Day 1 –June 9, 2014

While there are many wonderful highlights to this trip of different kinds, we definitely took a lot of pictures of the food. Overall, we very much enjoyed the food that we ate found it all very tasty. On our first day for lunch with the graduate students and Dr. Yang, they took us to a nearby restaurant and we sat in a private room with a large lazy susan on the table. This would prove important in sharing all the food. After we got our drinks, we ordered from the pictures. They had a little square area with pictures on three sides of all the food options. We learned that the Shanghai style food tends to be a little sweeter, but there were also Szechuan style spicy options as well. We told the students to pick traditional dishes of Shanghai, but that we also liked a little spicy. They asked us if we liked fish or beef or pork and then would order. We didn’t know what we were going to eat but were willing to try it. All of the options were wonderful.

We also learned about some of their interesting juices. Corn juice is very popular and it tasted just like drinking the juice in creamed corn.

Corn Juice

Here are wonderful student lunch companions in a picture taken at the university in their department. Meng Lu Tu (Tutu) is a first year Master’s student, Qianqian Pan is a graduating Master’s student who will go to a doctoral program in the US in the Fall, and Zhen Zhao is a first year Master’s student. All of them have been helpful and contributed a lot of time during our stay and also contributed a lot during our presentations. Qianqian and Zhen Zhao were especially helpful picking us up from the airport and taking us all around the city and answering our questions. We are very grateful to them.

Our new friends and guides

During this meal, we ate lotus root with rice inside, a sweet soup with balls made of a kind of flour, some very good spicy fish, steamed shrimp, a tofu dish that was also wonderful, 100 year old eggs (pickled or preserved eggs), a mushroom dish, a beef dish, and a dish that looks like a tabuleh salad but it was it was warm with the greens and had a different but fresh flavor. I took the picture before all the food came.

Some of our lunch dishes

Everything was wonderful, but after some lovely conversation with Dr. Yang and the students, it was time to explore the city. Qianqian was our guide for most of the day and then Zhen Zhao joined us for dinner and stayed with us for the evening.

We started with a taxi ride to our first destination, the Yuyuan Garden.  Traffic in Shanghai is more congested than Boston and the driving is definitely more aggressive, although I didn’t find it concerning at all. All of our taxi rides were good and didn’t take an incredibly long time or I never felt we were sitting in traffic for an extra long time. But, there are so many buildings to look at and things to see that it is very entertaining. As a pedestrian, you are one of many, and it is a good idea to go only when the green person tells you, but you still need to watch for motorcycles, bikes, and turning cars, because they will go regardless of the indicator for the pedestrian turns. It is a dance between all of those people to move about the city. There are many motorized bicycles or mopeds.

This blog is going to be done in parts and the story will develop over time to share all our experiences, even after we get back so I can tell the full story and have time and energy to write it all.

Shanghai at night

Tuesday June 10

We have two days to explore Shanghai before we start our training, Tuesday and Wednesday. On Tuesday, we made the most of it.

After arriving on Monday afternoon, we relaxed in our hotel and slept. Because of jet lag and sleeping in the afternoon, we both woke up early on Tuesday morning. I woke up at 4:50am and couldn’t go back to sleep. I started my day with some yoga and email.

At 8am, we went down for the breakfast buffet. It was a mix of European and Chinese options. We tried a few Chinese choices, but stuck mostly to eggs and toast and tea.

We were supposed to meet our university host, Dr. Yang for lunch at 11:30. We decided to explore our neighborhood a little and see if we could find an ATM. We accomplished both tasks and got back the hotel to meet three students who took us to lunch. Dr. Yang was finishing a morning of defenses for Master’s theses.

At lunch, we talked with the students about what we wanted to see and do in Shanghai. Our graduate student assistant, Xiaoqing, gave us a great list of activities, shopping, and restaurants to try, in addition to suggestions for food that was unique to Shanghai. We handed them the list. We didn’t realize that we would do almost all of the tourist attractions in one day. That is how we got to 25,000 steps. As a teaser for next time, at the end of the day, my phone pedometer said that we walked 25,570 steps or 11.3 miles.

