All coming together

Cannot believe we are almost done with community. This whole experience has been something else, something I have never experienced before. It has taught me about what we as OT’s can do, how we are advocates for our clients, how we are advocates for the disabled. How we can be the voice to those who do not have a voice, or who think they do not have a voice. It has been an experience of learning to work with so many different people, my patience being tested to the absolute limit. I feel that having a one week break from community to go to Zim, was the best thing that could have happened to me. In the first two weeks of community, I felt so overwhelmed in being 4 students in this magnitude of community, filling the shoes of three blocks before us. It is something that I have learnt about myself this year, I always compare myself and freak myself out at the impending doom of the end result. Like how am I going to get ther? How am I going to be able to do what other people have achieved already. I need to learn that my experience is not going to be the same as someone else’s. It has happened to me in every single block except paeds, because that was my first block. I had no-one to compare myself to. And I achieved in that block. I loved every minute of it. Shows me something doesn’t it? I think I needed to learn these lessons for my years to come as an OT. That I need to invent myself, and not try and be someone else or try fill the shoes of other people but rather create my own path. I know that I have the passion and ability to do well. I just need that faith in myself. And again, another lesson hard learnt- I cannot do anything in my own strength. Praying for strength and peace that surpasses all understanding allowed for the ever resounding message that I can do all things through Christ who gives me strength. How do we do anything without Him? So it’s been a 6 week learning period. It has been tough and challenging, but so exciting at the same time. I mentioned in one of my first blogs that I am so scared of not doing a lot in the community, or feeling like we are getting nowhere and I also said I know that in 6 weeks time we will look back and be like, wow- we really did do a lot. And today was one of those days. And even though we got verbal recognition for the amount we have achieved from various sources, we didn’t even need the verbal recognition from others to know that we have done well and that we have done a lot. And even small things that will go unnoticed means a lot to us, and its not only about the marks at this point, it’s a feeling of satisfaction knowing the things we have achieved. Today the OT’s from a special school came to see the crèche we had been working at, and like I said their praise was well received by our group, and it felt like all the tears and frustration of this block was worth it. Today I felt like an OT. Which is a great feeling! Today was also a day of mixed emotions... a young student at the day care passed away. The teachers heard today, and the tears and heartbreak was awful. A young life taken too soon. You could feel the change in the atmosphere at the day care almost immediately. I don’t think I’ll ever understand why these things happen; I had a good friend pass away 2 years ago at the young age of just 20. It still hurts today. And I will never understand. Today I was taken back to that hurt that I felt two years ago. I prayed a prayer once, and it changed my life forever. I prayed, break my heart for what breaks yours. It is in a worship song and I made it my own. It was a hard prayer to pray, as my heart hurts so easily for others as I feel the Father’s love for others. And I know it is a pin prick of the feeling He has compared to what I am feeling, for nothing can compare to His love. This news wasn’t easy for those in the day care. It was a hard day. And the day didn’t get any better after that when one of the other girls in the day care fell off her chair off the stage hitting her head against the cot. She didn’t hit it hard but she definitely had a huge fright. I saw it happen. I was so proud of my community group, The Awesome Foursome as we were calm and collected. It was sad when none of the teachers responded to the situation as we would have expected. But my group was amazing, two consoled her, as one checked that she wasn’t injured as one went to get sugar water to relieve the shock that she had experienced. We knew exactly what to do and we worked like a well oiled machine. Testament to how far we have come as a group. You truly do become like family when you spend so much time together. We drive each other crazy but I love this group. So today was a day of mixed emotions, followed by some deep thinking and reflections.

