No School

No school this week, yet this is the 3rd day in a row that I have been to my school.  Although some students have gone home for the week, there are still many who stay here because they don't have a home to go to or because they live too far away to go home for just a week.  Which means that the house mothers and fathers are also here.  Today we are taking a small group of students to the capital to present at a southern African environmental day, EEASA Conference.  The students made crafts out of recycled materials and now they will show them and sell them to people who are interested.  We might even taken them to KFC for lunch.  Yes, that is right, Kentucky Fried Chicken.  It is the only American chain here in Lesotho and it is very popular.  I sometimes see families all dressed up to go to the one in Botha Bothe.  It is not cheap for people here, and therefore it is a big occasion when they do go.  I have only been a few times and that is when I am with my work friends who really want to go.  Anyway, I think that that the students will be very excited if we go there!   As you can see from the picture above we did go, and the kids were very excited.  We also caused some traffic jams by trying to ride the escalators at the mall.  Our students have never seen one (there is only 1 in the country) and they got quite scared and even sat down on them!

The other picture is of my principal with the materials that the students made.  Overall we had a great day and it was so much fun to see our students proud of their work in the big city!                                                                                                                                                                    

Besides spending some time at school I have also done a few home visits this week for my new friend MacDonald.  He is a 14 year old with pretty severe CP who does not attend school.  His brother actually attends our school and has cognitive and language delays.  His mother came to me a few weeks ago and told me about him.  She would love to have him attend a school but his disability is pretty severe and his wheel chair is from when he was 4 years old.  Now, ten years later, the chair does not exactly work for him.  I have asked the appropriate ministry about getting a new chair and they said yes they can give him one, but they don't have any now.  So his mother and I are working on fixing up his chair.  I am going to use a wooden broom handle to make extensions for the foot pedals and some foam or pillows to raise the seat.  We are also trying to make him an adapted spoon and cup to try to work on having him learn how to participate in feeding himself.  If we can get things figured out a bit, we are hoping that his chair can get him to our school for at least a few mornings a week.  I think his mother, who lives in a tiny home with two children with severe disabilities could use the break and that he might enjoy some social stimulation.  I will keep you posted on adaptations and progress with MacD (as his mother calls him).