A Day in the Life of Caroline: In summary, I love schedules and bumbos.

We are settled in! Officially. Yesterday (Friday), we went to the Havens (the children home/refuge) all day to get the lay of the land, meet the babies, meet the Aunties (the caregivers), informally assess the babies, and form a clinical plan. Megan, an American about my age who lives here in Namwianga (the village in Zambia where we are located), is the official Medical Advocate for the children at the Haven. She knows these children inside and out, all 70 plus. The Haven is a very transient population, as the goal is for these children to return home if possible. None of the kiddos from my last visit are here, as they have all gone home to the village. Which makes her knowledge of the children even more impressive. Most of the babies leave around the age of 2-3 when the child is healthy enough to return to their village, when the family feels they can adequately take care of the child, or when Megan has found another school or home for the children. When I came in 2010, Megan left the day after we got here to live back home (USA) for a year and a half. She is now back and the difference in the children is remarkable.

When we came in 2010, there was a great opportunity to teach the Aunties so many things to help the babies with their development. The Aunties (the caregivers who work at the three Havens (children's homes) were and are absolutely wonderful, but there has been specific knowledge we have been able to share with them that has made the absolute difference of life and death for some of these babies. Please do not take this as me saying we taught them everything. We did not. The Aunties are amazing caregivers who did not have the resources and same knowledge of child development that we as therapists do. Megan is sole implementer of all of these things, and we have been privileged and blessed to be a part in that journey. Since the HIZ PATH program first came 5 years ago, here are some of the major differences that we have been privalaged to witness.

They have an hour Language group with the children every day, Monday-Friday. The babies are talking and interacting much faster now.
They now make sure that all babies are up except when sleeping or sick. They utilize the bumbo seats (see below for a picture of a bumbo) for the itty bits so they can work on head/trunk control. This is CRUCIAL for normal development. But it is even more important for babies at risk (HIV, TB, Pneumonia) so they can have as much as a head start as possible.
They utilize tummy time for the itty bits, which is also SO IMPORTANT for head and neck control, and general interaction (e.g. the baby learns he/she actually has to make an effort to socialize.)
The babies are consistently feeding better.
The babies are demonstrating gross motor skills more age appropriate (e.g. supporting neck, rolling over, sitting, etc).

All of these preventions help the current children to stay healthy and on task, whether they are at medical risk or not. Then when a baby comes in that is sick the staff can focus on getting that baby up to speed. What a blessing!

Therapy starts Monday! The schedule is a Rubik cube. We are here to help and be of service to their schedules and culture, NOT for things to be rearranged around us. For the Havens, we accommodate for several factors including: wake up time, time for the Aunties to get the babies ready in the morning, feeding time, naps, snack or “tea” time for the toddlers, bath time after lunch, etc. The babies really aren't ready for therapy until 9:30 a.m. For the wonderful Zambians who are feeding us, we accommodate the schedule so it doesn't interfere with their safety or family time. We don't eat breakfast until 8:00 am so they don't have to travel over too early or in the dark to prepare our meals, as most travel from their village on foot or bycyle. We eat dinner by 5:00 so they can travel home before dark and prepare the meal for their on families. Here is a sample schedule of our weekdays here in Namwianga! Weekends are for trips to the village, make up therapy sessions, time for the graduate students to work on their research, church, and of course the most important things... rest, decompression, and regrouping.

MORNING: Group 1 Language, Group 2 Feeding

9:30

FEEDING: Haven 1, The Grower Group (Six babies from ages 3.5 months to 6 months, plus a 1 year old who needs some TLC)

LANGUAGE: Haven 2 (A house full of very healthy toddlers (about 20ish of them) who are getting ready to head home)

10:30

FEEDING: Haven 1, Itty Bit Group (Six babies from ages 3 weeks to 3 months)

LANGUAGE: Haven 3 (15 kiddos from 7 months to 2 years, plus the 7 year old who needs some TLC)

11:30

FEEDING: Haven 3 (Six kiddos from 2 months to 10 months, plus a 1.5 year old and a 6 year old who need TLC)

LANGUAGE: Haven 1 (Fourteen kiddos from 7 months to 2 years)

12:30

HEAD BACK TO CAMP

1: 00

LUNCH then REST

AFTERNOONS: Group 1 Feeding, Group 2 Language

2:30

FEEDING: Haven 1, Growers

LANGUAGE: Haven 2

3:05

FEEDING: Haven 1, Itty Bits

LANGUAGE: Haven 3

3:40

FEEDING: Haven 3

LANGUAGE: Haven 1

4:15 to 4:30: Finish up the day and head back for dinner.

I don't have many pictures yet. We won't start taking pictures of babies until at least a week in so we have time to build relationships with them. But I will leave you with a picture of the trunk of my car before packing... It was FULL of Bumbo seats thanks to the generous hearts of my friends and family! The Aunties were TICKLED with a change from their green Bumbos... We brought all pink and purple, plus the trays to go on them! With the donated money I received, we were able to bring 6 Bumbos and 12 trays! You have no idea how much of an opportunity this provides the babies to be up. Their are only so many arms to hold the babies at one time, and believe me, the wonderful Aunties would hold them all at once if they could! The Bumbo's provide a safe way for the babies to sit up on their own without falling over. Thank you to all those who provided!