Jambo Zanzibar & Dar es Salaam, Kwaheri Africa

The end of our African adventure is here, and what a bittersweet feeling it is. Inevitably, you miss your family and friends and most of all your mom’s home cooking, but when you realize that there will no longer be little children running up to you saying “muzungu” or when mangoes and those cute little bananas won’t be readily available, it’s easy to get a bit teary-eyed.

We already foreshadowed that our last week in Africa wouldn’t disappoint us. We ‘Google Imaged’ “Zanzibar” before we arrived, and what we saw in person was 10x more beautiful than even the most stunning image we found. Instead of enduring another long and tumultuous bus ride, we sprang for the $90 flight from Mombasa to Zanzibar. In the 50-minute flight, we were served drinks and a wonderful little sandwhich. Besides the creepy Indian man who was snapping pictures of us through the crack of the seats, the flight was just lovely. We arrived and we were so lucky that one of my best friend’s dad lives in Zanzibar and was gracious enough to let us stay with him! We went for a lovely Indian dinner with him to a restaurant called The Silk Route and then headed to bed as it had been a tiring day. We were given some great advice by Dr. Feroz (who shares a house with my friend's dad) to check out the Sandbanks the next day in addition to Prison Island. You know, when you see TV commercials with images of beautiful beaches and stunning scenery and you wonder if those places actually exist? Well, let me tell you that they do. The Sandbanks was absolutely breath taking. It is literally a bank of white sand in the middle of the ocean. You have to go there early enough for the tide to allow the boats to come in, and leave in time for you not to get stranded! The water was so warm, and with a boat all to ourselves, we played and frolicked in the water, jumping off of the boat (but making sure to avoid the sea urchins!). After that we took our boat to Prison Island. Prison Island is home to some of the largest turtles in the world, some of them over 150 years old! We were allowed to feed them and pet them and take pictures with them which was so amazing! Unfortunately, my stomach decided it was upset with me and I was out for the next two days :( I made sure to rest because on Wednesday we had a big day planned! After having a great breakfast, we headed to the South of Zanzibar to swim with the dolphins. Now, for all of you who have been to all-inclusives, you figure that "swimming with the dolphins" really just means hanging out with them and maybe giving them a little kiss. Not in Zanzibar. Without any sort of gear (mainly because no one told us we should take it), we took a small boat out into the middle of the ocean and waited for dolphins to surround our boat. It is quite a sight to see them in their natural habitat. As soon as they approached us, the guide told us to jump out. Now, I'm a swimmer, but by no means a strong swimmer. But when once in a lifetime opportunities knock at your door, you pretty much have no choice but to grab them by their...flipper in this case. So although scared, all of us jumped out into the middle of nowhere, and swum around with the dolphins literally next to us. After that incredible experience, we headed to Jozani Forest to see rare monkeys which only exist in two parts of the world, here and in Brazil. They were super cute and let us come right near them, so of course we took about 100 pictures. After that we went on a spice tour which we were told was one of the must-do's in Zanzibar. We got lucky because not only was ours a spice tour, but a fruit-tasting as well! We tried some amazing fruit (our favourite was the Zanzibar Egg Apple) and some not-so-amazing fruit (our least favourite was "sweet lime" which tasted like Kenyan body odour - - don't ask us how we know what that tastes like). Our next few days in Zanzibar were spent roaming Stonetown, buying jewellery, bargaining for the hell of it, drinking fresh fruit juice (our favourite, virgin pina coladas) and hanging out at the beach. On our last day, we headed up to the North of Zanzibar, to Kendwa beach. The reviews go either way, some saying that Kendwa is nothing but drug-filled, but we decided to check it out since we heard the beaches were slightly nicer than Nungwi. We had a great time and ate tons (I mean tons) of food!  No better way to end off a difficult (haha) ten weeks!

