Kazi ni Kucheza

The statement kazi ni kucheza (work is play) is often true when providing physiotherapy to children. While being at CCBRT in Dar, we've had the opportunity to treat A LOT more children with much more independence. There have been many instances where we don't even have someone to translate for us, and our Swahili is getting better every day. One of the new phrases that I've been using a lot is unaumwa (are you in pain?). Although this makes communicating with the parents extremely difficult, the kids usually don't seem to mind as long as they have a fun toy to play with. Speaking of fun toys, the miniature beanie babies that I brought to donate were a hit!

Not a quality photo, but Krista playing with one of the kids in our physiotherapy room.

This little kiddo LOVES wazungu, and insisted his picture be taken with me.

The other day we visited one of the support units that CCBRT offers. There are 11 support units in total, and they usually meet at a church or local establishment. Since Dar es Salaam is such a big city, this allows mothers to bring their children to get help with exercises from rehab workers if they are unable to travel to the disability hospital. They offer these clinics one time per week, and this also is a good opportunity for mothers to stay connected with other mothers of children with disabilities. There are several community rehab workers and one therapist that goes to these support clinics to offer assistance with therapy. The support unit we visited is called Mbezi, and it was interesting to see all of the women gathered together to treat their children. They were often singing and it seemed as though they were having a good time with it.

Mbezi support unit.

- K