Three years ago, I read a book written by a mum who has a son with cerebral palsy. She wrote about her experience as a mother and about her son who couldn’t walk initially but eventually walked. In her book, she wrote that she travelled to Hungary with her son so he could attend Peto Institute. A school for children with cerebral palsy. The school practice conductive education.
This mum spoke about Peto Institute and the impact it had on her son. After reading the book, I got in touch with her and I got the details of the school. We got our visas and off to Budapest, Hungary.
Budapest is the capital and the most populous city of Hungary. It is also one of the largest cities in the European Union. It has an estimated population (2016 estimated statistics) of 1,759,407. 99% speak Hungarian language.
Enough of history now reality. This is a predominantly white community. You hardly see black folks. I mean hardly…I guess the white folks too have very little knowledge of blacks except what they read in their history books written by people who never visited Africa.
Well, I met very nice people at the Peto Institute. However, we were living far from the institute’s hotel so we were not able to really mix and bond. Moreover, my daughter was just a year plus and I was so focused on the program we came to attend. Also I had a six months old baby so you could imagine how pre-occupied I was.
Fast forward three years later after my daughter’s saga with her Physiotherapist, we left the matter in the hands of the Ministry for Health and our lawyers and decided to go back to Peto Institute.
This time around I promised myself to enjoy my trip. Nimmy is now four years old and Pemmy three years. Though toddlers but definitely no longer babies. Moreover, I plan on taking their nanny for the trip.
A month to our departure, we applied for a visa at the Hungarian Embassy in Abuja. I was sure my husband and I as well as the two kids will be given visas but I couldn’t say that for their nanny who had not travelled with us before.
I don’t know whether our nanny prayed for her visa but I prayed real hard because I knew it would be almost impossible to enjoy my trip without someone assisting with the children. In case you are thinking ‘is it really necessary to have someone to assist on this trip…..well you would understand as I take you on this 30+ days journey from Lagos to Budapest to Dubai and back to Lagos.
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