CDC Casual day

What a brilliant day! What we thought would be a chilled day at the crèche for casual day turned out to be so much more than that. We decided that we would do something at the crèche for Casual Day. Casual day holds a very special place in my heart as last year for Casual Day we were at a drug rehab centre and we had such a great day dressing up and enjoying the day singing dancing and showing off everyone’s talents in our talent show. This year, I just knew we had to do something! We decided on a photobooth where the children could dress up, have their photos taken and the principal offered to bring snacks and juice. Not knowing what to expect on this day, everyone just “came to the party” and we had such a great day! The principal is one of the most amazing people I have ever met, the love and care that she has for those children and her gratitude towards us is so great. This Casual Day thing is basically an awareness day and day of support for those with disabilities. And how on earth were we to explain this to these children, who they themselves have disabilities? How were we to explain that today was a day for them where people are celebrating those with disabilities and that even though they may be disabled, that they need to know that they are just “differently abled’, and not “disabled”. Chanelle came up with a beautiful idea of reading a story about a duck who was different to the rest, he could not walk, eat by himself or fly. And this story spoke of how his friends and family did everything they could to help him, by making assistive devices for this little duck so that he could learn to do some things by himself. It was such a beautiful story and I think it was perfect for this day as we explained how special this duck was even though he was not like the rest. I feel it was well received by some of the children, those who could concentrate for the duration of the story, they even answered questions afterwards. It was a beautiful site to see, these children sitting together listening to this story. Thereafter, we did the photobooth. And what fun it was! The principal was incredible and dressed up soem of the children with funky clothes and make up and we had tons of props and colours and fun items to wear. The children loved it as they all posed for their photos and came running to see what the photo looked like. Everyone was involved, the teachers, the differently abled children, the principal, the students and the students’ supervisor. We then played a game of bean bag races and settled down to the a meal. This meal came as a surprise to the students as Nthombi had offered to get snacks and juice but she went all out. She got hot dogs, nik naks and juice for all the children and a beautifully prepared meal of Shisanyama (braaied meat), rolls and a tomato and onion mix as well as coke and fanta. It was so unexpected, which made it so special. I love that in our profession, we get to come across people that will surprise us. Whether it be in good ways or bad ways, but bottom line is, we will never just be those ordinary professionsals, we are exposed to so much and today we were surprised by the generosity of this crèche, and at the same time, for the absolute gratitude and appreciation of us. It worked both ways, and in my eyes, that is what community is. working together with the community, for the community. Coming together as outsiders, invited into this circle of trust that is community, and working together for the greater good of the people that are inside that community. Today was one of my favourite days, sharing in laughter happiness and a beautiful meal. Today felt like community. In church, they always speak of community,a nd how we should all be a community of Christians inviting those who don’t believe inside this community, and even though today was not about church/Christianity, I have never felt community like I did today. A community of peace, love and acceptance between students, the differently abled and a passionate principal and our supervisor.

