Gweri

I know that when I write about seeing these handicapped kids it is hard to picture what I'm talking about. So I'm going to try to give you just a glimps of what I'm talking about.

First- on our way out to the homes of these kids. To call it a two-tracking would be misleading because it implies that there is more than one track. Most of these homes are found at the far end of a not so straight foot path through the bush. But our little car took it like a champ.

This is Mary. She is 10 years old and was one of the kids that actually seemed happy to see me. Mary is able to feed herself and sit up on her own, making her one of the highest functioning kids that I saw the whole day.

This is David. Not so happy to see me at all! (White skin can be pretty scary if you've never seen it before.) David's mother told me that she was in labor a long time and that he is like this because "he was pulled."  David can't seem to hold things in his hands at all, though he can sit with minimal support.

At most of these homes I had only been there a few minutes when an audience formed. The blue outfits are their school uniforms as they just got home. Notice the huts on the left and the right. We are sitting under a big shade tree in the middle of their clan compound.

This is the house of one of the families (though it is just like the houses of all of them). The little girls are just siblings watching me, possibly the most entertaining thing that will happen at their home all week.

At all of these homes we were invited to come sit in the shade and occasionally asked to sign the guest book. Both of the men on the right came with us. Steven is in blue and he is the one that has worked really hard to help me to see these kids. Mike is in white and he is the coordinator for work with handicapped in all of Gweri. Both of these men are phsically handicapped themselves and have a big heart to share with parents that their child is not worthless because of their struggles. The back of the head in the picture is Lisa.  Once again- thanks Lisa for joining me on this adventure even though we had no idea what we were getting ourselves into!

The last child we saw of the day was Lucy and her parents deserve an ovation for the care that they have given her. She is the 8th of nine children but when I asked if her siblings are around to help her aging parents her mother said that only 3 of them are still living. Lucy can't hardly even swallow but her parents have lovingly cared for her for 13 years. They asked for a little help from me- they would like a mosqueto net for her. In the states she would have a peg tube and diapers and a lift to get her into and out of her electric wheel chair and meds to keep her easy to care for. Here she has a mother who feeds her very carefully and a father who carries her because she is too heavy for her mother.