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Shanghai during the day from my hotel

Today, Thursday (June 12), we started the training at ECNU that we came to do. We think it went well, but was very strenuous for everyone because it was a lot of new information for our participants and intense training for us. We have two and one half days of training left before we leave for home. It is time for bed as we have another big day tomorrow.

Lianna and I arrived safely in Shanghai. We had a nice flight, although it was very long. Our short flight to Detroit got in a little early and then we went right to our flight to Shanghai and it was already boarding our zone. Over the 14 hours in the air, we had three different meals and I watched several movies and a little TV in addition to sleeping.

When we arrived in Shanghai immigration and customs went smoothly and quickly and we went out to meet our hosts. When we first looked at the long line of people waiting with signs, it was hard to find our hosts, but there were actually fewer people than on some flights I recall in the Middle East and the people were very orderly. Near the end of the line, we found our names on two signs held by two very nice graduate students at ECNU who took our bags and directed us to the car. We rode about an hour to our hotel. We were both struck by the size of the city and the large number of high rise apartment buildings.

When we got to our hotel, the students helped us get checked in and take our bags to our rooms. We each have a nice big room with a view of the city.

Tomorrow we will meet more of our hosts and see some of the city. Good night/Good morning.

My summer is starting and I am off again on two trips this summer. On Sunday, I will be heading to China with my colleague, Lianna Pizzo, to go some training at East China Normal University in Shanghai. We are really excited. This will be our first trip to China and we are ready for this new experience. I was reflecting on the fact that I have done some trainings  and teaching in languages that are not my first, but I have always had some knowledge of the other language. This will be the first time a do a training that is being translated.

I will be posting pictures and details about our trip and training, so stay tuned.

I have not posted for a while because I have been so busy with my regular work as a professor. But, I wanted to highlight two exciting things. First, my new book is actually out. I am so excited. Yes, if you read my Facebook or Twitter feed, I have already shamelessly promoted my book, but I am very proud of it.

The book flyer

Today I also found out that some courses I worked on with members of our early childhood program were reviewed and are being used in Britain. We are very excited and they can be a tool to help people in other countries learn about early childhood using open access courses like ours. Here is the link to the review and the courses.

http://cyp-media.org/2013/11/01/open-early-childhood-courses-how-do-they-match-up-to-moocs/

Today is my last day in Tanzania for this trip. I know I will be back; I plan to be back for a short visit in November. For my last day, we took children to Comprehensive Community Based Rehabilitation in Tanzania (CCBRT) in Moshi to see a Speech Language Pathologist and Audiologist. And again we determined that the children did not have those issues, but just needed some extra help with academics, which the project will provide in the coming months. And again as with the KCMC visit, there was an unexpected outcome where we got an appointment for one of the parents to see someone there to help her. We think that if that parent can be supported then it will help the child as well.

But for me, the most surprising unintended consequence of today was the mingling of parents and children for various types of specialists. CCBRT has a few key programs, namely working with people with clubfeet, polio, cerebral palsy, and other developmental disabilities. Today, the neurologist was also seeing patients and there were several children with varying degrees of cerebral palsy and some intellectual disabilities waiting in the same area and using the stair trainer, gait trainers, walkers, and stretching on a mat outside.  I noticed the teacher with us and the parents looking around and intently watching the children and parents (mostly mothers). I walked over and asked how they were and was asked if I had ever see children like these. I told them that I used to teach children like these and with more intense medical needs in my classroom. They were surprised.

As a real life reminder that children in Tanzania are sometimes still hidden or not part of community when they have intense physical or cognitive disabilities, these adults were sure they had never see children like this in their community. To further this statement, I was told by one teacher recently that there were no children in the school with disabilities, but when probing found that her definition of a children with a disability meant a child with a visible physical disability or a cognitive disability that was significant and obvious.  Education of the community is still needed and it is so important to help our teachers and partners see the capability and value of people with disabilities in their communities.

On my last day of school yesterday, we held a meeting with the key people in the school and community we are working with to report the progress so far and discuss the road ahead, namely the various appointments we are arranging for children and families and additional instruction the Sarah and Veronica will be delivering starting next week to the students were have identified. The meeting was very successful and they were all very pleased. It was nice to see the community support from the local leaders and the school leaders.  I gave them all presents from Boston and/or UMass Boston as a token of my appreciation for their cooperation and hospitality during my stay.

