Today sees the start of my fourth week here, and just in case you think I spend my days lazing in the sun I'm going to tell you a little bit about my work.
The details of developing a strategic plan will probably make your eyes glaze over rapidly, so I'll just say briefly that the purpose of the plan is to provide a framework to guide the activities of CARE-Belize in improving and expanding services to people with disabilities over the next three years.
I've set out the format of the plan, and the action programmes which will make the strategy happen, and now I'm gathering the views of the clients, the care givers, CARE's staff, and anyone else with an interest in CARE's work.
Currently CARE provides rehabilitation services in the community to children from age 0-6 years. The aim is simply to improve the quality of life and integrate people with disabilities fully into society.
Easier said than done in a country where children with disabilities are seemingly invisible to the healthcare system, and there isn't much in the way of health promotion, or education on risk factors for birth defects and genetic conditions. Lack of rubella immunization and vitamin B-folic acid deficiencies, not to mention smoking, taking street drugs and too much alcohol while pregnant all cause preventable disabilities.
Some of the conditions encountered by CARE's rehabilitation field officers (RFOs) are cerebral palsy, spina bifida, hydocephalus, Down's syndrome, cretinism, autism, club feet hip dysplasia and visual and hearing impairments. The RFOs do monthly home visits and manage many of the conditions through physiotherapy and referrals to other agencies. They also help to teach families how to make walkers, crutches, toys, and convert home furniture into rehabilitative aids. The RFOs will liaise with schools where appropriate to facilitate integration for a child with disabilities - in short, they are worth their weight in gold, as are the pysical therapy volunteers who provide training and support for the RFOs and advise on rehabilitation plans.
Visiting people in their homes has made all this real for me, instead of just a collection of principles and ideas on paper.
Before I rattled and bumped six miles down an unmade road in a four by four truck to reach a small village, I didn't realise how difficult it would be for someone living in that village to take a sick child to a clinic or a hospital with no means of transport except walking.
Before I picked my way across a swamp, swatting away mosquitoes and being bitten by ants, and seeing the one-room home of a woman and her four children, the youngest with suspected hydrocephalus, I never considered how hopeless life could be for someone with no income and no welfare state.
Before I climbed uphill through a muddy stream to a house where the chickens lived indoors and the family slept in hammocks I couldn't imagine how useless a wheelchair would be to a little girl living there with spina bifida.
My fervent hope is that I can help CARE produce a plan which will set out its priorities to improve and expand its services and make sure those services are sustainable.
On a lighter note, some of you have asked about the office and the people I work with. I'm happy to report that right from the start I was made welcome by all my colleagues at CARE, and they never mind my constant questions and requests for information or help with my IT challenges.
We have a lovely suite of offices with high ceilings, wide corridors and big windows. The doors are painted in primary colours, and there are photos of smiling clients on all the walls, making it a cheery place to be. Electric fans provide us with a cooling breeze, and there is a relaxed atmosphere that makes it a most pleasant place to work. I can either walk to work (nearly two miles) which is my preferred option unless it's raining, or get the bus.
Maybe transport can be the topic of a future post!
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