Equipment Run November 4th 2011

     In the coming year iTOT and its partner organizations will be taking a shipment of mobility equipment to Haiti in order to accomplish many goals including:  to start preschool programs in the church schools for disabled children; to continue to provide mobility equipment to people with disabilities to improve their quality of life; and to extend to the disabled an invitation to the church and to a relationship with Jesus Christ.

     The first week of November donations of equipment were made almost every day and the week ended with my father and I driving a van to Children's Hospital of Philadelphia (the second trip there this week) and to a warehouse in Ewing NJ to pick up the donations.  Here is what our day looked like:

The leaves looked nice along the drive

 The van was close to full as we took off for home

We unloaded the van onto my front porch



Here is what my extra bedroom looks like now

 Thank you to everyone who has made donations this week! 

For anyone who may have things to donate, I am looking for: 

wheelchairs (children or adult)

small children's activity chairs

walkers (childrens or adults)

crutches (childrens or adults)

canes (all types)

a small table and chairs (for small children)

preschool toys including puzzles, coloring books and crayons, shape sorters, ring stacks, balls, cars and trucks, figurines such as little people or anamils, picture books and other appropriate items

iTOT Fall Newsletter 2011

                         

Fall  2011                                                                                            www.iTOTinc.org

International Therapy Outreach Teams in Romania

     iTOT was in Romania in September at a Joni and Friends Retreat for families that have children with autism.  I gave a workshop for the parents on ways to handle sensory processing issues and how to add activities to help improve function and social interaction.  Individual sessions were also offered to each family in order to answer each parent’s specific questions about their child.

     The parents were eager to learn and very appreciative for the help with their children. The kids had a great time with the many fun activities that the Romanian staff from the Christian agency Children to Love International had planned throughout the week.  The kids were able to ride bikes, make crafts, sing, jump on trampolines, explore sensory bins, have water play and enjoy many other activities.  The kids and their parents participated in Bible Studies and learned about God’s love for them and their families. 

International Therapy Outreach Teams in Haiti

            I have a special place in my heart for the people of Haiti and feel blessed whenever I can return there to work with friends and provide therapy. The disabled Haitians have no resources in this severely impoverished country.  The trip this October was even more special because I was able to take my brother Michael to be the mechanic for our team of three therapists.  Michael was able to help with the over 163 adults and children that were given mobility equipment or taught therapy techniques that will help to improve their function and their quality of life.  He also visited two orphanages with the team during the trip and enjoyed playing with the kids.  I know his life will never be the same now that he has shared his heart with the people of Haiti too. 

            It is hard to fathom the desperate conditions that the people of Haiti live in every day.  Contaminated water, lack of food, no work, trash in the streets.  A hundred children die every day in Haiti from disease and starvation.  Last year I held in my arms an adorable little one year old girl who was in the process of being adopted.  Unfortunately, she never made it to that new home.  She could be considered just a statistic but for me Evena is a reminder of why I listen to Christ’s command to go to the poor, the fatherless, the hungry and the weak in His name.  Can you imagine how I feel when someone looks me in the eye and says “You came to help us. Thank you.” 

The pictures top to bottom:  5 year old Jean Louis who has a deformed leg learns to walk using little crutches; Michael, Greg and me working on a wheelchair for a young girl with cerebral palsy; and, coloring with the orphans at Delmas 31, an orphanage in Port-Au-Prince that is home for 21 disabled kids. 

                          How you are helping!

            Your donations and prayers are helping the disabled and their families in developing countries around the world by providing them with therapy to improve their quality of life.  iTOT works with Christian partners to connect the people we serve to the local church in order to meet their spiritual need for salvation in Christ and receive support from a Christian community.

            To donate to support therapy outreaches make check payable to iTOT and send to 231 Adrian Court Lansdale, PA 19446.

            To help the orphans in Haiti make check payable to Connect 2 Ministries and send to 2635 Brindle Court Simi Valley, CA 93063 (specify that the donation is for the orphanage) or consider sponsoring a child at www.houseofhopeorphanage.org

Scenes from life in Haiti

Haiti Therapy Outreach days 3-5

We went to St. Marc on Wednesday, Verrett on Thursday and Leogone on Friday.  We drove in the taptap (taxi that is a truck with a cab) for up to 3 hours to get to the people who needed therapy. We were able to spent time with each person to show them therapy techniques and give them equipment if they needed a wheelchair, walker or crutches.  Here are some pictures from those trips:

This little girl was curious about what we were doing.  She followed me around for the next few hours holding onto my shirt.

This little boy with severe hydrocephalus was very sweet

This little guy looked great sitting up tall after some therapy from Becca

Our translator explains to this blind man how to use an audio Bible

We worked at the local churches and the pastors welcomed the people too.  We hope that each person understood that God cares about each one of them and loves them. The Haitian people have a special place in my heart too. I will be back again soon.

Haiti Therapy Outreach Day 2

We arrived in Haiti on Friday October 7th and will be traveling around the country providing therapy and therapy equipment to the disabled in various towns.  Yesterday and today we were in Jacmel and KiJacmel with our team of 2 physical therapists, a mechanic and me, the occupational therapist.  We worked with the disabled from the church who have no access to therapy or equipment.  Here are some pictures of our day:

Michael fixing legrests on a wheelchair

Working with a little one with Down Syndrome.  SO Cute!!

