Another Successful Day!

Another day packed full of activities!

BTW, just so everyone knows, the orphanage here is very large and beautiful. It is set on stunning, open grounds with several large buildings. The last time I was here there were over 500 children living on campus. The caregivers do an amazing job caring for all the children! We really enjoy getting to know these wonderful women whom we respect a great deal - they work so hard! The rehabilitation staff is also large. This staff works with the children from the community as well as in the orphanage. I am going to attach some pictures of a training session that we did today to work on activities for children with developmental delays and cerebral palsy. We had such a wonderful time!


We skipped lunch wisely so we could enjoy the reception dinner being held on Wednesday evening. We had been to many receptions during previous trips, so we knew the food would be delicious and plentiful! We were so happy to just have a quick rest at lunch and get back to work. Just after lunch we saw some children from the community. Following our work and suggestions we proceeded to the rehab department to work with several more children from the orphanage. We were also able to take some time to re-visit several children who are designated to Gladney. We wanted the chance to visit with them in an environment they found familiar.

The best part of this trip is the chance to help in the process of finding homes for children with special needs. We were privileged to see today several adoptive parents picking up their children to take home. It gave me goosebumps when I saw one family walk through the gates holding their child in their arms. Well, I hope to have that image in my dreams tonight. Another update coming soon.

Pat

Kathy and Pat's Great Day at Foster Care Center

Today was a great day!

Steven (SCH interpreter) picked us up at our hotel in a van and drove us to the foster care center. Accompanying were staff from SCH and the foster care center's supervising teacher. We were very impressed with the foster care center which provides activities for preschool children and supervision for foster parents. It was spotless and the staff was extremely open and welcoming. It was clear the staff really knew and cared about the kids because they kept adding in little snippets of information about the children.

Now about the Gladney partnership children. They are GREAT!!!!!!! Again, overall, they are in very good shape, most with mild conditions. They drew pictures for us, they danced - really showing off, they smiled and laughed and were just precious! They all have so much love to give!!!!

We were taken to lunch at a small restaurant in a private room - it was a great lunch!

After lunch, we returned to the foster care center to evaluate four more children who were so full of personality. One little girl leaned over and gave Kathy the cutest, big kiss:)



Wherever we go – we are met by children of all ages who just want to be held and hugged – so of course we try to do that as often as we can! The children are all beautiful. Each with their own special personality. This is one of the difficult and sad things about living in an institution – no matter how good the staff and facility – each child misses out on being the focus of attention and love. If only each of these children had parents who knew every detail of their lives. That is the gift that each parent gives a child.

All and all a wonderful day,

Pat

Pat and Kathys first day at SCH

Pat and Kathy hit the ground running their first day at SCH

WOW what a day!! We had a very courteous meeting with the new director and assistant director of Shanghai Children's Home (SCH). We discussed our schedule for the week which includes formal lectures on speech therapy, cerebral palsy, and autism, hands on workshops about development and play, and of course evaluations of Gladney's partnership waiting children. We cannot wait to see the children and hug them all!

We also described how Superkids was started by Gladney mom and humanitarian aid program specialist, Janet Fink. Janet's daughter, Jeannie, was adopted from the SCH when she was a little over two years old. Jeannie had a diagnoses of crossed eyes and nystagmus, both which were corrected several years ago. We showed her a picture of Jeannie (now she is 8!) and they were so happy to see her looking healthy and happy! The staff at SCH cares very much about all their children and work very hard to provide nurturing environments for them!

We began with a visit to the "Snoopy room." The children ran towards us, arms in the air, trying to touch us. They were ADORABLE! We then went to rehabilitation center to provide evaluation and treatment plans for two orphanage children. What makes SCH wonderful is their rehab center, which treats both orphans living on campus and children living in the outside community. Families living in Shanghai who have disabled children, bring those children to SCH for treatment. We love working with SCH rehab staff because they are so intelligent and open to sharing ideas. It's a gift to travel half way across to world to work together and exchange ideas for the benefit of children. We brought them physical and speech therapy text books.

Then lunch came around. We had a soup with tofu, rice, mushrooms, a small whole fish, a type of turnip,and cabbage. Kathy did better with lunch than I did. Then they took us to a rest room for tea and coffee. After tea, we started evaluating the Gladney partnership children....boy, are they cute!