Reflections

I read a powerpoint on blogging and I have been challenged ever since. I always thought I had this blogging thing down, and is there really a way to tell someone how to reflect on what has happened. But it is true, reflecting is a process. Thinking of an event and reflecting how you felt and why you felt that way. Looking at blogging or reflection in a systematic way. This being: 1. Experience. Focus on a critical incident that took place. Describe the event as objectively as possible, how would your community members explain this event? And how do these two explanations compare. 2. Reflection. What are my assumptions and how can I tets them. What were the assumptions, and is there another way to see this event? (this is interesting for me because I have always explained an event, how I felt but not how I could see it in another way. That perhaps there is always another way to look at things. 3. Analysis. How is it related to other issues. Who or what could help in this situation. What action will I take? And then what are the outcomes you hope to achieve. And then reflection on the actual outcome, what worked well? REFLECTION IS A USEFUL LEEARNING EXERCISE BUT IT OUGHT TO LEAD TO ACTION. I have never really thought about this. Its odd, because now I am reflecting on reflecting. It’s never ending. Hahaha. But I will try this from now onwards for any exciting events that happen or if an incident occurs. So this week has been a lot better than last week, last week was just a ard week coming back from Zim and having to go straight back into reality. I think I felt that way because we were on such an emotional high in Zim, we were so fired up with passion and energy and so moved by what was done at Zim, that returning to SA and the reality of marks, and group work, and having to still get through the next 3 months of this degree was a difficult thing to think about when all I wanted to do was be in a lecture at Zim, or in a local taxi going to a game reserve, or walking through the local markets bargaining with the locals. My heart was in Zim and my mind in SA. It was hard. Looking back and reflecting on this, I think that I could have prevented some stress and some bad days and moments if I had reflected on what was going on. I was so wrapped up in the drama and the fighting and the stress of marks, that my eyes were taken completely off the picture. And that is the community. I need to remember that always. And it then keeps me sane. It then makes me realise why I am here. Looking at how to reflect etc, I think this situation I found myself in could definitely have another way of looking at this event. Like looking from other’s points of view. Maybe the group had other things happening in their lives or in their degree, and maybe I needed to keep in mind that I have been taught differently. I don’t know. I feel a lot calmer and more tolerating this week. I am trying to take everything in my stride and remember that I need to be patient in everything that I do. Patience, a huge lesson learnt for me this block. I need to practice patience. The community is not as fast and structured like the other placements I have been to. Patience came in here where I had to learn that the community cannot work on my time, I need to work on the community time, or else one will end up getting frustrated and irritated. Things will happen eventually. Today was a perfect example of community time and just the community in general. We needed to go on a home visit for a follow up client from the previous block. We contacted one of the ward councillors, and she came from Pinetown to assist us in finding this home. After driving around and numerous phonecalls to one of our lecturers, and going to the wrong house (which was really interesting because it happened to be the house of one of the famous soccer player’s granny, and this house had just been redone because cars kept rolling down the hill and knocking the house due to the poor infrastructure of the road. The house had been hit 3 times due to cars having accidents on the narrow road. This is so interesting because this is where the government needs to step in, or the ward councillors and development organisations etc, something is being done about this), anyway we had to access the home visit handover file to find the correct address or contact numbers, and the use of the handover file was proven to us- how very important it is to have updated information and how important it is for the handover file to be easily accessible AND easy to follow! We had some trouble finding this, and the urgency of this case was not specified which we think it should have been because after reading thr handover, we were under the impression that the ramp was being built for this client, where in fact it had not been started, the ward councillor we were with was not allocated to the ward the client was in therefore we need to contact the proper ward councillor. It is so easy for things to go wrong when there are so many people to contact and only some who are motivated to do their jobs. The ward councillor with us today was expressing concern over the politics of the wards etc. It was so interesting because for the first time I felt like we were really exposed to how CBR works, with all the different levels of communication etc. I know I have gone completely off the point now. Oh yes community time. So we had to be patient today when trying to find this client’s house because we cannot operate on our time, but on the community’s. Very interesting experience. Today was a better day. We had some good laughs with the speeches and we found a new restaurant that we fell in love with. It is all about morale building in an MDT, so people become more tolerating of one another.

What a week!

