Dolphin Therapy helped Serge: he smiles, concentrates better and is more alert of his environment.
Haltern: I am awaited. The thirteen year old Serge is excited, beaming at me through his thick spectacles. His mother, Dodo Akpaqnonite, wants to explain who the guest is, but Serge remembers my first visit, he knows why I have come, and he laughs into the camera.
”Serge is looser, more relaxed. He could open his hands and hold the dolphin’s fin. And he smiled a lot”. Dodo Akpaqnonite, Serge’s mother.
The severely disabled boy, who once could not move his arms, sat waiting. ”Hi, how are you?” I could even shake his hand. He grinned at me, which meant ”Everything’s OK”. I met Serge and his mother a year ago. She was tired, but she would not be beaten. Serge could neither concentrate nor coordinate his cramped hands. Even though he was strapped into a wheel chair he was always moving. His head shook with every change in mood. Had his wheel chair not been fully padded he would have been covered in bruises. His mother was constantly removing spittle from his chin. Now she needs to remind him to wipe himself, and usually he can. He can even open his hands.
Ten months ago during my visit he was sitting apathetically in his wheel chair. Now, he wants to ‘join in’ the conversation, laughing, humming, hand movements, rolling his eyes or blinking, he follows our conversation.
The mother related that she arrived back from Turkey on Tuesday. He had been in Antalya for Dolphin Therapy, visiting ‘Flip’, ‘Frosia’ and ‘Jonas’, with his mother Dodo for two weeks. Their stay in Antalya, said the mother, was very good. Read the rest of this entry »