Maggie's Haiti Trip to New Life

My Dear Family and Friends,

I have been given an AMAZING opportunity that I cannot wait to tell you all about, but first… I will need your help!

Independence. What is independence to you? Is it being able to drive to visit friends for the weekend? Is it being able to support yourself and/or your family? Is it a feeling of self-worth, a feeling of strength?

Disability. What does disability mean to you? Is it something that someone “has”? Is it stigmatized? Is it something that you choose?

Think about these two words for a second, now; tell me, did you think of these two words together, and how they may interact? As an occupational therapist, I think about these two words and their interaction with each other on a daily basis. Occupational therapy is a profession that allows others to regain, redefine, create, or rediscover any area in their life that may be or has become difficult to perform due to injury, illness, or disability.

A disability is never something someone CHOOSES, and it can happen to anyone at anytime. Fortunately, in the U.S., the term disability is challenged daily. Movements to raise awareness, provide education, and spread love and compassion are constantly surrounding us. We have access to therapies, support groups, and many other luxuries that create an equal opportunity for all to achieve/re-achieve independence and participation in every day life. Unfortunately, this is not the same in many other areas of our world.

In Haiti, “Cocobai” is the creole word used to label those with disabilities. It means “worthless”. When a child is born with disabilities, their family believes that the child has been cursed by evil spirits, which is why most orphanages there are filled with special-needs children abandoned by their families who fear being ostracized.

This past March, a group of fellow students from my cohort traveled to Port-Au-Prince Haiti to volunteer their time at an orphanage, specifically working with the “Cocobai” in order to provide meaning and independence to these children’s lives, otherwise abandoned with no hope for a successful future (see pictures and link to blog below).

This coming March, I have the opportunity to join this amazing group of now OTR/Ls (yay!) to work with New Life Children’s Home in Port-Au-Prince, Haiti to provide children who have been abandoned by their families a chance to live a more independent and meaningful life!

We will be traveling to Port-au-Prince, Haiti for a one-week mission where we will be living and working at New Life Children's Home, a Haitian orphanage that cares for 100+ children. We will load our suitcases with supplies and equipment to be donated, only taking a carry on for ourselves for the week. Our mission is to complete formal OT evaluations for special needs children (approx. 35 or so cases) to develop individualized and sustainable treatment plans that will promote a better quality of life and hopefully prepare or enhance our patients’ abilities to participate in a typical school classroom. We will also be training a rehabilitation technician to implement the treatment plans we create as well as pass on our clinical reasoning so that he will be able to adapt treatment plans independently as the patients on our caseload progress/regress with goals. Part of the money we will be raising will be to fund his salary for the year so that the children can receive full-time therapy and receive the greatest benefit.

How YOU can help:

There are several ways you can help me explore this opportunity!

-The cost for each OT to serve on this trip is roughly $2,000. This covers travel, immunizations, room/board, insurance, and funding for our rehab tech. One way to help would be donating to my plumFund page (see link on post).

-Another way to help would be to donate supplies or toys that we could take with us to use during practice and implementation of our treatment plans!

Any bit of help would be more appreciated than words can describe. If you have any further questions, advice, ideas, etc. PLEASE feel free to contact me via phone or e-mail! Thank you all SO much in advance, I am so excited for this opportunity to help others while pursing something that I beyond passionate about. Please SHARE and hash-tag this trip #lovehasnoborders ☺

(p): 269-501-3964

(e): abannigan@sycamores.indstate.edu