and activities for the children.

Please pray for the team as we adjust to the high altitude (9100ft) and recover from little sleep for two nights.  Thank you for your support and encouragement.

Full of tears Friday

Well, that's it. We worked our last day at Padre Martinho's Orphanage here in Lima, Peru. At dinner, we went around and shared our highlight of the day, and one of our favorite things we witnessed from a team member. Katie was praised for her knowledge and dedication to learning and teaching the nannies how to run the feeding pumps. Melissa was recognized for always being willing to be where she was needed to be, to take the photo we wanted her to take, and being flexible. Jenny completed a wheelchair for Alexandra, and that was definitely a favorite moment, as Alexandra smiled and laughed when they finally put her in it. Amy was commended for her unique and well thought out special education activities.

Majesca applauded the entire team for working so hard at their "real jobs," and was admired for her knowledge and application of the Spanish language, and what that did to remove barriers between herself and the kids. We feel confident that 98% of what we came to do was accomplished, so we leave feeling grateful, satisfied, and joyful. We were given sweet gifts from Padre Martinho's, including a home made fruit salad, home made coffee mugs, and home made bracelets by Luicia.

Lisa, our liaison, was moved to tears by the joy we brought to the house, and labeled it as a much needed "reset." God's timing is perfect timing! We leave a bit of our hearts with these children, as always.

(final product- bag hanging by each bed with a profile and any specific toys/materials assigned to that child)

Tough it out Thursday

We are fast approaching the end of the week! We are down to the nitty gritty of getting supplies and suggestions in order so when we depart, the work can continue. Amy spent the entire day writing out everyone's suggestions of activities that could be done with each child, and then getting it translated. Throughout the day, she borrowed different people to grab their suggestions (or photos, in the case of Melissa). Majesca finished up some one on one work, testing visual tracking with Aldo, and engagement with Rodrigo and Augusto. Katie spent most of her day helping with feeding, as well as working with a young man who was reported to be orally seeking.

Melissa also helped with feeding, sorted through and counted the feeding supply donations, and took position photos for our handouts. Jenny was able to get off campus and gain access to sewing machines to make a back rest for a wheelchair. Her afternoon was consumed with refurbishing wheelchairs. Trisha continues to play with babies. She was also able to go through games that might be appropriate for some visitors and volunteers to play with Jeremy, a young man with Autism.

We'll let Sebastian send you off with an "Adios" for today!

Work day Wednesday

Everyone hit their mid-week sleepy point today, right on schedule. We continued where we left off yesterday and really felt accomplished. Jenny did a lot of work with the Hoyer lift, getting directions translated and printed for the staff, and training them all on how to use it.

Katie spent her day using the feeding pumps with the kids and then training the nannies on how to implement a feeding schedule and work the pumps.

She also co-treated with Amy to work with Renzo. They were able to do some academic based experiences, and work on intentional communication with yes/no head switches.

Amy also spent her afternoon with Majesca writing info sheets on each kid with suggestions of experiences and activities that nannies and volunteers can implement. Majesca ran music with more kids today, and was able to spend some time with Esperanza who thoroughly enjoyed playing the xylophone.

Trisha worked on cooperative play this morning with Sebastian and Alexandra. Melissa ran around like a pollo with a head cut off. She got to be an RN for a bit today, as a tooth abscessed in Sebastian's mouth and required a prescription for antibiotics. She walked to the local pharmacy and got the correct medication for him. We might be small, but we are mighty!

Tuesday was a treat!

Happy Tuesday! It rained here in Lima today, and we were able to take a stroll in the drizzle, as we walked to and from the orphanage to save on transportation costs. Today's therapy felt a bit like the weather, slow and steady. Our PT worked on demonstrating and testing the hoyer lift, first with Majesca (our MT) and then a handful of the residents. She also helped set up and adapt Moises' motorized wheelchair in hopes that he will be able to use it in the community.

Katie spent a good deal of her time working on feeding instructions and feeding pumps. She was able to test out one of the pumps with water on Sebastian and verify that it was working (which it was!).

Majesca, after riding the hoyer lift, implemented academic based MT with Sebastian to work on color recognition and a few other concepts. In the afternoon she co-treated with Amy to work on stimulating and engaging Carlos, which was quite successful!

Amy spent her morning at the hardware store picking up the "things to buy" list. Trisha was able to talk with Padre Martinho's PT about some of the equipment and resources available to her that we pulled together. She worked with the 9 month old baby, and helped organize the feeding supplies into bins for Hermano Juan. Melissa helped photograph parts of the hoyer lift for an instruction manual and more positioning for some of the kids. Highlights included the working hoyer lift and feeding pump, & getting more positive responses from the kids, like this sweet face I'll leave you with for the evening.