Therapy Fun and Funky Foods

Today we learned about "Rwandan Time", which means really no schedule at all. We had set up back to back sessions for speech therapy today, beginning at 11am. We were dressed, planned and ready to go at a quarter till ... then we waited. No one ever showed. Ok, change brain channel to the next client at 1pm! 2pm rolls around, no client. We sat in the same chairs for 4 hours, except for an attempt to cook. By attempt I mean neither of us had the guts to light the stove with the lighter, so we were eventually shoo'd out of the kitchen by Uweneza, who gave up all hope for us and made the pasta for us :) We were about to wash our hands of the whole day, when we saw why God allowed us to rest all day. Our 3pm client arrived (Rwandan) promptly, and with him the most adorable 5 year old. The father was desperate for advice on how to give his son language, as he was only somewhat echolalic at this point. We played with his son for an hour (read: chased him down and tortured him by making him request toys and snacks), then spent another hour listening and advising (with the help of Faith as interpreter). This father was so hungry for information, he kept asking us to open a clinic, promising he would come. Broke our hearts. This little boy would make so much progress with a 1:1 aide and specialized classroom with speech services. But none of this is available here. Rumor has it that the local American school has a speech therapist -- possibly the only one in the country. Not enough for the growing need. WE were completely exhausted after that session, and spent the rest of the evening with Faith and Roger in the living room. Tomorrow we will go to a daycare that specialized in children with special needs to support the staff in creating new ideas to foster language development.
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On another note, let us address the food here. Faith presented us with the following at dinner this evening ...

Cassaba Root

 Lovingly *coughcough* nicknamed "glue" by Roger, the way you can tell this dish is complete is by throwing a piece of it against the wall. If it sticks, it is done! Coming from the same base as Tapioca, it takes a knife to slice off a piece of this tasteless gooey substance -- then you are expected to dip it in whatever sauce is a part of dinner that evening. Chubby and Faith gave themselves heaping servings .... you couldn't find Roger, Kelly or Tara's serving amongst the other food on their plate :) At one point, Roger tipped over the bowl to see what would happen... nothing. It didn't move, as it was stuck to the sides of the bowl. Hence, "glue"!

Kelly enjoying dessert

Tara's dessert!

Roger surprised the house with ice cream tonight! Yum! Served in these individual cups we had the option of Mocha, Fruit Berry, Fudge Ripple, or Strawberry. Faith and Roger split a Mocha. Faith kept claiming she just wants one bite, then one more, then one more. Kelly dove for the fudge ripple and Tara enjoyed some Berry! Chubby took a Strawberry for the road. I think his was gone before he made it out the door!

So, can you guess what our favorite part of the meal was? :) Sorry Faith, Roger wins this one by a landslide!