My dad is born in Dar Es Salaam and with two of my aunts still living there, there was no way I would go all the way to Africa without paying a visit. Unfortunately, because of the way our trip fell and how we booked our tickets, I only had limited time (a couple of days) in Dar, but we all decided to make the most of it. The day that we were leaving, there was a horrible ferry boat accident from Zanzibar to Pemba (not the route we were taking). Thanks to all of you for your messages and concern. It was quite chaotic in Zanzibar that day, and with hundreds of people dying in the accident, we consider ourselves very lucky. Both my aunts in Dar were so hospitable and took us around for the day that we had, making sure that we tried every single fruit that we had not tried yet, and taking us to the beach to have madafu (coconut), kitale (baby coconut stuffed with potatoes), mishkaki (bbq's beef) and sugar cane juice! It was a great time, and always amazing to see family. I got to visit the house that my dad grew up in, and it made me so happy to be there and really and truly appreciate my roots.

Our flight to London is boarding shortly, so I will sign off here. To all of you who have kept reading throughout my time in Africa, thank you and I hope you have enjoyed it. Our travels now take us to London, Spain & Portugal, and when I can, will also be blogging about my time there. I am truly sad to say bye to Africa, but am so thankful to be so lucky to have had such an incredible experience!

Love & Bittersweet Goodbyes,

Shahla

Pulling Teeth in Paradise

Hello Everyone! It’s been quite some time since my last blog! Since finishing placement, we’ve been on the go and there hasn’t been much down time for me to write! Currently we are in Zanzibar, and it most definitely has to be one of the most beautiful places in the world. But for now, let me update you on the hidden paradise that I call Lamu…

Let me tell you that getting to Lamu was no easy journey. We decided (probably against everyone’s better advice) to take a night bus from Kisumu to Mombasa. How many hours you ask? 18 hours. That’s right everyone, 18, long and uncomfortable hours. Let me also tell you that when we stopped for a bathroom/go in the woods break, I stepped into a swamp, lost my Birk and had to fish it out with my hands. In other news, someone tried to sell Mary carrots while she was doing her business. Why did we take the bus you ask? Because flying would have cost us $250 and the bus cost us $10. So we sacrificed ourselves, and apparently our luggage, which was thrown in the compartment with hundreds of smelly fish. Although they assured us that none of our luggage would be with any fish, when we got our backpacks it smelt worse than a rotting carcass (and I know what that smells like since I came upon a large rotting cow in Lamu). We (finally) arrived in Mombasa at 9am and checked into our 900KSH ($9/night) triple room which was most definitely the shadiest place I have ever stayed. Broken windows, an unfriendly toilet and mosquito nets with holes all over (my parents were not pleased). We roamed around Mombasa and found it decent, but wish we had time to go to the beaches which are supposed to be beautiful. However, in the day that we were there, we managed to go to Old Town and Fort Jesus which were both gorgeous. Fort Jesus is a Portuguese fort built in 1593 by order of King Philip I of Portugal, then ruler of the joint Portuguese and Spanish Kingdoms, located on Mombasa Island to guard the Old Port of Mombasa (Wikipedia’d that). We walked around for most of the day and then booked a bus to Lamu (as if we didn’t learn our lesson the first time) which was leaving at 7am the next morning. We slept for about 4 hours (which in hindsight was better since the less time in those beds, the better) and got on our “luxury” bus. Because we booked so late, all three of us got shoved to the back. You know when we were kids, and we’d make sure to be first in line so we could get the very back seat in the bus which was supposed to be the best? Who told us that was cool? All three of us came out of the bus ride with umpteen bruises and cuts because the road was SO bumpy and the driver could care less about the fact that our stomachs were coming out of our mouths…anyways, we finally arrived in Lamu after 8 long hours, and then the fairytale begins…

When we spoke to others about Lamu, the response we’d get was “yeah, it’s really nice, you should go there”. Let me tell you that if you asked me the same, I would tell you to make Lamu a priority on your bucket list. It is a stunning island which is Kenya’s oldest living town and a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Once you get off the bus, a boat takes you to Lamu Island. Somehow in the time that we had to get off the bus and get onto the boat, Nik managed to drop her Birkenstock into the water. Luckily, someone managed to fish it out for her and we were on our way. Lamu has no roads, just footpaths and everyone moves around by foot, boat or donkeys. It is amazing what a difference it makes when you see no motorized vehicles in a place. We had booked a hostel called “Kipepeo” (translation: Butterfly) Guesthouse before arriving and we were not disappointed. The owner, Ali, gave us the top floor of the house which overlooks the ocean. It was definitely a step up from the hole we stayed at in Mombasa! Besides Lamu Island, there is also another island called Shela which has some of the most amazing beaches, although it was affected by the tsunami caused by the 2004 Indian Ocean earthquake. We spent many of our days tanning on the beaches of Shela, eating some great sushi and hanging out with camels.

