A.A.W is a girl aged 10 who was a happy girl, attending school with her friends. Then a year ago a bout of illness and fever left her unable to speak and paralysed on her right side. Her parents worked with her to restore some movement in her arm and leg and she now is able to walk with some difficulty, but her right arm is unable to move. It is possible that some damage was done to her brain during the fever, but we are unsure about that at this stage. What we do know is that she enjoys a joke: as Andrew stood up to leave he bumped his head on a bamboo post and A.A.W was laughing at his display! She also knows what she wants as when we asked her parents what their expectations were for her, she showed with physical gestures that she wanted to be able to write. It seems that there is a lot this little girl wants to say, and we hope that we can help her express herself.
Our first stop was Mae Tao Clinic in an effort to get some physiotherapy. This venture in itself was greatly desired by her mother. Being illegal they are unable to travel to seek medical advice. Even being with World Education, we had to have Andrew replace the usual driver, Big. Although he is legal, he can be imprisoned, fined heavily and lose his job if the police find that he is transporting illegal people. And there is a police checkpoint between the village and the clinic. The clinic visit led to an appointment at the Mae Sot hospital and some physiotherapy advice for her weakened side. We are also investigating having letter stamps made for her to “write” with and creating activities to help develop the fine motor skills so that she can become “left-handed”, perhaps until her right side becomes dominant again.
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