We evaluated 5 children today and overall, they seem to be in good shape. Some have very minor conditions and others more extensive, but they were all sweet, and loving, and beautiful. When we return to the U.S. we are going to host a webinar with more specifics about our trip and the children we are evaluating.

We were still seeing children at 4:00 when the buses were leaving, so our ex-expatriate interpreters kindly drove us back to the hotel. Tomorrow we are going to fostercare to see more Gladney partnership children.

They are giving us a reception on Friday night!

Stay tuned for more updates and hopefully some pictures!

Pat

Ethiopia Playroom Complete!

Kelly Did It!

We are so excited the playroom has been completed! Mostly. Angannette made some awesome rattles with our old water bottles by filling them part way with chick peas and gluing the bottle tops on which the kids LOVE. I really love creating things in Ethiopia with just what we can find, which actually is a lot (see Merkato post), but it’s important to have in mind what you need before you go. Cheap and easy toys that are easily re-made and safe for babies through older children who use them as musical instruments. We also had the chance to go through some storage areas and see some things that Kebeb Tsehay has but aren’t using because their old buildings are under renovation. We pulled out some toys and stuffed animals but wish we would have had a few more hard toys, too. We set up one of those alphabet foam floors and some foam Ethiopian mattresses, along with some blankets and quilts that people gave us to bring over to create nice, soft spaces for the kids to sit.

Before

As soon as we finished, our first toddler wandered out to test out the space. He LOVED it. Raphael was playing with the balls we blew up, throwing them, chasing them, sitting down rolling them with us. It was only the second time I had actually seen him laugh. The first was when he was playing with an electrical outlet (yes, we made him strop). The director of Kebeb Tsehay came upstairs to check things out and said she loved it. The last step is that needs to be completed is covering the bamboo weave from the inside with a plastic so the kids won’t put apart the weave (yes, they figured that out quickly) and since of course we ran out of time (how does that happen?! No matter how long you’re there- two months, two weeks, there is never enough time for it!), we left some money for Alex to head to the Merkato and we have no doubt he will take care of it.

Busy making things safe!

Complete!

Here are some before, middle and after pictures (yes, we’re home now, we can send pictures!). If I could create my dream playroom, it wouldn’t be on a second story balcony with wire railing, but that’s the name of the game; creating great spaces that are realistically usable for caregivers that will be continued once you leave. Otherwise, you’re wasting time, resources and it can be pretty disappointing to see what you worked hard to create go unused. I know Kebeb Tsehay has plans to create a new playroom in the old buildings but that still won’t be realistic for them to carry babies downstairs and into another building, so hopefully this can allow the children to get more stimulation during the day and encourage better motor and cognitive development.

Kelly

Kathy and Pat's first day in Shanghai

We are so excite to be in China! We got up at 7:30 yesterday to exercise and try to get on China time. After breakfast, we decided to go for a grand shopping adventure at the Yu gardens bazaar. We will definitely have overweight luggage for the return trip home. We shopped, shopped and shopped, along with talking picture after picture of the gardens.

(Kathy at Yu Gardens)

The Yu garden was first established in 1559 and was constructed over a period of 20 years. It was built by Pan En for his father who was a high ranking Chinese official ,in his old age. There are many areas of the garden that are exquisite, including a Rockery( a rock garden), Lotus pool and a beautiful bridge that has many turns. We were told this is because evil spirits could not turn corners. The gardens are beautiful and we were lucky enough to have been there when the Bonsai trees were in bloom. Kathy is an avid gardener and I love Asian gardens, so it was an amazing experience. It was a little rainy and foggy so it just added to the ambience of the garden.

We also had an afternoon pick me up at Starbucks. I had to take Kathy's picture several times as her son works in Starbucks. A man stopped us wanting to know why we came all the way to China only to take pictures of Starbucks. He laughed with us when we explained.

We are eagerly anticipating going to the orphanage tomorrow. Our ex-patriot translators will meet us at the orphanage at around 9:30. We are really eager to see them again. Kathy and I are going to spend the rest of the evening reviewing the profiles of waiting children.