As Lamu was on the main Arabian trading routes, the population is largely Muslim. With Ramadhan just ending, we were lucky enough to be in Lamu for Eid! When I told my parents that, they were so excited for me, because I would be able to experience what Eid is like in a country where everyone celebrates it, and were they ever right! We met some people the day before who invited us to celebrate Eid with their family. We couldn’t believe how nice they were to just let us into their celebration, but I for one was not going to turn the offer down, and Nik and Mary were more than excited to experience Eid! Our friend, Mohammed, told us that it would be a busy morning, but we had no idea what we were in for. Usually in Canada, everyone lives so far apart that you usually make it to a few houses within a day, or gather at the house of the eldest relative. In Lamu, everyone lives in such close proximity to one another, that by the end of the morning, we had gone to 12 different houses! As we went from house to house, we were offered some Swahili coffee (kahawa), juice, sweets, and Mary & Nik’s favourite – samosas. They were having the time of their lives, and Mary indicated that she would probably start celebrating Eid yearly (but would leave out the fasting part). It was an incredible experience, and everyone was so welcoming to us that even though I missed my family a lot on this day, I couldn’t have asked for a better morning! In the afternoon, a dhow boat competition was to take place. Once again, Mohammed and his friends and family invited us on their boat to watch the race. We thought we’d be on some sort of speedboat, but when we arrived, we were led to a huge boat, complete with couches, a flat screen and surround sound. It was such a great day! At night, we took a boat to the “floating bar restaurant” which is literally that – a hut that floats in the middle of the ocean and if you step too much to one side, you will actually fall into the water!

Although I was having a great time in Lamu, my wisdom tooth was giving me an insane amount of pain. I have been avoiding this tooth for forever, dreading to get surgery back home. Usually at home, the pain comes and goes within a day and then I forget that I ever have to deal with it. But of course, when I’m finally on vacation and it’s time to enjoy, I have nothing but pain. I tried to numb the pain with 4 advils/day but it just wasn’t working. I spoke to someone on the island who told me that I could get it checked out at a free clinic at a children’s orphanage and that he could take me there. I didn’t even ask Nik & Mary to come, because I thought it would be no big deal. But as soon as I got there and opened my mouth, the dentist told me that it had to come out! Going to the bathroom in a hole, I can handle. Showering with a bucket, I can also handle. I can even handle petting a cheetah in a cage. But getting my tooth extracted on a tiny island in the middle of Africa was on a whole other level. I told him that maybe I could do it in Canada and he said that there was no choice in the matter. So without anyone with me, I went into the room, sat down on a chair upright, got a few needles in my mouth to make me numb and out came my tooth with a pair of pliers (or at least it seemed so). He threw some gauze in my mouth, gave me a few pills, and told me to be on my merry way. I asked him about swelling and pain and all that good stuff, and he said not to worry about any of it. I couldn’t believe it really since getting your wisdom teeth pulled back home is always such a big deal. So I trotted him, waiting for 20 minutes, took the piece of gauze out of my mouth like he instructed, popped a couple of pills, and I was fine. Until now, I have had no pain and no swelling – just a big hole in the back of my mouth which makes me very happy and saved me $1000. It’s like I won the lottery!

I realized I have now babbled on for what seems like an eternity. I have so much more to say, but will save it and post pictures in the near future instead. All three of us felt so incredibly lucky to experience such a beautiful place. Lamu is truly a hidden paradise.

Love, donkeys and healthy teeth,

Shahla

Bittersweet Goodbyes

Sorry for the overdue entry! It’s been a pretty busy last couple of weeks trying to figure out what our next steps were! I am writing from our rooftop balcony on the island of Shela in Lamu. It doesn’t get any better than writing while looking at white sand beaches and beautiful blue water. Lamu will be a blog entry in and of itself so I’ll save the details until later.

