This semester part of my Practicum takes place at ACHERU: Afaayo Child Health Education and Rehabilitation Unit. Afaayo means: "God Cares". Children with mostly physical disabilities come to ACHERU from all over Uganda with a caretaker (most often a mother, grandmother, or older sister), to stay for 2 weeks - 2 years /however long it is needed. Day patients also circulate through from the surrounding community.
At ACHERU, the children are provided with a place to stay and brought into a family environment where their disabilities are treated and rehabilitated.
In this culture, children with disabilities are often isolated from the community, psychologically abused, and even killed because they may be seen as a curse. Their suffering may be made worse as a result of the attempts of witchdoctors, bonesetters and local medicines. Some of the deformities can be detected at birth, but there are also other problems such as: PIP (post injection paralysis) which is often from the injection of quinine (a malaria medicine), Burn wounds and contractions, Osteomyellitis (can be caused by malnutrition, poor hygiene and the consultation of witch doctors for treatment), and the list goes on.
Once a child is treated and rehabilitated, they are able to return to their community as a fully participating member, with their lives changed as well as the lives of those around them.
How did I end up at ACHERU? Well, when given a list of options of where to do my practicum, for some reason, I felt a pull to ACHERU that morning, and I put it down as my first option. We weren't given a ton of information, so I had no idea what to expect.
It has been a challenge and a joy. I've seen some things I never had to even wonder if I could stomach, and have prayed many times for God to give me strength to keep my stomach down. I've discovered that my stomach can handle much more than I knew; I've seen bone and rotted flesh, needles, disfigurements, and not felt my stomach at all. But what my stomach, and perhaps my heart, can't seem to handle is the pain. The times I've felt faint have been when a child cries, screams, in pain. It's then that my stomach turns and I feel faint.
So what am I doing here? I'm not qualified, I can but observe some things, I can only half communicate to some of the children, every once in a while a child is even scared of me. I take up their time to be taught how to do things, I can't teach them anything. That has been a challenge. Often, when going to work with an organization, and perhaps, especially one in Africa, we are surrounded by the mentality that we must be going to help, to contribute, to teach, to make some difference, to bring something unique, some knowledge that they don't have. This understanding can be dangerously paternalistic and can ignore the efforts and abilities of the people who are already there.
But they are qualified doctors, nurses, and physiotherapists, local people who know the language, live in the community. Many of the staff live on the grounds, taking care of the children as their own, becoming their family. I've seen a boy scream in pain, only to burst out laughing the next second, alternating through crying laughter as the physiotherapist gently moves the hurt arm while singing and fooling around.
So here I am, humbly willing to be present and participate, contributing to the community as, well, just
me.
.
Once I've realized this, I've been able to discover how I interact with this community.
Since I've been at Acheru, I've helped with casting, and physiotherapy, I've observed wound dressings, I've learned and retained more in depth details about the nervous system than I ever have in my biology classes, and I've even caused some smiles and dried a few tears.
I've discovered that my figure drawing class has assisted me tremendously with my understanding of the human body, that my high school sculpture class founded my casting skills, and that drawing and offering my white hand as a blank canvas can bring a lot of smiles. And to top it off, I've witnessed the success of an organization founded internationally, but now completely run by and now taken ownership of by the local people.
My time has run out for writing, but if you have any questions about the organization, check out their website or feel free to ask some questions!