Well what a week it has been and I cannot believe we are 4 weeks in with only 2 more weeks left in the community. This week was horrible to say the least, with MDT drama, with a presentation that I know had so much more potential had we worked well as a team, lots of tears and fighting amongst all of us, but we came out of it stronger and all the better for it. Friday, us 4 OT’s spent a lot of time in CDC painting and decorating, and putting up posters and sorting out the classroom as all the children went on an outing. We were smiling again as we reflected on the week we had just had. It was a good end to the week, we laughed and shared had amagwinya (no idea how to spell) and to end off the week, my little client’s mom messaged us saying thank you for everything we have done for her and sent a photo of my little client in the CP chair that I fabricated for her. They loved and were so grateful that we would take time out of our week to come to their home and help their little child. It definitely made all the tears worth it when we knew that we were making a difference in this little girl’s life. It kind of brought me back to reality, to the very reason why we do this. It is not for the marks or how many hours we clock in, it is about our clients, and it truly was a beautiful reminder. And something that I needed. Thursday afternoon we had a tutorial with just the OT’s and one of the speeches. One of our class members spoke about an organisation called GAPA. I battled to sleep that night thinking about all that she had to say as I reflected on how what I learnt in Zim related to wonderfully to what the grannies of this community are doing. GAPA, are a community of grannies that are supporting one another and are a part of various income generating projects in their fight against poverty and AIDS. As I reflected that night, I remembered in Zim how we spoke about occupational consciousness, and how through collective occupation, there is a connectedness. And in my eyes, this connectedness can move mountains. That there is empowerment through collective occupation. These grannies all coming together as part of a collective for a cause close to their hearts, and through being a collective, through BEING a part of something and DOING, and LOVING this occupational collectiveness, their consciousness is awakened, and they are empowered despite the generalisation that grannies cook, they knit, they loo after children, they are old and frail. NO! Through collective occupation, it has brought meaning to their lives, it has brought purpose. I love that so much. And Mariam also spoke about a group of grannies in their community where they were working at, and how through identification with one another, they are empowered. And these grannies are coming together to support one another as they all are taking care of a child with a disability, and what I found so beautiful and so inspiring is how they did not want this support group for their support, they wanted to form this support group so that they can help other grannies/mom’s/caregivers in their situation. That other people never have to go through what they are going through, alone. That other caregivers will have the support that they never had. It was so touching. I am so proud of the other community group for running with this. It is inspiring, and the way they talk about it is also inspiring. A fire in their eyes as they reflect on the first support group meeting. This is what makes this degree all worth it.

A tough day in community

Today was a very frustrating day. Today is the first day that I have shed a few tears over community, just over frustration. I am so frustrated by how many projects there are, or not even just projects, just SO much to be thinking about all at the same time. I was also frustrated with my MDT team. I was so hoping it would not get to this, and I have tried so hard to be patient, to be easy going, to be mindful of how MDT can go wrong, and how to be civil and mature in some situations. I really have tried hard, but I feel let down. The lack of initiative really frustrates me, and that is often the reality of groupwork, where the work is left to one person or one person has to be the policeman to make sure something happens. We need to work in collaboration with one another. I think today was just a frustrating day and I feel like such a moaner. But on top of the case presentation, Thobi and I realised the downfalls of the activity box, and again I was so frustrated. In recommendations, I feel that sometimes they really are not thought through properly. it really gets me because we are so intimidated by this list of recommendations often unrealistic. We were recommended to implement the activity box at the creches so that more of these activity boxes could be made for surrounding crèches, but this activity box is not workable yet. Yet our recommendation was to already implement. I am moaning now, even with a voice in my head saying, I too could be guilty of such recommendations. The activity box is such a great idea, don’t get me wrong and the first initial activities that were done worked well at Lethu, but as time goes on we have realised that the example box is not even near completion, the activity file has about 6 Zulu translations missing, it is so difficult for us to follow due to the numbering and order of the activities placed in the file, and some of the activities are too difficult for the age group of Lethu. And also, the obstacle course activity is not economically feasible for us to buy the equipment because all sponsorship letters sent out were unsuccessful. So now I feel like we are starting this all over again where this project of the activity box could have been closed off so nicely at Lethu. In retrospect, I know I will look back at this one day as a learning curve, and it would have taught me a lot but I just feel that people need to be very careful with recommendations and make sure that projects are ready to be implemented before recommending that it be implemented. Group 3 did so well with this idea, and I feel because there is SO many other things going on in the community, so much to think about, that not enough attention is being paid to some of the great ideas. I think if there was enough time, and fewer things to think about then the result of some of these brilliant ideas could be feasible and the progress will be seen and implementation and intervention will be successful. We will work through it, and we have a plan going forward, I just had a frustrating day. But it ended off with me feeling a little guilty about thinking I had a frustrating day, as we entered the home of one of the community members homes during our home visits. This gogo told us the story of the two children she was taking care of. Both had been abandoned by their mother, one left in the house alone at one month old for two days, and the other left on the street at just three months old. Heartbreaking. Makes you really think about the petty things we worry about, like working in groups, and unrealistic recommendations. It’s a hard pill to swallow when you realise your own silliness.