My Kitenge from the classroom teacher

The teacher in our classroom had not realized that it was the last day I would be in the classroom. She insisted we hang around after the meeting of a while until her granddaughter could bring a present for me and present it to me in the traditional ceremonial way. It is a lovely traditional kitenge (the cloth they use for making their clothes, mostly women).

Yesterday, I tried to offer a general overview of the climbing experience and the two biomes we saw and provide pictures for people who have not been on Kilimanjaro and/or may only want to live vicariously through other climbers.

The first 8-9 km are truly in the deep rainforest. Here is a video I took of the path. You can see it is an incline, but not steep in this section.

Machame Hike Video

The path has been made through the trees and sometimes includes the trees and their complex root systems.

The trees are part of the path.

As for the practical aspects of the trip, there are pit toilets available along the path but there are also many little paths on this trail where you can go off into the woods when nature calls.

A pit toilet on the Machame route.

It is necessary to carry all of your supplies with you. For our day trip, we carried them ourselves, including a little over 100 oz of water for the trek. I drank about 80 oz on the trek. Methley, our fantastic guide, carried our lunch. And this was not a camping lunch that you might think of like sandwiches or freeze-dried food. We got the gourmet treatment.

Methley preparing our lunch

As I mentioned yesterday, he was not only the guide but also the chef and he does this for his full treks as well. When he is doing a full trek, he will cook the dinner fresh for you right there, but we didn’t carry a stove up for this short trip.

Freshly ground sea salt and peppercorns

He made a lovely tomato, onion, and chili garnish with fresh herbs and garlic for the tilapia he had grilled at home and carried up. He also brought us a beautiful avocado and sometimes serves this dish with a baguette. He also topped it with a hard boiled egg. This light and healthy meal was perfect for providing us energy for the long trek back down.

The garnish for the meal

He did much of the preparation while we were resting at the Machame hut including seasoning it to taste with our desired level of spice.

A grilled tilapia filet with a tomato relish, hard boiled egg and creamy fresh avocado slices

We also had a beautiful view for our lunch of Kibo. After lunch, we took some more pictures including this one of Sarah at the Machame Huts.

A view of the vast mountain with Kibo in the distance

Sarah at Machame Huts

I also watched the porters and support staff for the climbers going to the top setting up camp for their groups.

Porters setting up camp for climbers

Then we started our journey down. I looked at my watch and remember it was around 4pm or a little after. He told us it was 3 hours down. Methley frequently reminded us to drink up. We needed to stay hydrated. As we went down, we passed several groups of hikers on their way up to camp for the night.

Methley reminding us to hydrate.

You could see Mt. Meru from Mt. Kilimanjaro, the other peak in the area. It only takes three days to reach the summit, but it is a more technical climb that most Kilimanjaro routes, but still doable.

Mt. Meru as seen from Kili

As we descended, it was getting dark. I was able to capture this one picture of the forest around sunset.

Sunset on the path

In the end, we walked the last 30-45 minutes in the dark and that slowed us down. Sarah and I used the flashlights on our phones to help us see, but there were big piles of rock along the road we were trying to avoid that had been placed in intervals on the road, but not yet spread evenly on the road to help with traction for ranger vehicles on this lower section.

We got to the gate and her car at about 7:30 in complete darkness and very tired. The descent was much worse than the ascent because of the pounding on our calves and my less than appropriate shoes did not help one bit. Walking poles for the descent would have helped tremendously, proper shoes, and finishing in at least a little light.

Nevertheless, it was an incredible experience and I really enjoyed it. The day hike makes me want to go up to the summit even more and gives me confidence that with continued endurance training and getting the right equipment I can have a good chance of success. I am still worried about altitude sickness as I go up, but I will plan and prepare and take what comes.

My dusty, broken shoes on their last adventure

And the shoes are being retired. They have been with me since 2007 and my first trip to Tanzania. They have gotten me through many miles in Lushoto, some in Arusha, Dar, and Zanzibar, and now many in Moshi. They have been good, but are done. For $50 J-41 shoes, they were awesome (on sale).

