Our Mission
Our Global Outreach Plan
Our goal in going to Africa is taking our skills with us! While there are many medical mission teams that head all over the world and provide doctoral and nursing care, occupational therapy is something that third-world countries are severely lacking in. Our hope is to help equip, teach, and train others to be able to provide the same care we are able to give our children here.
Nigerian workers return to their villages and families over the December holidays. Nine months later, babies born with a disability are abandoned. Ministry of Mercy (MOM) started an orphanage in the Otutulu Village specifically for children with special needs, there are over 250 children in this orphanage. The caregivers (many of whom are widows, albinos or have physical disabilities) are called “Aunties”. The younger Aunties care for up to 8 children. They are responsible for cooking the children’s food and cleaning their clothes. Laundry is done by hand, and all housekeeping duties are time consuming due to the lack of electricity and running water. The younger Aunties are able to read and speak very limited English. Their native language is Igala, but most of the older Aunties are illiterate.
We want to help, not just the babies, but more significantly, the Aunties who care for these babies at the orphanage. Achievement Therapy Center's team of pediatric occupational therapists have the knowledge and specialized skills to help these caregivers and babies. We plan to use hands-on teaching methods and pictorial visual aids to train these “Aunties.” With the acquisition of skills, picture books, and posters to remind them of what to do, the Aunties will be able to give necessary help to babies long after we have returned to Las Vegas.
