This year, the clinical team for OMPACO’s 2019 trip to Tanzania was made up of Martha Collins M.D., M.P.H. (Former president of OMPACO), Nilofer Naqvi Ph.D. (Psychologist) and Dani Martino M.A. (Graduate Research Assistant). They were assisted by Ms. Veronika Sarwatt, logistics manager.

 

The OMPACO team gathered in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania on the weekend of July 7 and got right to work preparing for the weeks ahead. This included going through the suitcase of school supplies and toys prepared by Gwen Bertrand, MA, Board member and special needs educator at CASE. This entailed sorting items for three schools and packing them for later delivery. After arriving on Sunday night, the team departed on Monday morning for Mwanza, for the launch of the mobile phone training and multi-day child evaluations and a family consultation workshop.
 

On Tuesday, July 9, the team arrived at Village of Hope (resident community and school for chronically ill and abandoned children) in Nyegezi Corner, Mwanza, for OMPACO’s second mobile phone launch on autism knowledge. Special educators and caregivers from the Mwanza area gathered at the school to take part in the interactive training. After a short demonstration by Nilofer, the participants were able to begin the virtual training using their own mobile devices. Dani, Nilofer and Martha were present to help answer questions and smooth out other difficulties for individual teachers during their trial run. The training was received very well; all were enthusiastic about the chance to obtain important knowledge about autism from the convenience of their phones.
 

​