Blogging from home- part 4

Here is the last set for now...until we sort through pics from the last week.
Thanks for reading everyone.

1) Aaron with his helpers from Dhomkar school working on the wheeled mobility base for Spalzes.
2) Eileen with our little "Princess" from the pre-primary class---this little one had a tumeric-paint accident where she fell in head first into oil-based deep yellow paint. Jen and Eileen had to rush to the rescue!
3) Dadul and 3 highschool students showing off and trying out the teeter-totter at the new playground at Dhomkar school!
4) Aaron and Jen putting the final touches on the indoor climbing play structure.
5) Aaron in the mountains showing off the incredible landscape we were in.

Blogging from home- part 3

1) Eileen on a beautiful walk to find Spalzes in Hanu-Gongma at her parents' house to chat about school options.
2) Dadul (Health Inc. staff) and Spalzes
3) Jen, Spalzes and Lex saying goodbye :(
4) Aaron with the tire climbing frame he built with the highschool students at Dhomkar school.
5) Chorol and Jigment patiently waiting for their turns with hearing screening. Chorol goes to school once per week in Class 1 (she is 16) because of the respite program that Health Inc. has started. She lives an hour walk from school so needs supervision for the walk and needs an assistant with her during the day. Jigmet goes to school full-time in class 1 (he is 10).

Blogging from home- part 2

Here are some pics from our 2nd village trip July 13th-20th.
1) Eileen and Stanba teaching a session to workshop participants on some of the ins and outs of brain injury.
2) The Canadian workshop leaders with Dr.Krishna and his wife. He is a visiting psychiatrist to Ladakh from Kerala, who has been working with a local Ladakhi GP for the past 3 years (since there are no psychiatrists in Ladakh).
3) Cynthia, Jen and Lex riding the bus Ladakhi style- on top with all the luggage- this was so much fun!! Great views too!
4) Dadul making tea in a small village called Hanu Thang (at Spalzes' house)
5) Lex doing bathroom modifications with a sledgehammer!! to Spalzes outdoor pit toilet so she can access it by herself with her new wheeled mobility base.

Stay tuned...at least 2 more sets of pics...

Blogging from home-part1

Hi all,
We are home now so have time (and working computers) to post some more photos. These are a bit outdated, but still fun to look at!
Here are the ones from July 10th!

1) A view of Leh from Shanti Stupa (next to our guest house---only 565 steps to climb to get to the top!)
2) The stars of our sign language film at Chuchot Hostel for kids with disabilities. 3) Kate and her fave little guy at Chuchot.
4) Jen and Lex doing some experiental learning for a back carrier we designed for Splazes, the 12-year-old with Osteogenesis Imperfecta, so that she can be carried to school.
5) The team (and Cynthia's niece, Melanie) at the goodbye dinner for Kate.

More to come...

Pics from July 10th

Hello all,

We are having major problems getting photos on the blog, but still trying. If it doesn't happen in the next couple of days, we'll be sure to share them with you when we are home very soon!

Having a busy last week in Leh wrapping up projects and evaluating everything.

Julley,
A, J, E & A.

Busy Busy Leh

Julley!

The past week in leh has been full of many events....making a signing movie at Chuchot Hostel, building playground equipment, making a wheeled mobility base and a back carrier, putting together learning boxes for schools...and of course some fun!
We are heading off this morning for 9 more days in the remote villages and will be back with many more pics on the 20th. Hope you are all well.

Lex, Jen, Eileen, Kate & Aaron

p.s. Goodbye Kate- we miss you already!!

I tried 3 times to load new pictures but its not working so more for next time!

Villages Trip 1- Part 4 (last one)

Last but definitely not least...
We have to acknowledge our "last comic standing"...Mrs. Eileen Fogarty-Ellis!! She is keeping us all in good spirits with her hilarious "Eileen-isms" that we have started to record. Here are a few choice ones...

June 24th: "I would sell my soul to the devil for a cold beer!" (said during long, oh so very long Khaltse workshops)

June 30th: "Next time I come to Ladakh, I am bringing my car." (said after a very long, hot and bouncy bus trip)

July 1st: "Going to the bathroom at night is like the 7 gates of hell!" (no explanation needed!)

July 3rd: "I can't whistle---I'd be back and forth on this bus for the rest of my life" (in response to having to whistle in order to get the bus to stop)

Thanks Eileen- keep them coming!

Pic #1: Eileen assessing/reading a book to Chorol- a 16 year-old with Down Syndrome who is going to school now (after many years away) only because Health Inc. is providing respite to her and walking her to and from school once per week. She loves school!

Pic #2: Water play! A new introduction at Dho school for the little ones to learn through different senses. They have never seen this before in Ladakh!

Pic #3: The Hearing Team: Dadul, Ladol, Kate, Tashi and Stanzin. They screeened 212 people in 4 village days and found about 10% with hearing issues.

Pic #4: Lex & Chorol showing off her cute lunch! Milk in a coke bottle (with rice/curry in the other package)!

Pic #5: The sandbox under construction and well on its way! Another design/sensory learning project. Looking good...it will be finished on our next trip out.


