INTRODUCTION PART 1
Physical therapy and rehabilitation techniques have been developed mostly in cities. Yet
most of the world’s disabled children live in villages and farms. Their parents are usually very
busy growing the food and doing the chores to keep the family fed and alive from day to day.
In some ways, this makes home therapy more difficult. But in other ways it provides a wide
range of possibilities for exciting therapy in which the child and his family can meet life’s
needs together.
Here is a story that tells how therapy can be adapted to village life.
5
Maricela lives in a small village on a river.
She has cerebral palsy. When she was 4 years
old, she was just beginning to walk.
But her knees bumped together when she
tried to take steps. So she did not try often.
Also, her arms and hands were weak and did
not work very well.
Her family saved money and took
Maricela to a rehabilitation center in the
city. After a long wait, a therapist examined
her. He explained that Maricela needed to
stretch the muscles on the inner side of her
thighs, so her knees would not press together
as much.
He recommended
that her parents do
special exercises with
her, and that they buy
a special plastic seat
to hold her knees wide
apart.
He said she also
needed exercises
to strengthen and
increase the control of
her hands and arms.
He suggested buying
her some special toys,
game boards, and aids
to practice handling and
gripping things.
Maricela’s family
could not afford
these costly things.
So back in her
village her father
used whatever he
could find to make
similar aids at low
cost. First he made
a special seat of
sticks.
Later he made a better seat with pieces of
wood, and an old bucket to hold her legs apart.
Then, using a
board, corn cobs
and rings cut from
bamboo, he added
a small table so
that she could play
games to develop
hand control.
CP
bamboo ring
corn cob
wood plank
He also made a hand exerciser out of bamboo.
At first, while they were strange and new,
Maricela used her special seat and played
with her special toys. But soon, she got bored
and stopped using them. She wanted to do the
things that other children did. She wanted to go
with her father and brother to the cornfield. She
wanted to help her mother prepare food and
wash the clothes. She wanted to be helpful and
grown up.
(story continued on next page)
disabled village children