Beaming kids with their new machines!
on Julia in Nigeria (Nigeria), 22/Apr/2008 15:03, 34 days ago
I had planned to post some pics from my recent trip to Ghana and Calabar in South Nigeria, over the easter holidays, but the internet connection seemed to be having other ideas over the past couple of weeks so I have moved onto new pictures to see if the beach , rainforest and money photos were feted! It seems that they were as these have worked! Mind you, I have to make the photos as small as possible for it upload! Anyway, it was a great holiday all in all and I may add some pics at some stage!Meanwhile, I am now back at work again , and Iwas very excited to return back to Jos to see a new DHL parcel full of the speech equipment I had ordered from home, via a charity donation.As you can see, the kids are very happy with their new devices, and its been really rewarding showing the parents how to work the machines and record onto them, programme them with suitable pictures and talk about all the possibilities for the future. I have been visiting some of the children in their homes so that I can take photogaphs of all the familiar objects and family members for their machines, rather than just using generic pictures , especially since a lot of the picture symbols you can download aren't always appropriate for Nigeria. ( particularly food - can't find symbols of Yam , Akara or moi moi on line!)It's going well so far, and I just hope the machines will cope with the fact that other children in the families will no doubt get their hands on them!I also added a picture of me collecting water from the well in our compound. I sometimes forget to mention the every day stuff, and it was only after a conversation with a friend the other day that I realised that things like bucket showers and getting water from the well have obviously become a bit too normal!