In our last blog, we told the history and events that led to Mamoune becoming one of the Source of Life employees. It was Mamoune’s sweet daughter, Tafana, who became gravely ill on July 3, 2020, leading to surgery in Haiti to remove a large tumor from her brain.
After Tafana’s surgery, we knew it was important to begin searching for a physical therapist to treat her. With a surgery such as the one Tafana had, it would not be uncommon for some things to not return to what was normal for her prior to the brain tumor.
God orchestrated an amazing connection for Tafana’s therapy at a ministry located in the Gressier area. An extremely qualified American therapist with a staff of five trained therapists accepted Tafana into their program and have been working with her since September 2020. Tafana is always eager to go to therapy, enjoys it, and has continued to make progress.
Recently we received this update from her therapist:
She continues to slowly make progress.
- Her balance and coordination have improved significantly.
- Her walking is steadier.
She continues to struggle with:
- Writing her name,
- Writing words/sentences,
- Sequencing her name (spelling her name accurately).
We are also working on the following areas:
- Decreasing impulsivity,
- Following multi-step directions,
- Tying shoes,
- Money management (identifying & counting money, making change, etc)
We plan to continue working on a lot of the areas listed above.
We also plan to work on new skills:
- Self-care tasks such as grooming (increasing her independence in self-care);
- Mastering her signature/name as that is a highly important skill in Haiti;
- We would love to add tasks like cooking and washing laundry:
- mastering the proper steps,
- safety awareness, etc.,
- Furthering academic skills – counting, simple math, etc.
Tafana will need to continue therapy services to further improve her skills. At this point, she could not enter a regular education classroom and would need to be in a special education program.
Special Education Prospects:
Special Education classrooms are extremely rare in Haiti; a limited number are provided by ministries but often have long waiting lists. Tafana’s name has been on the waiting list at one school, and her therapist is checking the possibility of putting her name on a list at another school. If there would be an opening for Tafana at one of the schools, we would make that known and give you the opportunity to sponsor her tuition.
Our Gratitude:
We are grateful for the progress Tafana has been making and for the therapist who has been working with her! We realize that the level of care Tafana is receiving far exceeds what is normally available in Haiti and that Tafana has been very blessed with this care! To God be the glory!
We are also grateful for every person who helped make all of Tafana’s care financially possible! Without our Source of Life supporters, none of Tafana’s care would have been possible. We pray for God’s continued blessing upon you!