| My vision, even before I left for Nigeria, was for a playroom at the hospital, so the children would have activities to do that would help in their recovery. Now that vision has come to completion. The playroom is finished. Praise God! With the help of one carpenter, two artists, many supporters, and lots of prayer, the playroom is a beautiful and fun place for the children. I love to watch their faces as they run in and look at all the animals on the wall. I see them crawling in and out of the cutouts in the wall, smiling and laughing.
The most favored toys in the toy box seem to be the small balls and the little matchbox cars. Many of the younger children like the blocks and the older children like to read the books and do the puzzles. Puzzles have been the most challenging as most children have never done puzzles before and have no clue how to begin. I will take one or two puzzles to one child and put it together with him showing him how to put the edges together first and then the middle. Then I let him try by himself. It is great to see their big smiles, as they show it to me and tell me they did it all by themselves. Then the next day they ask for another puzzle.
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The children who are confined to bed love it when I bring them coloring pages or games to play. Many times I have entered the room and found the parent or relative having just as much fun doing a puzzle or coloring a picture, as the child. Well, we all have a little child in us, right. Most of the parents have never had a chance to do these activities and they have to spend all day at the hospital caring for their child, with little to fill their time.
I have used the playroom many times to help me, when I am doing therapy with my patients. It is a great motivation to get children out of bed that need to walk, whether for movement after a burn, strengthening, or endurance after surgery. We walk down to the playroom and look at the animals on the wall. Then they stay and play for a while.
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| I have used the ABC picture blocks to help one child increase his English. I have used the toys and games in treating patients with burns, meningitis, fractures, and developmental delay.
The children and I want to say thank you to all the people who donated toys, dolls, games, etc. for the playroom. Without you, this room would not have become what it is now-a place of fun and adventure.
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