That's it for now. We hope you enjoy all of these...and we'll update once more before heading out to villages again on July 11th. Julley!!

Villages Trip 1- Part 3

We told you there were lots of pics....in case you hadn't noticed, we split up into smaller teams so that the HEALTH staff could work together with us more easily. That's why the pics are separated a bit between people.

Pic #1: Spalzes (12 years old) looking through some drawings (by our designers) for her mobility options. She has ostegenesis imperfecta. This is a big project for this year as we met Spalzes last year and she is quite something. We are also going to be doing some modifications to their outdoor toilet and figuring out the best option for her going back to school.

Pic #2: Measuring Spalzes for her back carrier and mobilty device. She is not walking anymore so needs various options.

Pic #3: The Maggi (noodles) party outside Spalzes grandma's house! A really good day!

Pic #4: Dadul & Tree on top of our 1-room house doing what they do best- transcription for the research project!

Pic #5: Aaron trying out a rock carrier with one of the village kids---we hope to adapt this for Spalzes. The kids were great- helped us find walking routes around the village and followed us like we were pied pipers---not into any mountains though ;)

Villages Trip 1- Part 2

And the pics keep on coming...

Pic #1: Packing the bus---we got to see Tree for a few lovely days while she was collecting data for the research---as always, she jumps in right away helping load the bags on top of the bus with Aaron on the ladder and Jen hoisting things up.

Pic #2: We got to learn how to make some Ladakhi food! Here we are being taught how to make a dish that we can't remember the Ladakhi name for, but the end result looks like little noodle pants, so that's what we dubbed it. This is in Hanu Gongma village.

Pic #3: Sweet little Norphel and his dad and little brother. We spent a couple of days assessing him for a comfortable seat, constructing it and even adding in a mobile for stimulation.

Pic #4: A beautiful view of Hanu Gongma. Breath taking.

Pic #5: Lex & Tree in our one-room sleeping quarters (for 6 of us!) in Hanu Thang village. It was "hot-as-Hades" in there but so lovely to have time to hang out. The very generous school teacher let us her house for the night!

Villages Trip 1- Part 1

Julley in July!

We are back from our first sojourn out to the remote villages and have lots to share with you. It was an interesting (and exhausting!) trip with amazing kids, incredible scenery and tonnes of learning.

Here are some pics and since there were so many good ones to share, we have to make a few separate posts.

Hope you are all having a great July so far,
Lex, Jen, Kate, Eileen and Aaron

p.s. We miss you Marcy!!!

Pic #1: Kate & Eileen upon completion of their workshop on special education for community health workers
Pic #2: Two of our fearless leaders- Dadul & Stanba on a tea break during the workshops in the Khaltse hospital
Pic #3: Our token pregnant guy, Aaron, being a good sport and helping Jen, Lex & Eileen out in their workshop on milestones and normal development. Drama is always a good thing here!
Pic #4: Eileen relaxing on her bed in the pediatric ward- where the girls stayed in the hosptial; we made the guys stay in the OBGYN ward! (Its a new hospital so no patients yet- don't worry- we weren't taking beds away from people ;)
Pic #5: Ladakhi dancing- the guys entertaining us at the hospital after hours!

Malaise, Meetings and Mountains

Julley everyone!!!

Our first entry for 2008!!
Its been quite a first week with the whole team getting sick (oh so very sick) and lots of planning and of course- amazing views of the mountains. We are off to the villages tomorrow for 10 days to do a 2-day Health Worker training workshop, check out the village where the playground will go and to see some great kids!

Hope you are all well,
2008 Team (Lex, Jen, Kate, Aaron, Eileen & Theresa)


Captions (hopefully in the right order!)

Picture #1: Jen in a hardware store scouting out local materials- they pack so much into these tiny shops!

Picture #2: If you can believe this view- what we wake up to evey morning while at the guest house in Leh. Especially good when lying in bed sick for days.

Picture #3: Jen and Aaron (on Lex's bed) flaked out from malaise. This is what we all looked like for about 3 days.

Picture #4: Aaron with Stanzin and Dorjay at the Tibetan Children's Village checking out their playground. These kids are amazing!!

Picture #5: The team!

2008 Team- Counting down the hours...

Hi again everyone!

We can hardly believe its been a year...we are scheduled to depart in less than 48 hours for the 2nd summer in Ladakh!
The team this year is:
Kate Wishart, SLP (2nd year)
Marcy Adler-Bock, SLP (1st year)
Jen Sawrenko, OT (1st year)
Alexis Davis, OT (2nd year)
Aaron Wieler, Designer (1st year) from Design for Development (a partner NGO in Vancouver)
Eileen Fogarty-Ellis, Teacher (1st year)
Theresa McElroy, OT/Researcher (2nd year)

A few things on the agenda for this year are: a qualitative ethnographic research study looking at community beliefs and attitudes of disability; health training camps in Khaltse; helping to establish a sign language system; and building an inclusive playground in Dhomkar Dho---we're going to be busy! Talk again very soon from Ladakh!