Monday: Orphanage

So I am FINALLY updating about our first day of work in Ukraine. There are SOOO many pictures and I am having a hard time choosing so it is taking a while to get them all uploaded and sorted through on here.

This is a picture of the "restaurant" "eating area" whatever you want to call it in our hotel. We had all planned on going downstairs for breakfast before starting the first day. By the time the second group of us got downstairs, everyone else was walking out and told us to go get our granola bars. So we ate coffee and potatoes from the restaurant and then mainly had granola bars beyond that.

We went to an orphanage in Kramatorsk Ukraine. This is where 5 children that come to our clinic were adopted from. We began the day by meeting with the director. Since I have never been I had NO IDEA what to expect. My thoughts were that some people would be nice and others would be very skeptical of us. EVERYONE that we came in contact with in the orphanage greeted us with open arms. They were excited for us to be there and anxious to hear everything we had to say. We had information packets to hand out for each room and they requested more, which was a great sign to us.

Front of the orphanage

Christie and I with a handful of toys, getting ready to go to the children's rooms

Abby and Carmen

Christie and I outside the orphanage

We began with demonstrations in the orphanage's gym. They had an area set up for the caregivers to watch as we demonstrated what we would do with PT, OT, and Speech for each child they brought us. Since walking is so huge to the future of a child, PT was the area everyone was most interested in. The caregivers did listen to OT and speech and I am sure they learned a thing or two from us :).

Kym and Olga (our translator) introducing everyone

This is the first little girl that we saw. She was very sweet and happy, loving the interaction. Since Kym was familiar with the process, we felt great letting her lead the way.

Christie and Kym demonstrating PT

The yellow material wrapped around her arm is to help her keep it extended. The caregivers were so enthralled with it. It was exciting seeing everyone's immediate interest with our first child. She was able to prop herself up to sit after her arm was wrapped.

It is amazing what she has already taught herself with her vision. When trying to get her to track an object, she would cover one eye to see out of the other. As we changed sides, she changed which eye she was covering. It is surprising that she learned this on her own, and makes it evident the potential she has with increased interaction and therapeutic techniques. She was so patient with us all handeling her and also showed us her great laugh.

She was the first child we got to put in a stander. Once again, so amazing watching the caregivers desire to learn and watch as she was standing.

This little guy was our second child to work with. Speech got a hold of him first and demonstrated oral motor exercises and functional play with common objects. It was fun to watch him look at himself in the mirror in total awe.

I loved it when the caregivers got in the floor with us, to get closer to see what we were doing.

First attempt at walking

I could not get enough of this little man. He came in fiesty and ready to go. He was SO much fun, keeping us on our toes.

I wanted him to crawl on hand and knees but he wasn't so sure about that

This sweetie was a favorite before he came in. Therapists that have been on previous trips worked with him before and were waiting for him to come in. He was also full of energy and ready to play. You could see the excitement in his eyes with each new activity.

This little girl was the last child we saw in the morning before going to the rooms. She was obviously a favorite, noticable by the barrettes in her hair. She was very sweet and quiet, watching every move we made.

This baby girl was the last child we saw before leaving. She had been in the infirmary and the doctor was anxious for us to see her and give our thoughts on her future development. They have never seen a child with her diagnosis before and were relieved when we told stories of children we know with the same diagnosis and the amazing potential that she has.

These are pictures of the special needs room. We were able to spend some time in here, working with the kids that they did not bring out to us. We were able to leave many supplies to help encourage their development.

A positive moment for me came with feeding supplies. Independence in self care skills such as feeding and dressing has not been an area of importance for the orphanage, since it is faster for the caregivers to complete the task than facilitate a child doing it. After giving a few built up handled spoons for some children, the caregivers began asking for more for the other kids.

This is a toddler room where most of the children are typically developing with no specified areas of need

Definitely a group effort !

This little boy was playing happily by himself. I picked him up, then when attempting to sit him back down began screaming. SO I picked him back up again and he was happy. He then decided he no longer wanted to be playing alone, so he was only happy when being held.





I could not have asked for a better first day at the orphanage. Having no idea what to expect, left a lot of potential for positive and negative outcomes. We left knowing we already made a huge impact on the children and excited for what was to come in the following days.