Hages at Tenwek 2018

This is Juliette Apiyo.... Soooooo…The past few days in Kenya have been amazing yet busy. On Monday my grandma, my brother, and I went to The Baby Center. The Baby Center(TBC) is a place where kids and babies, ages 1 day - 6, will go if there parents can’t take care of them or there parents have died. Its sort of like an orphanage but the relatives like aunts or uncles can go visit and hopefully adopt them. We went to visit a pair of twin girls who were born at Tenwek. My grandma took care of them last time she was here. Their mother died at the hospital for reasons I can’t explain and their dad is very old and can’t take care of them. By the way their names are Faith and Cynthia and they are about one year old now. They occasionally get visitors like their two aunts and their cousin. We went with Faith and Cynthia’s cousin, Carol. When we got there we went in a room and shortly after they brought Faith and Cynthia to us. They were so cute and look almost identical. I tried holding

Friday in the Special Needs Clinic….hard work with a big payoff Finally, it is Friday here at Tenwek, the day we have all anxiously awaited and prepared for over the last few months. Our goal has been to make this journey to support Solomon Rop, PT and the Special Needs Clinic at Tenwek Hospital. Making the journey with us is my friend and colleague, TR Goins and my sister- in-law Betsy Hage, who is also a PT. TR owns Abilitations, a pediatric therapy practice in Raleigh, NC while Betsy works for Bill's practice in their bundled care program.   We have arrived with 4 suitcases full of therapy supplies, padding, strapping, AFO’s, club foot braces, toys, and educational materials. But mostly, we have arrived with big hearts ready to serve!! We began our day just like any "female Amercian therapist would”…detailed ideas of how we think things should be, thoughtful treatment spaces with toys placed at arms reach, handouts at the ready to be distributed to families, and eve

Party at the Kipaganga….. Thursday, March 1st, Today I woke up to some bota botas (Swahili word for motorcycle) and a tractor trying to dump rocks on the ground to try and smooth the road out. We live on a hillside beside a bumpy and rocky road into Tenwek Hospital. My dad and mom went to work at the hospital and my mom works with Solomon which he started the Special Needs Clinic. Most of you know my dad is a surgeon. He fixed two broken hips today. One of them was in a bota bota accident trying to go up a hill. He fell and broke his hip!  After lunch I played with Isaac, Nate, and Will.  I got to go to PE with all of them.  (They are homeschooled).  The teacher lets other guests play PE if they want.  After PE I went to play with Nate and Isaac and we played wave tag.  It was really fun.  We played wave tag for a long time which got so tiring.  Then we got to go to the Kipaganga (Swahili for basketball court).  We went to dinner which was Italian night and all the other missio