A Day with Jane

Above: Jane Tompsett (left) in Papua New Guinea with a mother of a child with a disability.

A Day with Jane
An editorial piece by Kasia Mills
Education and Programme Officer for cbm New Zealand
 
I recently gave some thought to the contrasting definitions of need and necessity around the world.  For many of us in New Zealand, a mobile phone is an absolute necessity.  For others, need consists of a bowl of rice so their child can eat today, or basic physical therapy to walk again.  Because of the nature of development work, I consider the needs of millions of people with disabilities living in poverty on a daily basis. 
 
These contrasting definitions of need come to the forefront of my mind whenever I meet cbm co-workers from the field that visit our New Zealand office.  Our most recent visitor was Jane Tompsett, the cbm co-worker for Papua New Guinea (PNG).  A trained physiotherapist, she is finishing a two year assignment in Wewak, a coastal village in PNG.  I was lucky enough to spend a day with Jane and soak in her stories of challenges and achievements of working in PNG.
 
Jane’s task in PNG is to provide technical support for the country’s largest disability provider and cbm-funded partner organisation, Callan Services for Disabled Persons.  This massive programme operates in 17 provinces of PNG, providing ear and eye clinics, mobility appliances and running special education resource centres and that’s just for starters.  Their ultimate goal is to ensure that services for disabled persons are included within the existing health, education and community services of PNG.  A significant portion of their work is community education on disabilities to break down the negative attitudes towards persons with disabilities; these are quite high in PNG like in many places around the world. Jane works with the Callan staff to build their capacity, contributes rehabilitation, medical and daily living skill knowledge that is limited in the country.  To add to that, she conducts home visits to remote villages.

Above: Jane's canoe ride to get to one of the villages begins from rocky shores.

Her intrepid journeys to conduct visits to the homes of the disabled living in isolated villages usually require a plane ride, followed by a canoe ride, followed by an uphill hike through mud, streams and thick bush.  Sometimes it takes days to get to a village (and I thought I had it rough with a 45 minute commute through the city!) For Jane, the reward is worth it.  She brings much needed medical care and hope to those who would otherwise have none and passes on skills to her local counterparts.  Upon arriving at her destination Jane pays her respects to the village elders then visits the homes of people with disabilities, nearly all of whom are reliant upon their families for survival.

Many are children with cerebral palsy and club foot, yet others are deaf or blind.  After an assessment of the disabled person’s health and medical needs, she turns her attention to the family and caregivers; progress is often determined by the willingness and ability of the family to cooperate.
 
Jane shows the caregivers how to use materials from their everyday surroundings for physical therapy and rehabilitation.  This often means turning a net into a swing for children with cerebral palsy, or turning thick branches into parallel poles for re-building leg strength and coordination.

Left: A child with disability is calmed by the swaying of a swing made of netting.

Right: A wife helps her husband to stand again with the use of trees transformed into parallel bars. He was injured in an accident yet remains active in the community thanks to determination and the support of his family.

In one village, Jane came across a group of young boys who were pushing their brother around in his wheelchair.  They took him everywhere and had great fun doing so.  “This is rare,” Jane said, however she saw the need to help them do more.  “He needs to be independent,” Jane told the brothers, “What happens if he topples over and you aren’t there to help him get back into his wheelchair?”  Jane and her local counterpart from Callan Services showed the boys how to use logs to build a secure but make shift tiered platform, or elongated steps.  One sits on the lowest level then pushes himself up to the next level and so on until he is high enough to slide into the wheelchair. Quickly seeing the value in this, the brothers helped move the logs into the needed step configuration.

Left: Three brothers push their sibling around in his wheelchair.

Right: A Callan nurse who works with Jane shows the young men how to use logs to build a tiered, step-like platform so their brother can get himself into his wheelchair.

Hearing Jane’s enthusiasm in telling this story put a smile on my face.  Here were three boys who showed such love for their brother they were willing to do anything for him.  It made me wonder about the unknown heroes here in New Zealand, who everyday help their loved ones with disabilities.  It made me wonder about the 17% of New Zealander’s who are living with a disability who champion each day with vigour. 
 
On the whole, I find that people don’t like to think about disability until it affects them personally, it is a topic most people prefer to put on the shelf, never to have to deal with.  The fact is at least 20% of the world’s population is impacted by a disability, either because they themselves live with a disability or a member of their family does.  Impairment becomes disability when we don’t consider the abilities, potentials and contributions to society and the economy of people with disabilities; this is true anywhere in the world.  In essence, it is the wider society on the whole that has not adapted to include people of all abilities. 
 
So the next time you’re stuck in traffic, perhaps it’s a good time to say a prayer for our friend Jane Tompsett, tramping around Papua New Guinea helping persons with disabilities and their families to help themselves.  It may be a good time to think about how you can find out more about the amazing work New Zealand’s disability organisations do to ensure all people are included in community.  Maybe it is a good time to say a prayer for the 650 million people with disabilities living in the world, 80% of whom live in developing countries.  It may even lift your spirits to remember we are lucky enough to think of a mobile phone as a “necessity”.