Becca playing with the kids at the orphanage

This is how you get your wheelchair home.

Tomorrow we are heading to St. Marc to see another group of people with disabilities who have not been able to receive any therapy or equipment.  I'll post more pictures soon.

Romania Family Retreat

      I was able to attend the Joni and Friends Family Retreat this past week for families in Romania with children who have Autism.  I gave a workshop for the parents on sensory processing and ways to help their children handle the sensory issues that they deal with in their daily lives. I was also able to meet with families individually and give suggestions to help with specific problems that they have in their daily routine with their children. 

The kids had a great time and enjoyed lots of fun activities throughout the week.

The Romanian and American short term missionaries were great with the kids and built lots of special bonds with them and their parents.

They did crafts, sang songs, bounced, swang, rode bikes, had rely races,  watched movies and had an amazing amount of fun!

           Great kids, great families, great Romanian hosts, great time!  Thanks Romania!

Summer Newsletter

International Therapy Outreach Teams, Inc

bringing hope and help to show God's love to the world

                                                                                                                                                    Summer 2011





     In April and June, I was able to work with a team of teachers and other therapists at two of Joni and Friends International Family Retreats,one in Serbia and one in Ghana. We worked with each child and their family individually to teach therapy techniques and answer questions.

     In addition to the Serbia retreat, I was able to give a Sensory Processing workshop at a school for children with special needs on April 23rd in Sombor, Serbia. The workshop was attended by twenty teachers who learned about the sensory systems and how to help children with sensory processing disorders. They were taught how to adapt the environment and to add important activities into the school day in order to help the childen be ready to learn and develop.

The training ended with teams of teachers brainstorming new activities to do

with equipment that is available at the school including pillows, therapy balls

and blanket.





Dorothy



    Dorothy is a 10 year old girl with arthrogyposis, a developmental disorder that fuses the joints so that you can not bend the elbows, wrists, knees or ankles. When she was born, her parents were told to throw her into the river. This is still a common practice in Ghana where disability is seen as a curse from the devil. Thankfully, Dorothy’s parents didn’t listen to that advice.

   Dorothy is a very smart little girl and after a number of surgeries she is now able to bend the elbow of her right arm which makes it possible for her to do almost everything for herself including feeding and dressing herself independently. Her knees are still healing from surgery but she should be able to walk with crutches soon. We were able to share ideas with her parents for ways to practice walking with support when she is ready. We also gave them lots of encouragement for the great job they are doing with their daughter. Dorothy’s big smile and determined spirit made it clear that she is not going to let anything stop her! 

      UPCOMING TRIPS

       California Joni and Friends office

 July 20-26

Romania

 Aug. 29-Sept 6

Haiti

 October 7-16

iTOT provides therapy and training to the disabled in the developing world

who are often rejected, isolated and hopeless to show them God's love.

To make a tax deductible donation send check payable to:

iTOT

231 Adrian Court

Lansdale, PA 19446

     

   

   

Ghana Family Retreat with Joni and Friends

The Family Retreat went well and the therapy team was able to work with each family to give suggestions and answer questions.  We hope that each family will have some new skills that they can use with their child to help improve function and make their lives alittle easier.

Some of the highlights were:

Watching Dorothy, a beautiful 10 year old girl with arthrogyposis, figure out how to do EVERYTHING her brothers were doing with a big smile on her face.

Picking out and hand fitting a wheelchair for Sylvester that will now allow him to sit up and join in to the activities with the other kids.

And when Parle, a 12 year old girl with cerebral palsy, who cried big tears when I tried to show her parents how to do ankle stretches, started laughing at me when the PT Jenny showed her parents by stretching my ankles and I started to "cry" too.

What wonderful kids!  I hope to be able to come back to Ghana again someday soon and work with them and their families again.

Ghana update June 2, 2011

We arrived in Ghana  on Tuesday morning and had a day to rest and prepare.

On Wednesday the Ghanian missionaries who are working with the families and taking care of the kids checked into the hotel.  Jenny the PT and I did a training on disabilities.  Some of the activities included simulated "disability" games including leading someone around the grounds who was blindfolded (visual impairment), going up and down curbs with the wheelchair and buttoning with a motor impairment (in this case, wearing work gloves).

On Wednesday night the families arrived and we started working with some of the kids on Thursday.  We are working with each family to try to help them with things that are difficult at home.  For some it may be finding a comfortable position, for others it may be learning to use crutches to be more mobile, for others it may be learning to use an adapted spoon to be more independent.  For Christiana today, it was learning to transfer in and out of the car from her wheelchair.  She did great!  This will make it possible for her to be out in the community more and be more involved.

Looking forward to seeing more kids tomorrow!

So you want an iTOT blog

As requested, iTOT will start blogging so that friends can know more details of what is happening on each trip. 

Serbia was a wonderful experience- great team, beautiful country and the families seemed to appreciate the help that the team was able to provide.

Some highlights were:

Easter with new friends

A fun team

and working with great kids!
Next stop:  Ghana May 30th to June 8th.