I have spent the last couple of days encountering the staff and families at the INUKA Rehabilitation Centre. INUKA was founded in 2011 by the late Bishop Alfred Muluma of the Catholic Diocese of Njombe, Tanzania.

In February, 2021, just weeks after returning to Tanzania after four years of studies at Benedictine University (BA and MBA), Fr. Nestor was appointed Managing Director of the INUKA Centre by Bishop Maluma. (Bishop Maluma would later die from injuries sustained in a car accident in April, 2021.)

INUKA provides intensive rehabilitation treatment for disabled children and their caregivers; the centre also offers individual rehabilitation for adults and prosthetics and supportive devices. The services provided by INUKA are critically needed; truly life-saving.

Children born with disabilities, or who acquire a disability, face incredible challenges. There is a misunderstanding in the culture here that a child’s disability exists because someone bewitched you, or that you did something wrong to one of your ancestors (e.g., you did not take care of your mother), and thus, a disability has been passed on to your child. Many parents experience shame when they discover their child has a disability.  It is not uncommon for parents to keep their disabled child locked in their home (kept out of the view of society); some parents even terminate the life of a child with a disability. And when it is discovered that a child has a disability, the blame is always directed toward the woman.

Fr. Nestor told me a story that a Mother of a child with a disability shared with him: When it was obvious the child had a disability, the father walked away saying, “Because we do not have this [disabilities] in our family, it is clear to me that this is not my child. You must have had this child with another man.”  

There is only one father of a child with disabilities at INUKA this week, the other 23 children being served are here with their mothers. Fr. Nestor believes that only 20 percent of the fathers remain in the life of their child after a disability is discovered.

There is only one father  of a child with disabilities at INUKA this week, the other 23 children being served are here with their mothers. Fr. Nestor believes that only 20 percent of the fathers remain in the life of their child after a disability is discovered.

One of the critical services that INUKA provides is counseling, which attempts to refute the misunderstandings and mistruths that are associated with children with disabilities in the Tanzanian culture. INUKA staff instructs the parents that their child is a beloved child of God with God-given dignity and value. The organization exists to teach parents the skills necessary to help their children, and to provide the assistive devices needed for their children. INUKA will continue to serve these parents as their children advance in age.

Costs for the services at INUKA are private pay; there is no insurance reimbursement for the services. A child comes to INUKA for a week (Monday through Friday) with his/her parent(s). The parent stays in a room with the child (no one has private rooms; several children and parents share the same room). Breakfast and lunch are provided, and the parent/s must make dinner for their family. The child will receive physical, occupational, and speech therapies, and parents are trained to direct therapy for the child when the family returns home. The parent will also receive the counseling (previously mentioned) and nutrition education. If a child needs more than one week, that can be arranged. Return visits as the child grows in age are also coordinated.  

The private pay cost for the parent and child is $25,000 Tanzanian schillings per week (about $11 US). The cost for an adult receiving services for a week is $50,000 Tanzanian schillings (about $22 US). Yesterday, I witnessed two senior adults with prosthetic legs and braces walking with a staff person.

The Tanzanian government pays the salaries of the physical and occupational therapists who work at INUKA.  The therapists also receive government insurance. INUKA also provides therapists with a housing allowance and travel tickets when they go on holiday. 

INUKA pays the salaries of the Administrative team, nutritionists, social workers, nurses, lab techs, all clinic officers and doctors, cooks, cleaners, community workers, and aides. In addition to the services provided at INUKA, staff from the centre also goes out to the villages to identify children who could benefit from therapy services. 

INUKA also has three community staff persons: Agrey, Lupiana, and Gloria. These individuals came to INUKA as children or adults. Agrey (featured above, with Sr.  Bindu) couldn’t speak when he came to INUKA as a child. He now speaks and has such a joyful spirit.  

You will also see Gloria (in photo holding a child); Gloria came to INUKA as an adult. The three community staff persons receive food and clothing, and their families receive $30,000 schillings per month (about $14 US dollars).
 
 

Celebration lunch

Yesterday (Wednesday) was the occasion of two celebrations. The first involved Francesca, a volunteer from Italy who is the advising physical therapists at INUKA. Francesca recently learned that she was awarded her master’s degree, so she chose to celebrate by providing a catered luncheon for the families and the INUKA staff. My meal at the luncheon (shown right) was brown rice and beef (you have to be careful because when meat is served, which is not common, the meat is rarely separated from the bone), cabbage, and watermelon; note the Pepsi bottle).

At 6 p.m., the religious community that resides in the parish (the Third Order Franciscans from India) had me to their chapel to hear  confessions. Afterwards they served me hot tea, fresh mangos from their yard, and homemade yogurt (the best yogurt I have ever had!).

At 7:30 p.m. the sisters had Fr. Nestor, Fr. Renatus (the pastor), and me to dinner. It was a celebration for three young women who were entering the novitiate for their order. The dinner also recognized Sr. Anice, who was moving from her convent to her community’s convent in Ilembela. The three priests were treated like kings! I constantly had two sisters over my shoulder adding food to my plate, and one sister directing refills when I finished my water or bread.

I also heard the funniest thing yet since being here: Sr. Moly is placing food on my plate and saying, “This is from our garden,” (cucumbers and onions), “This is from our garden,” (eggplant), (and with a smile) “This is from our garden, too,” (fried rabbit!). I paused, but thought I couldn’t offend the sisters, so I tried it. My cliche of an answer: it tasted like chicken.
 
This morning at 6:30 a.m. Mass we witnessed the enrollment of the three young women in the order’s novitiate and three other sisters renewed their vows. Mass was followed by breakfast with the sisters, while I continued to be treated like a king (the sisters provided me, the priest visitor from America, with a cheese omelette while Fr. Nestor and Fr. Rustica were given hard-boiled eggs.). We also had homemade cake and more mango. The sisters also gifted me three hand-crafted Tanzanian wall hangings.