Right to the Edge: Sydney to Tokyo By Any Means by Charley Boorman Page B
Authors: Charley Boorman
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physiotherapy department and I was struck by a couple of murals, pictures of bright-eyed, smiling children under the maxim: ‘Look at my strengths, not my weaknesses’.
Now that the centre was fully functioning, Marcel had passed the day-to-day administration to a man called Bill Lyape. Bill explained how they deal with all sorts of disabilities, from things like back problems to joints, fractures, strokes and varying degrees of paralysis. When a patient is discharged they are referred to the CBR programme and Marcel continues with the therapy in their own community. That way he can not only assess their ongoing needs, but show family members and neighbours how they can get involved with the child’s rehabilitation. Marcel is very keen that the villagers do not dissociate themselves from the disabled people within a given community, helping them to understand rather than stigmatise.
‘It’s vital,’ he told me. ‘Take Moloui, he’s become an integral part of our team here, a role model not just for other disabled kids, but everyone.’
Moloui was a cool kid. With his two fingers he could hold a pen and write very neatly. I watched him use a calculator and a telephone. He could unscrew a bottle of water, drink from it and screw it up again. He’s a normal kid, he laughs and cries and has fun.
‘He’s great,’ Bill said with a smile. ‘A real asset to what we do here. He’s a young kid who is different, but he doesn’t feel ashamed. He’s confident and what he does is allow other disabled people to see that they can carry on with confidence as well.’
Marcel told us that the only medal ever won by PNG at the Olympics was in the Beijing Special Olympics in 2008, when Francis Kompaon, born with a deformed arm, won a silver in the men’s 100 metres. He was named sportsperson of the year, which was a major boost for the department in Goroka.
The hospital is pretty well equipped considering where it is and that it’s underfunded. But it’s nothing like we would see in the West. They use what they can where they can and often the simplest, cheapest tools can be the most productive.
Take Kenny Ossi, for instance. He has muscular dystrophy and when he first came to the hospital his muscles were so wasted he couldn’t even sit up, let alone feed himself.
‘He was on his back. He was in bed all the time and that’s no good,’ Marcel told me. ‘It’s very bad for the children to just be in bed, they get bored and they can suffer from all kinds of secondary conditions - lung infection is common and that can kill them. It’s important that we get them moving, not just their bodies but their brains as well. To stimulate the body you have to stimulate the mind.’
When I saw Kenny he was propped up in a sort of upright bed with a strap across his middle and one of the nurses was stimulating the movement in the upper half of his body by batting a balloon to him.
‘It’s simple but very effective,’ Marcel told me. ‘A balloon has no weight so Kenny can handle it, touch it, move his hands to get to it. And he’s interacting with whoever is playing with him. When I’m out in the community I never go anywhere without a few balloons.’
Kenny was obviously enjoying it, and given that when he came in he couldn’t move at all, I thought what they had achieved here was brilliant. Just like Moloui, this boy was slowly overcoming his disability. We found out that his mother had died when he was younger, he had one brother at home and another older brother who was married. His father, a really dedicated man called Bekki, looked after him. When Kenny was at home his father made sure he was stimulated by taking him to the market or into town, and when he was in the hospital Bekki was there every day to feed and wash him. I could only imagine the pressure it placed on the family, but Bekki told me he wasn’t ashamed of his son. Why should he be? He was proud of what Kenny had achieved since Marcel and the physio
Now that the centre was fully functioning, Marcel had passed the day-to-day administration to a man called Bill Lyape. Bill explained how they deal with all sorts of disabilities, from things like back problems to joints, fractures, strokes and varying degrees of paralysis. When a patient is discharged they are referred to the CBR programme and Marcel continues with the therapy in their own community. That way he can not only assess their ongoing needs, but show family members and neighbours how they can get involved with the child’s rehabilitation. Marcel is very keen that the villagers do not dissociate themselves from the disabled people within a given community, helping them to understand rather than stigmatise.
‘It’s vital,’ he told me. ‘Take Moloui, he’s become an integral part of our team here, a role model not just for other disabled kids, but everyone.’
Moloui was a cool kid. With his two fingers he could hold a pen and write very neatly. I watched him use a calculator and a telephone. He could unscrew a bottle of water, drink from it and screw it up again. He’s a normal kid, he laughs and cries and has fun.
‘He’s great,’ Bill said with a smile. ‘A real asset to what we do here. He’s a young kid who is different, but he doesn’t feel ashamed. He’s confident and what he does is allow other disabled people to see that they can carry on with confidence as well.’
Marcel told us that the only medal ever won by PNG at the Olympics was in the Beijing Special Olympics in 2008, when Francis Kompaon, born with a deformed arm, won a silver in the men’s 100 metres. He was named sportsperson of the year, which was a major boost for the department in Goroka.
The hospital is pretty well equipped considering where it is and that it’s underfunded. But it’s nothing like we would see in the West. They use what they can where they can and often the simplest, cheapest tools can be the most productive.
Take Kenny Ossi, for instance. He has muscular dystrophy and when he first came to the hospital his muscles were so wasted he couldn’t even sit up, let alone feed himself.
‘He was on his back. He was in bed all the time and that’s no good,’ Marcel told me. ‘It’s very bad for the children to just be in bed, they get bored and they can suffer from all kinds of secondary conditions - lung infection is common and that can kill them. It’s important that we get them moving, not just their bodies but their brains as well. To stimulate the body you have to stimulate the mind.’
When I saw Kenny he was propped up in a sort of upright bed with a strap across his middle and one of the nurses was stimulating the movement in the upper half of his body by batting a balloon to him.
‘It’s simple but very effective,’ Marcel told me. ‘A balloon has no weight so Kenny can handle it, touch it, move his hands to get to it. And he’s interacting with whoever is playing with him. When I’m out in the community I never go anywhere without a few balloons.’
Kenny was obviously enjoying it, and given that when he came in he couldn’t move at all, I thought what they had achieved here was brilliant. Just like Moloui, this boy was slowly overcoming his disability. We found out that his mother had died when he was younger, he had one brother at home and another older brother who was married. His father, a really dedicated man called Bekki, looked after him. When Kenny was at home his father made sure he was stimulated by taking him to the market or into town, and when he was in the hospital Bekki was there every day to feed and wash him. I could only imagine the pressure it placed on the family, but Bekki told me he wasn’t ashamed of his son. Why should he be? He was proud of what Kenny had achieved since Marcel and the physio
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