McKenna Farms on Animal Nation!

We are so pleased to see McKenna Farms featured on Animal Nation! Wonderful things are happening for the kids engaged in hippotherapy and therapeutic riding. We are so blessed to be involved with such a wonderful organization, supporting kids like Brandon, Cameron and Landon.

ANIMAL NATION / AUGUST 10, 2012: We recently visited a clinic for children with developmental disabilities where therapists are using horses to provide occupational and physical therapy. It's called hippotherapy and at McKenna Farms in Dallas, Georgia, the patients range from autistic children to those with physical disabilities, such as cerebral palsy. 

We met one four year-old boy named Noah, whose cerebral palsy prevents him from sitting upright or fully using his hands or legs. For Noah, doing his therapy while riding on the horse helps him build strength in his trunk muscles that will help him work towards the goal of keeping his body upright and head up. His therapists also say that, since the stride length and pace of the horse so closely mimic the human stride, these hippotherapy sessions are helping his brain and muscles learn the patterns involved in walking. They are also of the the few times he gets to experience what it might feel like to walk. 

Noah's mom says the horses have made a huge difference in her son's life. He loves the animals and finds motivation to work harder. And what's more, he's found something he truly loves doing. 

Thanks, Animal Nation!

CAMP JAKE :: PT with Marie-Line

Jake working with Marie-Line

CAMP JAKE / JULY 2012 :: Meet Marie-Line, one of the lovely young ladies from St. Vincent's. She is a thoughtful,  observant and very creative girl whose smile lit up Camp Jake every day. Like any typical 18-year-old, she enjoys hanging out with other girls her age and storytelling. She is a pleasure to be around and is loved by many at St. Vincent's and The Red Thread.

Marie-Line was born with congenital birth defects including a right club foot and left leg which had to be amputated beneath the knee. Marie-Line now wears a prosthesis on her left leg and walks with the aid of a pair of crutches.

From left: Gregory, one of our translators, Marie-Line and Jake

To our knowledge, no one had ever formally taught Marie-Line how to use her prosthetic. Jake McCrowell—a Physician's for Peace physical therapist who joined us as a counselor for the week—had the opportunity to work with her on multiple occasions during camp, a blessing for both patient and physical therapist. With the help of Gregory and his translation skills, Jake was able to build a solid rapport with Marie-Line, establishing a level of trust before asking her to perform progressively more difficult exercises. His strategies were sound:

• begin with easier exercises that can build up over time and become more challenging
• build the patient's confidence through earlier successes, helping to keep them from getting discouraged later
• practice the "90 percent rule" - help the patient succeed 90% of the time

Learning new mobility skills

The goals Jake set out for Marie-Line were lofty, but achievable:

• to give her tools to help her become more independent
• to teach her to walk more functionally
• to build her strength, balance and endurance so she can use the least restrictive assistance device to navigate her environment more safely and quickly 
• to reduce the likelihood of shoulder and back problems, prevent scoliosis and further injury from long-term crutch use

During their many sessions, Jake was able to build a personalized exercise program for Marie-Line to practice on her own following camp. Marie-Line was receptive to his suggestions and worked very hard during the sessions, often coming away exhausted, but proud of her accomplishments. She left camp having learned:

• not to fear putting pressure on her prosthetic leg, a step closer to walking freely
• to balance on the leg so she could take a normal step
• to use a single crutch instead of two, all great steps toward a more independent life.

We dream of the day when her club foot can be surgically fixed and when she walks with a cane instead of a crutch. With your continued support of our programs at St. Vincent's, we hope to one day share with you that these dreams have become reality for this radiant young woman.

CAMP JAKE :: Photo of the day

Our main man, Kenson, and young Diana!

CAMP JAKE :: Photo of the day

Rose and Sandi Mica

CAMP JAKE :: Photo of the day

Matt and Judith at Café Americain, our end-of-camp celebration and dance party

New Tubes for ATWs!

Over the past few months we have been actively working with St. Vincent's Center for Handicapped Children to finish distributing our supply of All Terrain Wheelchairs (ATWs). We are pleased to share that over 90% of the chairs have been distributed to people with disabilities in and around Port-au-Prince!


We continue to offer maintenance and repairs for those already in circulation and are constantly re-evaluating the wheelchairs for areas of improvement on the next shipment. Earlier in 2012, our team discovered that the original tubes shipped with the chairs did not fare well in the intense Haitian heat and began researching alternatives. 


After sending a variety of tubes to St. Vincent's to test in the climate, we identified ones that were more suitable to the extreme conditions. Orders were placed so that every wheelchair in circulation as well as those in storage would receive replacement tubes that would better hold air. Prior to shipment, each tube was tested by the manufacturer to ensure that there were no holes or defects. 