Last I wrote, we had just come back from our second safari in Nakuru. We knew that our time was coming to an end, and when you don’t want things to end, they go by even quicker. During our last couple of weeks, we had an outreach which was as usual, quite eye-opening. We had split into pairs and Nikita and I went to do a home visit. When we arrived, we met a young woman, about 20 years old who had epilepsy. When she was 10 years old, she had a seizure which caused her to fall into a fire. Because of that, her legs were completely impaired (causing her to walk on the lateral side of her feet). She also had cognitive impairments and was not able to do much because of her condition. As we were assessing her, we noticed a little girl, about 3 years old. We thought this was her little sister, but the head of the village told us that a few years ago, she was raped in her sleep and as a result had a child. We asked him who he thought did this to her and he said it could be any of the men in the village because they know she has a disability and would not be able to fight back. Unbelievable and so sad. After this, we went to another house to visit a lady who had a severe disability because of polio. She sat so cross-legged that Nikita and I thought she was an amputee. This lady must have been about 45 years old, and in the room was her husband who looked to be close to 80. He sat in the room the entire time but did not say a word and ate his ugali and fish while we carried out the assessment. At one point he fell asleep while he was eating, and Nik and I couldn’t help but giggle. This lady was so positive and great, but due to her severe arm and leg contractures, is unable to move around and earn a living. She has four children, two of them who are still quite young. She asked us if we could purchase a wheelchair for her so that she would be able to get around easier. We told her that we would do our best, and once again, you can see where your donations have come!

Our last weekend was great and relaxing. We told Perez that we would cook the two meals on the weekend so she could taste “Canadian” food. We made spaghetti and homemade sauce one day, and spicy thai vegetable curry the next day. We really loaded up on the hot sauce, but no one seemed to mind and enjoyed their food thoroughly. Our weekend was lovely and all of us were enjoying it until Christine burst into our room at 11pm Sunday night and told us that Erica had to go to the hospital. Erica hadn’t been feeling well for the last few days, and we thought she had malaria but that the medications she received from the doctor were controlling it. However, on Sunday night, her fever shot up and she couldn’t keep anything down. They rushed her to the hospital at night and the result was that she had some sort of infection and had to go to the Aga Khan Hospital which was 4 hours away in Kisumu! We weren’t prepared to say bye to Christine & Erica because our plan was for us to go to Lamu with them. The rest of the week flew by. We did more community visits and said goodbye to all our favourite clients which was tough because we knew we would probably never see them ever again or for a very long time. Mr. Okidi decided that on Thursday, we would drive to Kisumu to check on Erica (who was still in the hospital and not doing very much better) and then from Kisumu, Nik, Mary & I would head to Mombasa and the Lamu. Although Perez & Mr. Okidi were coming with us, we sat down before we left and spoke about the last 6 weeks. It was so difficult to talk about all the unique and wonderful times we had over the last weeks without getting emotional. They had become our family and Perez was the best second mom anyone could ask for! After all our hallmark moments, we joined hands and Perez said a prayer for us to have a safe journey for the rest of the coming weeks. We all held it in until the prayer circle, and then Nik and I just burst out into tears (did you expect anything less?). And no, Mary didn’t cry -- apparently she has a heart of stone?

It was great to see Christine & Erica again and Erica was much better by the time we arrived that the doctors said she would be discharged by the next day. This was great news for her since she planned to still climb Mt. Kili on Tuesday! We of COURSE had dinner at our favourite Indian restaurant. We also found $1 nailpolish at the Nakumatt and went crazy buying them, and then realized that we literally have no room for anything. As it stands now, each of our backpacks weighs about the same as a baby elephant (Did I mention that packing our backpacks was BRUTAL?). None of us have any idea why our things weigh so much (considering we gave away half of our clothes), but I blame it on all the souvenirs I bought myself (I mean, all of you) from Nakuru. What a fail! Now we are looking into ways to either ship a box home or leave stuff with relatives in London so we don’t have to carry it around the Europe portion of our trip. Hopefully someone comes through, we’ll reward them with a lot of nailpolish!

Anyways, the chef is making dinner especially for us and serving it to us on our rooftop balcony, so I should probably be going. Ahh…to live the hard life ;) We’re doing a huge outreach on Thursday all by ourselves with no translators, cut us some slack!

