MMN Dec 25 Mag - Online - Flipbook - Page 7
When that work was handed over
(as had always been planned) we
thought about how we could use
our experience in another needy
area. We were then asked by the
local government to work at Napak,
where nothing like our work had
ever been done. To learn about the
area we formed partnerships with
local organisa琀椀ons, and our Acheru community team travelled there
regularly for clinics and community
outreaches. It was soon clear that
there was a large CP problem and
we began inves琀椀ga琀椀ng the cause.
It seemed that our focus should be
on preven琀椀on. Our partners were
capable of iden琀椀fying disabled
children needing treatment and
referring them to us, so we could
concentrate on CP.
his father cared for him. His father
simply did not realise what could
be done for him. Pious had never walked, as there had been an
assump琀椀on that he simply could
not. With CP children, the star琀椀ng
point for the sta昀昀 is to get them
upright, whether on their feet or
with support. Making eye contact
immediately changes people’s percep琀椀on of them and can make a
drama琀椀c change. So was the case
with Pious; I was there when he
took his 昀椀rst steps, to the delight
of his father who then went on to
do so much more with him having
realised how capable he really was.
This pa琀琀ern has been repeated
with so many CP pa琀椀ents that it
makes us more determined to reach
Pious
Pious walking for the 昀椀rst 琀椀me
I had other things to deal with on
my visits to Uganda, so was unable to get to know individual children, but there was one li琀琀le boy
who made a las琀椀ng impression and
opened my eyes to the drama琀椀c
improvement which could come
about with fairly straigh琀昀orward
treatment. This li琀琀le boy was called
Pious, whose father worked at Minakulu partly for us and partly for
the government health centre. We
o昀琀en encountered problems with
parents rejec琀椀ng a disabled child,
but that was not the case here as
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