Time for school

The three of us start off by visiting the nursery school of Askar that shelters more than fifty children aged 3 to 5. Most of us suffer from a subtle ankle instability and their feet tend to go towards the inside, or they have small unbalanced knees with varus or valgus. Nothing too important for children that age. We decide to teach some proprioception exercises to prevent them for having flat feet or deformations when growing up. They are all cheerful in the playground and François seems to be very popular with kids.

The "case of the day"

The school manager then introduced us to her husband, at their place. The patient had a stroke a while ago and suffered from a spastic hemiplegia on the left side. Pierre left me alone so I could perform my first therapy and went to the camp care center to visit his 15 or so patients of the day. It was a good opportunity for me to take my time and help that man who has been left aside, away from the social life. Washing up, eating, lighting up a cigarette, walking... he has to ask the people around him for help for the daily tasks. In addition, he has trouble with sensations. Every single contact or pression on his skin is felt as sheer pain (putting a sock on, cutting his nails : everything feels terrible for him). So it's not an easy path for therapy especially since it is supposed to relax contracted muscles.

I'll visit this patient every day until we leave. I'm aware his state won't improve after only 4 consultations, that's why I'll teach his wife a few simple exercises that she can perform with him so he can get back some autonomy in daily life. As for Pierre, he's looking for a foot solution to make his walking easier. Part of the donations we've received will help this man.

François went to the old town with Naser to take some photographs of the Palestinian workers.

On Tuesday nights, the Champion's League is on !

The rest of the day was pretty fluid at the care center. Every patient brought a friend, a brother, a cousin suffering from something. We made friends with the youngsters from the camp and we organized a football game. When the sun set, we gathered for a night game between supporters of Barcelona and Madrid's. There seems to be two separate sides here, the easiest thing is to choose one and to give all that we have.

We finished the game with an undefined score - even the points can be bargained here. Salam !

Martin Durrmann