As I sit here leisurely, reminiscing over the last 10 days, I can hardly wrap my mind around the fact that I will be in California tonight. We have been extremely busy, yet somehow completely relaxed during this trip. We are running on “Nica” time. There’s no need to hurry or rush; no pressing matters that need attending to- just time to enjoy creation and others. inconveniently, the sound of jackhammers coming from the Buzbee’s demolished kitchen makes for a less than relaxing atmosphere!
Yesterday we spent our time at New Life Nicaragua, an orphanage run by Tim and Chris Bagwell. There were ten children there, ranging from 4 months to 5 years. All of these children were either malnourished or abandoned, and have an additional disability, like drug addiction, genetic disorders, and speech/language impairments. The SLP and the rec therapist spent the morning running 20 minute “assessments” with some of the children. The SLP worked with the oldest children and the rec therapist worked with the youngest. One music therapist co-implemented with the rec therapist and the other one loved on babies.
We had the best brick oven pizza for lunch (including dessert) and then worked with the Bagwell’s youngest daughters, who both have Fetal Alcohol Syndrome. Mercedes is 4 and Gabriella is 3, and both are so incredibly precious. Mercedes has a lot of speech issues and Gabriella had slower processing time. We did 50 minutes of music with the two of them to make them feel comfortable. We then turned Mercedes over to the speech therapist and Gabriella to the rec therapist. The music therapists spent the rest of the time kissing babies. We begin our trek back to the US in about 4 hours. We’ll see you all on the flip side.