Saying goodbye to Meloonda and her family

Port-au-Prince has dried out quicky, and the dust and unending traffic is back. When we arrived, everything was wet.... the floors of houses were wet, the tent cities were a mud pit, and the drainage ditches were overflowing. The Bregard's tent had blown away in the hurricane and their hut was leaking inside onto their beds. The sun and heat of yesterday were welcomed by everyone.

We returned to work with Meloonda -- this time teaching her mother how to do the exercises to stretch her muscles, how to "ring-sit" in order for Meloonda to learn to hold herself up while playing, how to use the "stander" so that Meloonda is not always in a sitting position, and how to transfer the seat from the indoor wheelchair base to the all-terrain wheelchair base. Stephanie and Lauren also worked with her mother about safe feeding and drinking techniques and how to encourage swallowing -- in order to prevent aspiration.

The good-byes were emotional all around.... it is good to see Meloonda back with her family, but all of us at Shenandoah and in Winchester that have worked with her and loved on her are going to carry her in our hearts for a long time.