Shanga Team

At Shanga we love visitors as they all leave an impact on our lives either great or small. This month saw us welcoming a group arranged by Edu Tours and what an adventure was had by all.

Edu Tours and Shanga have had a long term relationship, their focus is volunteering and educational safaris with medical professionals mainly from the United States. For the past few years the groups visiting us have been Physiotherapists.

To our excitement this year’s group of Physiotherapists that arrived on 8th August consisted of a Professor, a practitioner and 2 students from various parts of the United States. They spent almost 2 weeks with us, getting to know us, offering assistance for our staff with specific needs; and reviewing, updating and recommending changes to our regular exercise program. Our regular daily exercise program is done by all staff to commence our day. This program was put together by our Edu Tour group from 2018 and this year’s group were immensely impressed by how far we had come.

“Mgeni njoo mwenyeji apone”, loosely translates to; “Visitors come so that the host can get some relief.” Laurel, Ken (local alias is “Msumbufu”), Abby and Paul sort to do just this. Bringing relief to our staff members by further developing the right sort of physical exercises for all our abilities.

Each day they joined us in their Fluro-coloured scrubs that matched their smiles and enthusiasm. They all worked in ways to breakdown the confrontation that can be associated with doctors and other medical practitioners. Their manner and explanations demonstrated an empathy beyond expectations for the challenges that many of our staff endure.

The overall aim of this year’s visit was to continue our progress with moving better, reducing tension and pain that may occur during our day, and developing our individual strengths to give us more mobility in our day to day lives.

Our lessons from Laurel, Ken, Abby & Paul were that we all focus on our abilities to overcome any challenges we face with a smile and positive attitude. Everyone at Shanga chooses to be happy while being creative and productive.

A huge thanks to Laurel, Ken, Abby & Paul for your time, energy and expertise, the lessons you taught will last a lifetime.