Tubes are held under water to look for bubbles indicating leaks

By your continued support, we can meet our goals for this project:

• to provide the best quality products to our partners instead of old or second-hand chairs often sent to Haiti
• to maximize the usefulness and longevity of the chairs by providing on-going maintenance
• to reduce our environmental impact on Haiti by keeping the chairs in use longer, thereby minimizing waste

We invite you to continue helping us support people with disabilities in Haiti. Donations can be made via PayPal (button on the right) or snail mail to the address on the top right.

CAMP JAKE :: Exploring masks

Kelly showing her mask

CAMP JAKE / JULY 2012 :: From Kelly Andrews, our art therapist from Physicians for Peace: With the first Camp Jake a success, I was excited to return to my now extended Haitian family. I knew I would once again watch the campers create art and explore new mediums, while simultaneously discovering comfort levels within themselves. 

After helping campers create 2-dimensional life-size paintings of themselves during the first camp, I wanted to offer a 3-dimensional experience. For the second Camp Jake, I brought along plaster cast materials with which to cast each participant's face. This not only piggy-backed on the life-size paintings, but gave campers a kinesthetic experience, allowing them to discover themselves with a new media, while also playing on the symbolic nature of masks in cultures. 

Samantha prepping for plaster

Kelly working on Samantha's mask

Skilled fingers smooth the surface

Samantha and Kelly showing off the completed piece

As human beings, we often wear a variety of masks depending on our emotional and sometimes physical state-of-being. Metaphorically, one might wear a mask that portrays happiness when, in reality, he or she may be internally struggling with sadness. However, the environment might not allow the person experiencing the sadness to express themselves genuinely. Until a safe place is found to truly express what he or she is feeling, a mask of happiness or content might be worn. 

Many of our campers wore different masks returning to Camp Jake, greeting us with smiles when they got off the bus this camp; in January, however, the more common "deer in headlight" looks greeted counselors at the first camp. Returning campers were now comfortable with us and understood we were there to make them happy, to be alive, and not to fear our differences.

As people with handicap needs tend not to be treated as equals in Haiti and elsewhere in the world, it is the metaphorical mask that is worn by these campers on a daily basis when they are not in St. Vincent’s. While the Act on the Integration of Disabled People was adopted on March 13, 2012 in Haiti, it will take time and a shift in cultural norms before an act on a piece of paper changes the perspective of a people. Our campers are among a population who have been marginalized in a culture that does not understand that difference does not equate a throw away human being. Instead, differences should inspire conversation and education.

The intent of Camp Jake is to strip away the stigmas placed on the campers in their daily lives. The mask making experience allowed them to literally and figuratively display who they are in a comfortable setting. This was evident in a variety of ways during the mask making process. 

Both returning and new campers were seemingly comfortable with me placing plaster on their faces, a sometimes claustrophobic or uncomfortable experience. I questioned if this was comfort or an unfortunate obligation to do what someone asks of them. 

After the masks dried, each camper—blind, deaf and physically handicapped—was given the task to paint their mask on their own. Interesting conversations and experiences were revealed throughout the process. 

When I asked Claurician, a camper and participant in the project, how masks are significant in Haitian culture she replied “In Haiti, masks are used in Carnival”, the biggest and most awaited celebration in the Caribbean Islands, full of colorful parades, enchanting music and traditional dances.

Caroline guiding Jesula

With the help of their counselor, Caroline, blind and sight-impaired girls—Rosanna, Rosaline and Jesula—came in to paint their masks. They were asked what colors they wanted to use to paint their masks. Jesula asked for “blue like the sky” and a variety of blues were placed on her palette.

Dieumene helping Louvens with his mask

Dieumene's surprise at being asked not to help

At one point Dieumene, an independent woman born without arms, began to use her feet to paint three of the blind boys' masks. She was seemingly offended when I asked her to stop, as I explained this is an individual project for each camper as they are all artists. She replied “He does not want it ugly.” I then informed her how we could help by explaining color choices and placement on the palettes, to which she shrugged her shoulders and eventually began to work on her own mask. 

Frennel examining Ulrich Jean's work-in-progress

Frennel being prepped for plaster

The blind examining a completed mask before making their own

Frennel was an example of a camper who has severe vision impairment who did not let his lack of literal vision get in the way of his imaginative vision. Frennel was brought in to paint with his two roommates, Jean Marc and Gary, all who are are blind or have severe vision difficulties. Frennel inspected each of his roommate’s masks as well as his own before, during and after the painting process.

Samantha, a deaf teen, painted her mask with bright colors and vibrant glitter paint. The outside of her mask reflected the spirit of Samantha that was seen during the week of camp, until the last three days when she was more withdrawn with the thoughts of camp ending. 

No two masks are alike which is indicative of us as human beings. In a gallery setting, an observer would have a hard time deciphering the person’s handicap needs while viewing the masks. Instead, viewers only see that each camper is another human being—one who has figuratively and now literally—worn a mask in their lifetime. 

Each camper is an individual who deserves the respect and dignity to be treated as an equal to those without physical differences. In the long run, we all hold differences we wish not to be judged upon; some are just better at wearing masks than others.