Love & Ocean Breeze,

Shahla

Baboons, Tea and Chapatis x 3

Saturday morning, Gabby picked us up at 5am and so began our second safari adventure! We of course slept almost the entire way and woke up with one hour to go to Nakuru. There are tons of police stops along the way, and because they are so corrupt, the police try to make a dollar any which way they can. We had passed through the first five or so stops with no problem, but when we came to the sixth stop, the policeman waved us to stop the vehicle. Usually when they do this, they speak to the driver and they exchange some words in Swahili, and off we go. But this wasn’t the case. The police wouldn’t let go of the fact that there was a crack in the windshield and insisted on taking Gabby and all of his passengers to court. I thought “court” was a different way of saying “getting a ticket”, but we were wrong. The policeman said the he would seize the vehicle and all of us had to go to court. Of course we knew this was ludicrous since in the six weeks we’ve been here, we go through on average at least 2 stops a day and have never been hassled. In the end, Gabby had to pay off the policeman in order to let us go. We told him that he should’ve stood his ground, but he explained to us that it is the way things work here, and there was nothing we could do it about it. On top of everything, the gear box in the car seemed to be giving Gabby trouble and told us that he hoped it would make it to Nakuru. Once we arrived, Gabby decided to take the car to get fixed. Our initial plan was to do our safari on the Saturday, but because of the car issues and the time, we decided we’d postpone it to the next day and spend the rest of the day walking around Nakuru and going to the market.

That was good news and bad news. Good news because we had lots of time to pick out exactly what we wanted. Bad news because we had lots of time to pick out exactly what we wanted, and it turned out that we each wanted a lot of things! After spending 4 hours at the market, I managed to get a combination of bowls, statues, earrings, bracelets a globe (don’t ask) and a bag. All of which I’m going to have to lug around with me for the next 6 weeks. Before heading back to our hostel, we of course made stopovers at the Nakumatt and Tusky’s, since no trip would be complete without them! We somehow managed to get upgraded to a triple room at our hostel. We were all so exhausted that we made it an early night so we could get up the next morning.

At 6am we were out and ready to go. Nakuru National Park is only a 10 minute drive from the city, so it took us no time to get there. We were greeted by a bunch of little baboons in the parking lot, all being cheeky and trying to get into our windows. Although we tried to pull the same stunt as we did in Masai Mara by getting a discount on the entry fee, it didn’t work and we had to pay the standard $90USD. The park was so beautiful and peaceful with greenery everywhere, the complete opposite to the arid desert-like appearance of the Mara. While in the Mara you see animals at every turn, it’s a little more difficult to find them in this park. Our first stop was to head to the river where we were greeted by a sea of pink. Although there were not as many as there are other times of the year, the flamingos were stunning and graceful, just as we expected. You are allowed to get out of your vehicle in the park (unlike the Mara) when you are near the river, so we got out and took a bunch of pictures. Just as we got back into the car we saw a herd (not sure if they’re called a herd) of rhinos looking straight at us. They were so close to us we could hardly believe it. Gaby was getting scared because one of the rhinos had a little baby with them and Gab said that the most dangerous animal is a rhino with a child in tow. After that, we headed to my favourite part of the day, baboon point! Since I was little, monkeys have been my favourite animal! We headed to the lookout point and when we got there, we were surrounded by baboons. They were the cutest! We saw them checking one another’s hair for fleas, checking one another’s bums and even doing some cheeky business. It was the best! I was so happy! The rest of our safari was also awesome as we saw many buffalo, zebras and giraffes, but sadly no lions! We knew we were so lucky to have seen all the animals we did at the Mara, so we weren’t disappointed at all. The park was beautiful and definitely worth it!

