Therapy Time...

I hope that ya’ll are having fun at your off sites this summer and can’t wait to hear your stories. As for us, there has been some exciting stuff happen with some great kids. Last week, I was on Triple D’s team and we started the day with language enrichment at Haven 2 with the toddlers. We did a lot of body awareness songs and activities that made the children use their body parts to increase language and strengthen their muscles as well. We then went to Haven 1 and did language enrichment with the young ones who were around 9-12 months. We did a lot of the same activities for the same reasons but we added tummy time for these children. Some of the children needed to work on sitting, crawling, rolling over, and/or lifting head. We had one of my favorite kids during this time. His name is Quityn. He is 9 months old and can only hold his head up for short time before he has to put it down to rest. Yesterday, I saw him sleeping in his little bed and he had pulled one arm over and was sleeping a little on his side which is the first time I hadn’t seen him sleeping completely on his back with his hand to his side. After lunch, we worked with a special needs group. Tessa worked with Rita who has CP, Jill worked with Kritz who is most likely on the autism spectrum (high functioning), and I worked with Jonathan who is most likely on the autism spectrum along with a cognitive delay of some kind. Jonathan is high energy all the time and is at 3 years old and does not communicate with words. One day I was singing to Jonathan while showing him a picture of an apple and a picture of a banana and then asked him which one was the apple and he looked closely at the banana and then the apple and clapped under the apple. We then sang the song several more times and I switched the apple and banana and asked again which one was the apple and he did same thing as before. I was proud of him. Also, during this time one day last week, there is man that walks around who used to a preacher but had a stroke and now has some kind of fluent aphasia and preaches loudly everywhere he goes, he came up on our therapy time. He stood there silently for 45 minutes and only watched us. As we left, he said something to us and even if we understood Tongan, we still would not have know what he said. I did not think much of it at the time, but Dr. Tullos said that he believes that the man gave us a blessing as we walked by because of our work with the special needs children. After special needs time, we went and did individual language enrichment on any child in any Haven that needs language stimulation, which is all of them.

This week, I am on BWeave’s team and we are working on pediatric swallowing. I have only been doing this for 2 days so far but I have seen improvements already. We have an extremely floppy 8 month old named Heath who was reaching for objects today with both hands. Lincoln, an 8 month old, rolled over today for the first time, and Joel, I can’t remember his age at the moment, almost rolled over. After lunch, I worked in Nichole who is a precious little 1 ½ month old. She worked really hard and fell asleep sucking the pacifier. We are using the tools that we got when Caroline came to speak to us. We start by singing to the kids and using their arms and legs for the motions and we rub their arms, legs, back, and stomach to stimulates the muscles, and then put them on their stomach for tummy time to increase head control and muscle tone. We use the Nuk brush and the Z-Vibe on their cheeks and lips and then follow with Buccal stretches, upper lip stretches, lower lip stretches, and C-stretches inside their mouths. We also try to get the kids to suck on a pacifier to work on sucking. If they have a bottle, we then feed them as well. In the TB room, we have to make sure there is air flow through the room. The kids are on medications so hopefully we won’t be exposed to TB but when we get back and have our TB tests, we then will know. J

We need to make some activity sets for 9-12 month olds because they do not have much activities or toys for children this age so I think we should that for the next group of HIZ-Path participants.

Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of God. Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted. Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth. Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled. Blessed are the merciful, for they will be shown mercy. Blessed are those who are pure in heart, for they will see God. Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called sons of God. Blessed are those who are persecuted because of righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Matthew 5:3-10
Much Love,
Shanna

The Least of These

“ ‘For I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me, I was naked and you clothed me, I was sick and you visited me, I was in prison and you came to me’… The King will answer them, 'Truly, I say to you, as you did it to one of the least of these my brothers, you did it to Me.' ” Matthew 25:35-40

Mwapona buti (good afternoon) to you from us here in Zambia, Africa! After five flights and a six-hour-long bus ride we arrived here to the Namwianga mission and are already two weeks into our journey. Our group is composed of eleven Harding University speech-language pathology graduate students and three supervisors, and we are also joined here by a group of three pharmacy students and one professor. It seems that we all find new purposes for our stay here as each day passes, but ultimately we are all here to serve our God and creator and to improve the quality of life for His children here in Africa.

For the next six weeks we will be conducting speech and language therapy with children ages birth to five in an orphanage here in Namwianga called The Haven. Zambians define orphans as those who are missing at least one parents, and those who are missing both parents are considered to be double orphans. The Haven is composed of three buildings: the first with healthy infants, the second with healthy toddlers, and the third with sick infants and toddlers with diseases such as tuberculosis and HIV. We as clinicians have been divided into three different therapy groups: one to address feeding and swallowing difficulties in infants who are struggling due to various illnesses and challenges, one to address the emergence and production of language with toddlers, and one to assist and help three children with special needs.

In our quest to improve our clinical skills and grow as future speech-language pathologists, we are learning a host of other lessons in our short, six-week visit here. We are learning how fortunate we are to live healthy and long lives as the average life expectancy of a Zambian is thirty-nine years. We are learning how wealthy we are as a person who owns a bicycle here in Zambia is considered rich. And we are learning that if we want to see change in our world, we must become the change we wish to see.

In coming here to Africa, I believe that we have truly met the “least of these” that are referenced in Matthew 25 as we work with these small, helpless children who were born only to become parentless with a variety of personal challenges. After our first day of feeding tiny infants struggling to eat as a result of their different diseases, these were the words that came to me:

Today I met the least of these
as I sang to two twins with no mommy,
and as they sat and cried
as I said goodbye,
I knew that things would never be
the same for me.

Today I met the least of these
as I held a baby girl who had TB,
and as I saw the rise in her chest
as she gasped for every breath,
I knew that things would never be
the same for me.

Today I met the least of these
as I played with a little boy with HIV,
and with every beat of his heart
I felt my own break apart,
and I knew that things would never be
the same for me.

Today I met the least of these,
and it made me fall straight to my knees.
The pieces of my heart rearranged,
and I will be forever changed,
and I know that things will never be
the same for me.

We are blessed to be here growing and learning to give even just a cup of cold water to the least of these.

Charissa Collins