The Extremes..

Somehow I've been back in Kenya for almost 2 months. I have no idea where the time has gone, I do know it's been an overwhelming, challenging, fun, exciting and daunting 2 months and that I couldn't be happier that I'm 'home'.

I'd forgotten how here it's all about the extremes:
Extreme highs. Extreme lows. Extreme cases.
You never just plod along here... Initially it was topsy turvy ride (and it still is), however, it's a ride I'm most definitely happy to be on.

My role this time has changed slightly. I'm still a speech and language therapist, however, I'm also project coordinator for Yellow House Children's Services and I am incredibly lucky that Bea is letting me take some of the reigns in pushing forward and developing her organisation as we try and establish a new model of service delivery in rural areas.
It's a tough challenge, but one that I am excited to be a part of..

A lot of my time was initially spent meeting with my Kenyan colleagues across Vihiga, Kakamega, Kisumu and Mumias to work out how best me/Yellow House/future volunteers can support and develop programmes. Being home definitely made it easier for me to plan my time, in hopefully a way that's a bit less like I'm 'fire hosing' my way around and actually creating sustainable services.

I've also caught up with some old schools:

Madzu - to give them some resources my sister had worked hard to make to demonstrate how many different areas you can work on with just one or two things as a basis. They were really grateful and hopefully when I go in to see them next week they'll have put them to good use. 

The kids especially loved the creme eggs!!!

Kegoye - What can I say but, wow!!! They literally blew me away, and after a G&T and a chat with friends here, I did the 'typical' Mzungu thing and had a bit of a cry...

They should be a model of how a special unit within an inclusive school should be run. After working with them lots last year, I could see how they've taken on board any strategies and advice I'd given, and ran with it.

They're focusing on developing vocational skills, like budgeting, carpentry (they built some hutches so that the children can learn how to look after rabbits and chickens), farming, tailoring... As well as working with the children who can access academic work in a way that supports them.

Not only that, an aspect of special education teaching in Kenya that frustrates me more than anything else is that the teachers of the units are also made to teach in mainstream. This often means that the children who need the most supervision and support are left on their own.. Through incredible work from the teachers of Kegoye the headteacher has 'deployed' (I love that they use that word for it!!) two teachers, Nancy and Maurine to be full time in the unit, hiring two replacement teachers in the mainstream school, and the third, Stanley, is part time in both, awaiting a letter to confirm he can be in the unit full time too. That's 3 teachers who are specifically trained in special education to a class of about 12 children. Does that even happen in the UK???!!! Plus, they finish teaching at lunchtime and then have the afternoons to plan their next day of teaching.

This is unknown in all the schools I've visited in Kenya, but as well as that, these teachers are so innovative in their ability to utilise to the max the minimal resources that they have.

Chekombero/Tony - the little boy who was being neglected and abused by his carers is going from strength to strength: learning sign language, making friends, laughing, learning... This was the boy who would cower from adults, throw stones at his peers and isolate himself. Just shows what a difference acceptance makes.

Tony (centre) with his mates and a coy smile...

However, then you get the other side of what happens here...

Michael is selectively mute after his father was arrested for stealing. Stealing from his wife who he's spent years psychologically abusing.
Michael is traumatised by his father being arrested and hasn't said a word since it happened 2 months ago. His mother, the once respected seamstress with a successful business has lost all work. Who wants to buy from the wife of a thief? She is now a commercial sex worker because there is no other way she can provide for her children.
There aren't professionals in Kenya who can help deal with the psychological and economic issues going on in this situation. The community around them won't help in this situation...
I'm hoping the mother brings Michael back so I can try and counsel him through this. But she needs support too...

I've met a little girl here called Edna. Her mother is called Florence. I look forward to seeing them every week because the love Florence has for her beautiful daughter is inspiring.
Edna has sickle cell. She was fine, until her father lost his job for a few weeks. People with sickle cell have to be on medication everyday. The medication costs 85ksh (65p) per day. The family had to chose to feed their children. Sadly Edna had an attack during this period, where basically she had a stroke. As a result she had weakness down one side, but otherwise was fine as it was a mild attack. She required a blood transfusion which needed to be given to her slowly... it was until a nurse came a long and thought it was taking too long (without querying why) and sped it up. Edna had her second stroke. This time she has a weakness on both sides, her walking is severely impaired and she has a motor speech difficulty - she can't speak. She can understand everything though and cries when Florence is giving a case history as "she gets sad when she hears what happened to her"...
Edna and Florence are a joy to work with.
Florence's dedication to her daughter and how she interacts with her is so wonderful to watch. I'm planting the seed to set up a women's group where she lives for mums of children with disabilities. I hope she'll be one of the key women involved...