On the way home, we passed through a town called Kericho. For those of you who are familiar with Kenya, Kericho is known for its tea! Our lonely planet booked recommended a place called the “Tea Hotel”, where we could stop in for an “amazing cup of tea”. The hotel was beautiful and was surrounded by ample greenery and flowers. We entered this large tea room where we each enjoyed a cup of tea. I, myself had one of the best cups of masala tea ever! Yum yum! It took us about 7 hours to get home, and on the way saw people selling carrots, chickens, and most disturbing of all, bunny rabbits. They literally held these bunnies by their ears and smashed them against the window asking us if we wanted them. I wonder when a day will come when things here don’t surprise me…

We had Monday off because Mr. Okidi wanted us to visit his family. Since Gaby’s family lives close by, we were also invited there. And a family that lives near the Okidis in Rongo invited us to their house for dinner. We knew we were in for a long, long day. Mr. Okidi’s family lives up a mountain that took us at least 90 minutes to get to. Word got around that we love chapatis, so when we got there, we were treated to a fest of chapatis, beans, rice and pineapple. They had a pineapple patch on their property and we saw how pineapples are grown. It is the coolest thing! A plant sprouts and on top of it is a pineapple! Google image it! We spent quite a bit of time at Mr. Okidi’s place (mainly because he left in between for a 2 hour meeting that we knew nothing of), and then headed 45 minutes to Gaby’s house. Gaby has the cutest family and has three boys, Charles, Joseph and Wellington. We laughed when we saw that his wife had also prepared for us our favourite meal; yup, you guessed it, beans and chapatis. We gave their family some toys and played volleyball with their children for a while. It started raining hard as we headed out, and by the time we got to the last house, there was a complete power outage. You can never cancel here (it’s looked upon as very rude), so we headed out with our headlamps and Gaby dropped us at the last house. We were stuffed by that point but knew that we would have to eat. When the mother of the girls brought out the food, we wanted to die when we saw that it was once again, beans and chapatis. They told us that they had heard it was our favourite and we could do nothing but laugh and force down another plateful. What an eventful weekend!

This past week at placement has been quite eye-opening, and I will shortly write a blog about our last week’s experiences. But, I would like to say CONGRATS!!! to all my OTs who have officially finished their last day at placement, which means you are officially done school!!! In two weeks, we will soon be joining you, although, it’s a bit of a different situation here since none of us want to leave! But nonetheless, congrats, congrats, congrats!!!

Love & Chapatis,

Shahla

Love At First Smile...

This blog entry is about a girl named Emelda. I may have spoken about this beautiful 10 year old in a previous post, but allow me to introduce her again. I met Emelda at an outreach that we did two Fridays ago. An outreach (which usually occurs once or twice every week) is where we are literally driven to a community or village (usually very far away) and people with all different kinds of issues form a line and expect us to “cure” them. Just to put it in perspective, at one of our outreaches we had about 150 people waiting for us when we got there, and at this particular outreach we may have seen close to 80 people.

Towards the middle of our day, Emelda came in with her father. At first, Christine (the physiotherapy student) and I thought it was her grandfather because he was at least 65-70 years old. We later found out that Emelda’s dad actually has two wives, with his youngest child being 8 months old. When we went to greet Emelda, she gave us the biggest smile we had ever seen. It was love at first smile.

Emelda’s dad brought her in because she was having erratic bouts where she would hit her head on the ground, hurt herself and then cry (I may have said this part in an earlier post). Besides this, we could see that Emelda could use therapy for her gait and her speech (as there are no speech language pathologists here, so OTs do speech) but we couldn’t assess her properly until she was seen by a doctor. When we asked her father about this, he told us that he didn’t have the money to take her there, and so Christine and I decided that giving her father $10 for them to go to the hospital and return home was money well spent. We asked her father if he would bring her in to the clinic for training week, and he said that he would do everything in his power to try and make it happen. Over the weeks, we have had many parents promise to bring their children in, but for a variety of reasons, mainly financial, they don’t end up doing so. Maybe it was the fact that he was so genuine when he made his promise or maybe it was his smile, but we believed him and hoped that we would see both of them very soon.

Training week is a week where clients who we feel could benefit from more intensive therapy stay at the clinic for an entire week so we can treat them for five consecutive days. They sleep here and are provided with three meals a day (this is also where your donations have gone to). On Monday morning, you can imagine our delight when we saw Emelda’s smiling face greet us as we entered the clinic. I was overjoyed and so happy to see her. We asked her dad what happened when he went to the hospital, and he told us that the doctor said that she looked okay, but that further tests would have to be done. He brought us the book from the hospital to prove that they went, and when I looked at the date, I saw that he had taken her one day after we had initially seen them. 