Today was a day of waiting and waiting. We took several children to the Kilimanjaro Christian Medical Center for various checkups, including vision examinations, blood work, and seeing pediatricians and neurologists. We were generally pleased with the results of the day and with the quality of the care. Several of the children are returning in two weeks for additional appointments.

On one hand, we were happy that none of the children had serious vision issues nor do they need glasses. On the other hand, that means that in several cases, we have ruled out hearing and vision issues as a cause of their difficulties in school, but now we have consider that several of the children were are most concerned about may indeed have intellectual disabilities. Given the diagnostic tools at our disposal or lack there of in Kiswahili, particularly for psychological assessment we cannot diagnose some children definitively as having an intellectual disability as opposed to having a learning disability. As I have mentioned in a previous blog entry, we are working from an RTI (response to intervention) perspective where we will try various interventions with children who are remaining in an inclusive setting. If that does not make a difference in the six few months, we will search for an more intensive setting that is still inclusive, such as the Gabriella Centre for additional children. Our goal is to keep children in inclusive settings and neighborhood schools as much as possible because this model is more sustainable and could be better replicated across the country.

Tomorrow we do our trek up Kilimanjaro. I will take tons of pictures and am SUPER EXCITED!!!!! I can’t wait.

Happy Fourth of July!

It really pays to have connections and stay connected with people working for a common goal, especially when there are not that many people in this country currently working on services for children with learning disabilities and mild intellectual disabilities. There are more services for children with sensory impairments and more well-known services for children with physical impairments and moderate to severe disabilities. But, since these children tend to blend in at least for some period of time, they go to school and do not succeed. There are not many good options in Tanzania for a child who doesn’t finish primary school and hasn’t learned additional vocational skills. After talking to my friends and colleagues from the Irente Rainbow School, I was referred to Brenda and Anton at the Gabriella Centre, the directors and people who have worked with Rainbow staff for a long time through a community rehabilitation network group.

Today we visited the Gabriella Centre. This center offers various services for children learning disabilities, high functioning autism and intellectual disabilities, including children with Down’s syndrome. Their website states the following as their goals:

Gabriella Children Rehabilitation Centre is a non-governmental organization started in July 2009 to ensure that children with disabilities are identified early, properly assessed, and trained to become acceptable community members. The centre consists of an integrated primary school for both disabled and non-disabled children, as well as full-time boarding for those who need it. The on-site occupational therapists and teachers assist children with autism and learning disabilities, and provide assessment, education, and disability awareness to parents, teachers, and the community at large.

We were very grateful to meet Brenda this morning and some of her staff and see the facilities. We were also very impressed with their services and we think that they are a real possibility for a few of the children we are most concerned about who we do not feel can be successful in the present government primary school system; they need more individualized supports. Our next step is to bring the children to the center with a parent for assessment and evaluation. We will provide our assessment results and notes from our interviews with these families to support the evaluation process.

The playground…they are building a football pitch (soccer for Americans)

For the younger children, they offered inclusive classroom instruction with typically developing students and Montessori activities to teach problem solving, functional academics, and self-care skills. In addition, they have rabbits that the children learn to care for to practice responsibility and animal caretaking skills.

A rabbit cage

As the children get older, they learn various vocational skills such gardening, weaving, beading, and clock building.

Bracelets in progress in the arts and crafts room

A clock waiting for its mechanical parts

They recently started building a chicken and goat area to help the children learn those skills.

They also teach business skills such as selling soda and telephone vouchers.

The kids learn to sell soda from the cooler.

We heard a story about a young woman who has learned to sell soda and vouchers and in the near future they will help her set up a shop in the area to sell independently.

Teachers from the center will continue to follow her and make sure she is doing okay and being successful. I was most excited to hear that they were not just teaching the skills, but offered concrete plans for how the child will move out of the sheltered environment and be reintegrated into the community. So exciting!!

Because their key staff are trained occupational therapists, they offer occupational and physical therapy (these two types are often combined in my experiences in Tanzania and usually offered by OTs). This a homemade Tanzanian trampoline that they made after the American one broke. The bottom is woven tires. Great recycling of materials.

A homemade trampoline with woven tire strips