We arrived at Katumba in the morning after Lulu dropped us off and the rest of the group went to Lubala for the Welcome Day. The First thing we done was walk around Katumba, I especially wanted to do this as I had only visited the school once prior and only for a short time. On our way of having a general look round, we greeted children and helped some of the children in wheelchairs get to and from the toilets. The toilets were disgusting and the smell emitting from them, was even worse. Some of the children chose to urinate outside, even those in wheelchairs which was of great difficulty to them.
We then went back to Sharon's treatment room where the children had already began filtering in. While Sharon performed the first massages on the children, my job was to entertain the others waiting on the floor with the toys we had. They were all playful despite whatever disabilities they had, there was one girl called Vanessa who had mental issues as well as physical issues as her hand had began cramping up, who was determined to build lego with me even though she couldn't properly grasp the blocks.
After playing with the children it was the students turn to learn the basic massages for the children that needed it. There was a great amount of children that did need these basic massages, so for us to get involved really helped Sharon work through the children and attend the children who had greater needs. Another girl called Emelina had something wrong with her spine, leaving her fragile and weak, she was that weak that after her check up by Sharon, she fell asleep in my arms on the floor out of exhaustion from doing so little, she woke up and often wanted me to put the finger puppets on and tickle her, it was heart breaking to see such a big smile for something so little.
For a break I went out to help the other members with the ongoing paper technology project, Max was preparing a set of steps to help the smaller children access the sinks to wash hands or clothes. The project was ongoing for most of the day where we all had our go at contributing to try and get the job done so it could stat being put to use.
Dinner was Ugali, it was no the nicest however we were more focussed on getting back to the children and finishing off the day having completed a significant amount. Back in the medical room more children started coming in and decided they wanted to play with the exercise balls, bouncing them and throwing them round, it was satisfying seeing the children become so happy because of a little bit of care we provided for the day. A few children came in who suffered with albinism, they were shocked, hopefully in a good way, when finding out we could count to ten in Swahili, the then joined in and even proved to us they could also repeat the sequence in English.
Having spent the day in Katumba I realised how much we do make a difference to the children by bringing them care and love, however there was still a lot that needed improved internal, which we are trying to do during our stay and afterwards, we are all very passionate about Katumba as a group and are willing to focus on making it better for the children within it.
- Olivia
Sounds like very rewarding work. Wish i was with you.
ReplyDeleteWhy not, some time, Jean?
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