I think we will sleep well tonight in-spite of our afternoon nap.

Bye for now.

Pat &Kathy

Words from Kathy

Kathy is off to Shanghai this Friday!

I am Kathy deMaCarty and I have been a Speech Therapist for almost 40 years. In my late twenties I was a Peace Corps Volunteer in Manila, Philippines and I was stationed at The Southeast Asian Institute for the Deaf. I also taught Speech Pathology at the University of the Philippines. I still look back on that on it as one of the best times of my life.

I came away from that experience profoundly inspired and changed. I got so much more than I gave to the people I helped. I also came away from it with a greater understanding of culture and how it influences our belief system and our decision making.

I am thrilled to be going back to Shanghai Children’s Home. I was there 3 years ago but because of my knee I could not travel. Now armed with a new titanium knee, I feel that I can return. It was such a pleasure to share my knowledge with others who want to help the children in residence and those of the community.



I am coming to the end of my career, but I still want to travel, meet people of different cultures and the best way is to volunteer. Experience and adventure is high on my list of things that mean a lot to me and my ability to work with Superkids is a way to have both wonderful experiences and share some of my knowledge.

I am thrilled to be going back but I am not looking forward to that 15hour flight. At least I have an isle seat!

Update from Kelly in Ethiopia

Playroom: Stage One!

What a crazy day. I experienced depths of the Merkato like I did not know existed. I have a love-hate relationship with the Merkato, really. It's the biggest market in Africa which just seems awesome to have the opportunity to wander around and pretty much every trip is
always successful. If the item you are looking for exists in Africa, you can find it at the Merkato. That doesn't mean you will always find it quickly, although you are definitely always moving. Today's supply list included baskets (of various shapes and sizes), glue (crazy strong awesome glue that only comes in a way bigger container than we actually need), thin wire (an entire roll of it- also way more than needed but the price was right), clothes pins and seven woven bamboo
mats. You may wonder what one person would do with those random things, and in fact, most people wonder what I'm doing at the Merkato anyway. Well, I'm building a playroom, of course!

Kebebtsehay is in a bit of a transition period with the opening of the new building and the current remodeling of all the old. Apparently there are plans for a playroom that will be in a remodeled part of one the old buildings, but that still keeps things a little difficult because it's not really feasible for them to carry 40 kiddos down a flight of steps, outside and into another building for play time. The upstairs of the new building, however, is busting at the seams with
the recent influx of children (think 3x the number I dealt with in 2009), which leaves little extra space for a convenient playroom. Enter the balcony. I was told there was a "playground" already
upstairs. Great. Let's go check it out. Well, we were taken upstairs and walked out to a balcony which is barely accessible because currently a crib is blocking the door from opening more than 12 inches. This really is convenient because the door opens to the baby and toddler rooms, but there is a wire railing with intricate, and sharp, designs in the iron. So today began step one of a two to three step transformation from making this space into a beautiful, yet unusable place for children to be. We covered the railings with woven bamboo mats using thin wire. It actually turned out looking pretty nice and the director seems pleased! I took a few pictures of before and after step one but we all know how Ethiopian internet works so uploading isn't quite an option tonight. Hopefully soon before I'm back in the States!

Tomorrow is another big day...hopefully the final steps of completing the playroom complete with a safe floor (to cover the current hard ceramic tile) and baskets of toys, including rattles made with old water bottles, filled with chickpeas and glued closed. We're also excited to be putting the stander together and training Alex on how to use it and which kids are most appropriate that would benefit from the stander. We're continuing to work on the physical therapy binder that outlines appropriate positions for kiddos and different developmental
and therapeutic interventions that mainly Alex will be utilizing, but we are also making the second copy to leave for some of the nurses and caregivers to reference, too.

It's always nice to have some real, tangible goals in mind and see some progress towards them. Today Yemamu was talking about how he likes working in the orphanages themselves because you really get to see the fruits of your labor and today, that definitely felt real. Some days are easier than others, some more discouraging and some more joyful that you thought possible. We're grateful to see some of these things coming together and really feel like we're getting a good feel for what things may look like long-term. We LOVE doing what we do and having the opportunity to be there. Thanks for all the support!


Kelly