Thought I’d kick things off with the funny stuff from the week before work takes over!
Funniest things saw this week!
1. “Sex and drugs and sausage rolls” T-shirt
2. A cow scratching behind it’s ear with it’s back leg and licking it’s arse (how are they even possible).
3. The “homestretch hearse” - one of the many minivan hearses located near the hospital
Funniest things heard this week!
1. “Don’t tell anyone you only have 2 in the family (referring to me and my sis), they will pity and laugh at you”
2. “If you take (as in eat) the brown ugali, you will be very sorry and when you go to the toilet it will be paaainnnfulll” (complete with gestures and facial expressions)
3. After being asked if I was married (still no by the way) I was immediately offered a daughter as a bride.
Monday - Intro’s and hospital visit
All three of the funny things said above were courtesy of Damien (the hearing impairment specialist) and Dorothy (the mental health specialist) who along with Silas (see prev. post) make up the unit where I am based out of. I was introduced to them both on the Monday and we had a good ol fashioned chinwag about all sorts of things (as you can see above) but also each of our roles and how we can work together effectively.
First thing that happened in the morning when introduced to Dorothy was for her to rush off to grab a boda-boda driver (taxi motorbike) to whom I was introduced. Not quite understanding what was going on, it quickly became clear that this guy was just about to whiz off after having stopped by to speak to someone but no-one was around relevant to his concern. His child, 3, is profoundly Deaf ( as reported by dad) and not speaking so he popped in to find out some info. After a brief chat, it was decided for himself, the mother and the child (it’s rare for both parents to come so here was hoping!) to come in the following morning for an appointment with myself and the audiologist. My first assessment! Eeek.
Following this Silas and I went to Nyanza Hospital (known as Russia by everyone as the Russians funded it!), the largest in the district, if not Western Kenya to be introduced to the Kisumu headquarters of the Assocation of the Physically Disabled of Kenya (APDK)and the Occupational Therapist crew (whose clients are most in need of SLT’s out of the hospital) in the hope that I can do some work there. Easy as that after being introduced to an O.T called Elvis and a dude who looked like Wesley Snipes (complete with dodgy ‘tache), I’m now working every Monday at the hosptial alongside the O.T’s and plan to try and do some basic SLT training with various staff members (e.g: nurses on the paeds ward) so they know I’m around and can refer to me when needed. On route Silas gave me a very dad-like chat about being careful not to be tempted by women here (anywhere in Kenya is this true but more so in Kisumu which is said to have the highest prevalence of HIV - 1 in 5).. A little awkward to say the least but very lovely of him to care so much!
Sooo, this week was meant to be the week all schools in Kenya re-open which would mean me getting stuck into some introductions at local schools (before organising training) and see how Joylands is run itself, especially certain class groups (the cerebral palsy group/teachers have been pegged as one area they would specifically like me to work within). HOWEVER, there is a dispute between school staff and the government over pay so no schools opened this week which put not only a halt to the start of a lot of work but also meant come Wednesday, assessment day, hardly anyone would turn up as the unit is based with the school grounds but not part of the school itself and thus people think it’s not open L
Tuesday - First assessment!
As we had the time available I spent around an hour with the family from yesterday (both parents came woohoo!!). A case history was taken assisted by the Audiologist who interpreted at times when needed - as the official languages here are both Kiswahili and English (as well as the 42 different in-country languages!) the majority of people can understand and speak English fairly well. It turns out the child had some sort of operation on her ears which they think made her go Deaf at an early age. As the child is not of the age where the audiologist can conduct proper testing (5) his informal assumption was that she may have cochlear damage and therefore hearing aids would not support her. The child had excellent non-verbal communication skills and although did not make any noise throughout the session, the parents said she babbles a lot at home and makes lots of noise and uses pointing/gesture to communicate her needs. I advised the parents on some basic strategies to encourage more babbling and speech development and am finding some Kenyan Sign Language information for the parents so that using official signs that are used throughout Kenya would benefit the child in the future rather than home-made signs/gestures. I intend to contact them for a follow-up to see how the strategies are going.
Wednesday - Assessment day
As mentioned, as people assumed the school grounds were closed we only had 2 people arrive today - a mother who was enquiring about potential placement for her child in a local school; Silas said that this child is someone who I shall be house-visiting next week so I quickly asked a few informal questions so that I could prepare. The child, Joy, is almost 7 and had a pretty rough 1st year of life to say the least that impacted upon her physical, mental and communicative abilities. At 6 months she contracted T.B and then whilst in hospital at 8 months got cerebral malaria which presented as meningitis at which point she fell into a coma for 10 days. The mother says that after many years of O.T work, they stopped in July as she is at the point where she can self-feed and can walk. “She understands but cannot reply” and is able to say names and a few nouns. I will be seeing them next Tuesday morning.
The other child was a very similar case to the child I saw yesterday (profoundly Deaf, non-verbal) but was of a much older age - he was born sometime in 2005 according to his uncle who brought him in. Whilst asking the uncle some background history information it became clear that the Uncle was not entirely sure about many of the questions and thus we asked them to come back with the child’s Auntie who looks after him and his brothers; the child’s mother was kidnapped from the house and murdered and the father died in 2009. Asking whether Dominic has ever spoken/made noise (traumatic events can lead to selective mutism) the uncle seemed pretty certain that he has never made noise/sound - even when I asked he cries/screams when hurt or unhappy. During play with Dominic, he came across as a really smart kid with no motor difficulties, excellent non-verbal skills (nodding/facial expressions/pointing) and was incredibly receptive/found it fun to imitate. After I showed him how to use a pull-back toy, he copied, as he did with a few other objects… so I figured why not get a fake phone and show him me making noise whilst getting him to feel my throat for the vibrations, I handed him the phone and gestured to him to do the same whilst placing my fingers on his throat - Dominic to my surpise (and delight!) copied me by babbling into a phone, he also mimicked my lip movements for baby and made some really nice long “aaaarrrrrgghhh” sounds. I’ll see him again next week where I will meet his primary carer (auntie) and am really hopeful that I can see him on a weekly basis as he shows so much potential/ability.
So tomorrow (Friday) I’m meeting up with an American lady who is in charge of the Kenyan Youth Football Association. I mentioned to Silas that I was hoping to get involved in a bit of footy out here and straight off he contacted this organisation. After speaking to the lady she said it would be great if I got involved with some training or refereeing (who would be a ref eh?!) and alos by chance her daughter has language delay and a hearing impairment and they have not been able to continue the therapy she was receiving after moving here so I’ll be talking to her about that aswell! Work and pleasure - lovely stuff.
Off to Kakemega - a national park/forest - for most of the weekend which should be lovely as long as it doesn’t absolutely piss down. It’s rained pretty hard here every evening this week causing long periods of no electricity which doesn’t make living alone with an electric cooker (I’ve got a little gas one as back-up tho) and the majority of your entertainment being on your laptop too much fun.
Byyyeeeeeeeeeeeeee!!! xxx
Top 3 Itunes songs on shuffle whilst I wrote this:
1. Ain't got no... I got life - Nina simone
2. Mountains - Biffy Clyro
3. Ain’t no rest for the wicked - Cage the elephant
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