Monday LWA Home Visits

Afternoon Day 3

~ by Sally Stuart ~

Following a good Rwandan lunch with the LWA staff (including Pringles) we broke into two groups to visit the homes of 4 LWA children. We rode for 30 minutes on rough roads with many washouts from recent rains, then walked down even steeper paths to get to the mud brick homes. We realized what a huge challenge it is for these mothers to even get to the LWA center from great distances, walking steep often muddy hills several times a week to access therapy for their child. What commitment they have to help their disabled children. As some of the children are growing too heavy to be carried on a mother’s back LWA is hoping to purchase a motorcycle so therapists can come to the child’s home and therapy can continue. 

My group visited the homes of Adolf and his mother Jacqueline and Valens and his mother Theresa and father Viateur. Adolf is a 6-year-old boy with CP who is showing significant improvement though therapy at LWA. Valens is 22 years old and about the size of a 7-year-old. He is very significantly disabled but through therapy can now sit upright in his wheelchair and has improved swallowing for feeding. Both families are raising goats thanks to LWA and are so grateful for the solar lights and water filters they have received. 

We also saw the challenge of living with a disabled child in a small, dark home, usually with a dirt floor and limited access to water. A number of moms are living with abusive husbands and talked about their isolation and lack of friends. At LWA they have finally found community with the other moms, and one mother, Jacqueline, when asked if she had any friends she could talk to said “My one real friend is Peter (the occupational therapist at LWA). He is the one person I can talk to about anything. Wow. We have been so impressed by the team Gilbert has put together, mostly young adult professionals (therapists, teachers, etc), but also drivers, cooks and cleaners, who all feel a genuine call to love and serve disabled children. They are loved by the kids and the parents. 

The other half of our group visited the homes of Obed and Joy. Obed lives with his mother and father which makes a big difference for the health of the family. The highlight at that home was when Obed’s mother and father asked to pray for our team. Joy’s family was a painful look into the reality for many of these families. Mom, Justine, cares for 12-year-old Joy with severe CP and 3-year-old twins. Her husband has been very abusive, and she bears machete scars on her head from his most recent attack. She lives in fear of his return. LWA goes to the home to provide PT and OT for Joy who is too large for her mom to carry. The LWA family provides her with strength and encouragement to keep going on, and hopefully their involvement in Joy’s life is a deterrent to the father retuning.

Each family’s story is unique and our aim as a team is to spend time with them, to listen well, to pray and encourage. Each family’s story motivates us to be better advocates for LWA when we return home.