Community Based Rehabilitation
“This is for me?” One of the ladies asked, looking at the beautiful hand-held mirror she just decorated. Her question is perhaps not surprising. For these village women, much of life is spent meeting the needs of others – cooking, cleaning, serving guests, sometimes working outside the home to support the family income, helping their children study, and caring for the specific needs of their child with a disability. Opportunities to lay aside their responsibilities and just come together as women are rare.
This is one of the reasons why Operation Mercy staff and local staff decided to invite the mothers of the children to the centre on a hot Saturday morning in May to do handicrafts together. At the beginning, when the mothers started to arrive, conversation was quiet. Not all of the mothers had met each other before. After a brief opening welcome from one of the volunteers, the first activity began. Holding a ball of yarn, the first woman said her name and then threw the ball to someone else—still holding onto the thread of yarn. At the end of the activity, the yarn stretched between all of the ladies in a crisscrossing pattern.
“What does this look like?” One of the Operation Mercy staff asked.
“A web,” the ladies answered. “A net.”
“What does this remind you of?”
Their responses were a little bit more varied.
“We are all connected.”
“We help one another.”
From there, everyone moved to a back room which was set up for the main activity. Step by step the ladies were led through the process of decoupage – decorating small mirror frames with colorful tissue. The room quickly transformed into a chaos of cutting, gluing, pasting, conversations, smiles, and laughter. At the end each woman proudly held onto her creation.
As women started to leave to return home, the remaining women conversed quietly. One mother began to share with another about the recent loss of her son who had a disability. As the other mother listened with compassion, she expressed how few people understand how precious their children with disabilities are. It was a brief conversation, but in that moment, suddenly they were connected by their shared love and understanding for their children. It was as if they were seeing their own experiences—the joys and sorrows—mirrored in another.
Schooling Requires Cooperation
Adnan loves school. His mother smiles with pride and says to the Operation Mercy team, “Every day he wants to go to school.” Naturally gifted with a friendly and bold personality,
New Found Confidence
During the last couple of weeks, Ahmed’s gait and posture have significantly improved.
Truth Boost
In spring 2023 we partnered with another NGO. Their local staff were running a centre in the old city for children with learning disabilities.
They wanted to integrate children with physical disabilities and asked our physical therapist (PT) and our occupational therapist (OT) to work specifically with these children.
The View Changes
After a couple of sessions on the back of a gentle horse, Jamal now rides with a smile on his face.
Exploring New Ways of Moving
Yousif, a 4-year-old diagnosed with spina bifida, lay curled up in the corner of the living room floor. The doctors had told his family to give up hope—he was disabled and would remain that way for the rest of his life.
Partnership for Change
Both organizations continue to work in partnership with the mom and her son and we are seeing positive changes in their lives.
Wheelchair Gives New Hope in Life
The wheelchair has not only contributed to Amir’s improvement physically, but emotionally and psychologically as well.
Promoting Inclusion
An annual conference for mainstream school teachers and school transition support services helped promote inclusion in local communities.
Amina, a young girl with speech and cognitive delays,
Now He Sits Like a King!
Positioning and proper support for children with cerebral palsy is crucial to their development and also to interacting and engaging with their environment.
Receiving Help, Taking Responsibility
Amantur lives on a small farm in Kyrgyzstan that is quite remote, lying between two villages.
Grateful Families
The parents of these children hosted a celebration to say thank you to our partners who have helped their families.
Showing a New Way
The staff helped Aygul and her colleagues better understand the effects of CP on the children and ways to increase the children’s mobility.
Hope Stored in His Heart
Most of all we sense that Haitham now has hope stored in his heart that he did not have before.
Trading Shame for Acceptance
So these women continue on, persevering on behalf of the children and their community, sharing a love and passion that grows warmer with time and over many more cups of hot tea.
An Event for Mothers
“This is for me?” One of the ladies asked, looking at the beautiful hand-held mirror she just decorated. Her question is perhaps not surprising. For these village women,
Professionalism Produces Results
Practical training like this empowers therapists to be more professional and to achieve better results in their treatment.
Partnership Opens the Way to School
There are many barriers for a child with disability to access education in Tajikistan. Sometimes this barrier is seen in the attitudes of people that think children with disabilities don’t belong in school or should be kept separate from other children.
Not Just Playing Around
This child was 2 ½ years old and had never walked alone before!
Each Child is Valuable
“I’ve learnt from you that each child is created by God and valuable, and I want to do my best to love and raise her like you would” she said
How a Mother’s Life Was Changed
On his own, he began to stand up and to hold himself on the wall.