Since we split up clients amongst us, I decided that I wanted to work with Emelda. We had an immediate bond and I couldn’t go anywhere without her coming to hug me or touch my face. Emelda was born without any sort of disability, but just like the majority of clients we’ve seen, developed severe malaria which left her pretty impaired and without much of her speech. She toe-walks and although is quite unsteady on her feet, is able to walk about 20 steps without falling. She can repeat sounds that are made, but certain letters and combinations of letters are difficult for her to fully grasp.

With many of the clients we have seen, no matter how young they are, there seems to be a bond which is lacking between the parent and child. I’m not sure if it is cultural or if we have just stumbled upon a lot of these cases, but it is rare to find a relationship where the bond is clearly evident. Of all the relationships I have seen so far, the one between Emelda and her dad is the most loving.  They look at each other with such kindness and understanding that it is difficult to describe in words. Emelda’s dad works so hard with her and it’s clear that he just wants the best possible life for her. 

We started by working on her gait, and when we asked Emelda to walk for us, we noticed that her shoes were coming off her feet. With limited resources, we thought that we could use the velcro (which we brought for splinting) to make straps for her shoes. The next day, when we arrived in the morning, Emelda’s dad had taken her to the tailor and got the straps sewed on to her shoes. It may seem like nothing, but that small gesture was the most proactive thing we have seen a parent do for their child since we have come. As the week went on, we continued to work with Emelda on her speech and walking. Emelda can do some things by herself (like feeding), but still needs some help when toileting and showering. When I would be working with other clients, I could see that Emelda’s dad would pull her aside and work with her on any exercises that we gave them. He told me that he believed in his daughter and believed that one day she would be able to be independent. I loved hearing it and told him that he was right.

At the beginning of the week, I told myself that by the end of training week, I would get Emelda to recognize me and say my name. As the days passed and I practiced her speech, she tried hard to make the “SH” noise, but couldn’t do it. She would always say my name as “Dhaala” and after she did, smiled and touched my face. I realized then that it was no longer important for her to get my name, she said it to the best of her ability, and the more she said it, the more beautiful it sounded to me. 

On Wednesday, Emelda’s dad approached me and asked to talk to me in private. When I asked him what was wrong, he told me that his dream would be for Emelda to go to school. When I asked him why she hadn’t been in school until now, he told her that he couldn’t afford to send her to a “special school” (what they use to describe schools who accept children with disabilities to attend). He asked if I could sponsor him, and his pleading eyes told me that there was no way I could say no. I told him that we would figure something out and would speak to Mr. Okidi about school for Emelda. Once I spoke to Nikita and Christine, we all decided that we would sponsor her tuition for a year. We approached Mr. Okidi who told us that because of his close ties with a specific school, Emelda would have no problem getting in. He told us that tuition is about $150 CAD/year and that there would be extra costs for uniforms, books, medicine, etc. The school that we are looking to send Emelda to is called “Ogande School”, a boarding school specifically for children with disabilities. We visited this school on a previous outreach and were so impressed by the teachers who were each specially trained and who treated each child with respect and dignity. We told Emelda’s dad that we would cover the tuition if he would pay for the extra fees, his eyes welled up with tears and he thanked us for at least ten minutes. When I looked at Emelda and told her that she would be going to school, she looked directly in my eyes and gave the biggest smile I had seen yet. A week ago, this opportunity never existed, and now, her life would be changed forever.

I thought about $150. Car insurance for a month. A few good dinners. Going to the Roger’s cup. A front row seat a concert. Sending a child to school. Somehow, the latter has a little bit of a nice ring to it. It’s amazing how we can spend so easily on things that in a matter of a few days or even a few hours are forgotten, but have to think about spending on things that truly make a difference. Thank you once again to all of you for your donations. I can assure you that the money you have donated has gone and is still going a long way.

For some of you, I just rambled on for two pages about one girl. No doubt there have been many children who have touched my heart. But it’s different when it comes to Emelda and her father. They touched my heart as well. But somehow, they also reached inside of me and claimed a piece of it as their own.

Thanks for listening. As soon as I get home, I’ll apply for a job at Hallmark in their “sappy cards” department.

Love & Big Smiles,
Shahla