Graduating Uganda

Today was our last day of training with all of the settings. It was a day of feeling thankful, a day of feeling proud of what they had achieved and how open minded they had been. A day of excitement that these special people were going to return to their communties and share their new skills and knowledge, and also sadness to be saying good bye. Over the next few days we are hoping to visit some of the participants at their schools and playschemes. We will also be spending more time with the children at The Ark, which we can't wait for! 

Devotions this morning gave an opportunity for someone from each setting to speak. We were truely touched by the remarks that were made, thanking us for our training, for coming to Uganda and for having the children in our hearts. They spoke of how although some of the therapies were 'strange' they could see the benfefits and felt it was God's will that they go and make practice of the training, enriching the lives of disabled children. Their kind words and prayers for us bought a tear to our eyes and a lump to our throats.

The first session today was signing. The delegates loved it! They were like sponges soaking up a whole new language. Interestingly some of them did know a little sign language but we had not seen them use it with the children. They were intrigued that we use signs to reinforce spoken language and not just to converse with other signers. They learnt some basic words and progressed on to learning some common sentences. They also enjoyed practicing talking to each other using their new found communication tool. Throughout this week we have well and truely taken them out of their comfort zone and they have compeletly stepped up to the plate; being animated, using a varied tone of voice and exageratted facial expression does not come naturally to our delegates, or atleast it didn't use to!

Next we educated the participants on a variety of communicative methods - Sherborne, TAC PAC and Intensive Interaction. Requesting that they all sit down on the floor was met again with some reserve but they trusted in us and all sat down. Laura began her Sherborne training (a body awareness programme to music) but it seemed a step too far to ask them to lie on the floor. Instead Linzi was 'volunteered' to crawl around the floor on her knees, something she agreed to but encouraged that one of the delegates must have a go next. Up stepped Brenda, Sponsorship Administrator at The Ark, before she knew that her demonstration would be to 'fall down' on to the floor in time to the music! Yes we have made them do some strange things this week but there is some method in our madness!

Things got stranger still when we introduced TAC PAC, a physical communication system using everyday objects! To the untrained eye it looks like you're massaging someone with a spatula and gently tapping them with chopsticks!!! However, it is actually a very effective approach to help children to respond and interact. Open your mind to TAC PAC and you'll never go back! The delegates loved exploring the resources; the mops, the chamois, the chains and feather dusters amongst other things!!! They massaged each other and relaxed to the music. This was followed by Intensive Interaction, a slightly more recognisable stratergy where you imitate the child. Linzi was again 'volunteered' to be the child but her performance was met with applause. 

At lunchtime we sadly had to say goodbye to Penelope and Moses, the staff from Rukungiri, who had to leave us early to make the 2 day journey home. They work for Global Care in the south of Uganda supporting children with physcal disabilities in government schools. They were 2 of the most inspiring people I've ever met. Penelope is confident, vivacious and full of passion. Moses is equally as passionate and despite being a litle reserved has been our have-a-go hero. He is raring to fight for the lives and rihgts of disabled children; following a discussion about children not recieving school meals in Uganda he was impressed by the way we valued people in the UK and remarked how he thought that "Britian is closer to Heaven."

Our final session was on TEACCH, a systematical approach to learning developed for people with Autism. This sparked interest again in to the condition with more people asking questions and recognising traits in their children. The staff from St Francis School for the Blind were particularly receptive of TEACCH and spoke about how they could use braille to label the tasks. Everyone was engaged in our actvity examples, especially the playdough, which again very few had ever seen. We spent quite a considerable time moulding, kneading and using cutters, some even asked to take home their creations. 

We ended the day and our training with presenting certificates and handing out resources to each of the settings. The trainees were so proud, and we were so proud of them all. We wrapped up with another couple of parachute games and a sing along to "You are so Holy" a song that will happily be stuck in our heads for days to come. We said our farewells and were meet with a mix of emotions. We hope to hear great things from them all in the coming months. 

Mentally exhausted from the last couple of days we returned to the hotel for dinner. We debriefed on the training and stayed up late to share anecdotes, spot ghekkos on the restaurant walls and looked at the stars. We may also have been a little delirious between the heat, the stress and the anti malaria tablets. The laughter was spurred on by Collette exclaiming "she deserves to die!" when I flippantly remarked that I hadn't even bothred to tuck my mosquito net under my mattress last night 😆 and the trainee waitress who ordered Laura a 'ham and juice' wrap for dinner! 

The most precious moment of all was watching the children from The Ark playing with bubbles for the first time though 😊