Annnnnd its back into the community, full speed ahead

Today felt like a productive day yet it still had its ups and downs. It was very difficult for me going from Zim to the community after being on such a high for a week in Zim, back into the realities of community, marks and presentations. But I feel that I am blessed and fortunate to have had a week of rejuvenation and passion building for this beautiful profession that we get to do every day. I am hoping that I can carry forth this passion into every aspect of the community because community is slowly creeping its way into my heart, I feel like it is something that I could do forever. It’s exciting. Today a group member confided in me about some group dynamic problems, but I think this is inevitable when you are working so closely with a group of people for so long. It gets difficult when 3 or 4 different people have opinions or the level of eagerness, passion and enthusiasm differs within a group. It can be difficult for everyone to come to an agreement, this is what I find so frustrating with groupwork but we are going to have to deal with group work for the rest of our lives working in MDT’s, working in places where we will be with the same people for years and years. I feel like this community block is teaching us so many skills not only as therapists for clients but to be almost “business” people dealing with emails, phonecalls, meetings and admin. It is difficult when all of this new world of OT is thrown at us in just a short space of 6 weeks but I truly believe being thrown in the deep end is sometimes the best way to learn. Today Thobi and and I were in the clinic with Meghan while Thandi and Chanelle completed the shopping for CDC. I am SO proud of my group because the way that the CDC project has been tackled is in a manner of empowering Nthombi and the teachers to do things for themselves, accessing the budget, going shopping with the students and every single step of the way in CDC has been in collaboration with Nthombi and the CDC’s. It is so great to see, and it was so special today as we started putting the stimulation corner together for the CP children, the excitement of Nthombi and the teachers as we all worked together to make it happen. It is amazing to see how just one corner of the crèche done up is already making it feel more like home. I cannot cannot wait to see the end result before we leave. After we leave, there will be more that needs to be done but because of the way Nthombi and the teachers have been a part of every transformational step, they will have the skills to do it for themselves. to have the courage and ability to access the budget, brainstorm ideas and implement them. And to me, that is what sustainability is all about! I love it, it excites me.

THE CONGRESS

I was so excited to begin the congress not knowing what to expect or how it would all work. The congress was held at a beautiful hotel in Harare, Monomotapa Crowne Plaza Hotel. It was beautiful and we as the congress guests were treated like royalty as new water bottles were given every few hours to every seat in the house, we had endless supply of every tea imaginable as well as pastry treats and toasted sandwiches every tea time, and an indulgent buffet every lunch time. I couldn’t help but feel a pang of guilt as we sat inside the walls of this hotel indulging happily as there was such poverty and strife surrounding Harare. It’s a difficult feeling to deal with, as what can you do?? The congress began with the keynote speech from an incredible woman. What struck a chord with me was when she said: “where is the dance in OT?” we are occupational beings and we as humans embody occupation. A running theme throughout the congress was this aspect of singing and dancing- as an occupational collective, that there was connectedness in collectiveness. CONNECTEDNESS IN COLLECTIVENESS. I could argue that no research needs to be put into this saying, for if you were a part of this congress in the beautiful country of Zimbabwe, no thesis or write up could explain the feeling of connectedness in collectiveness. As OT’s and OT students from all over the world came together in Zim, through laughing, engaging, learning, singing and dancing- we were connected through this collectiveness. It was beautiful. The keynote speech set up the rest of the congress, and to our absolute delight UKZN was already put into people’s minds as Elelwani shared in her keynote speech, an epitome of a collective through dance by speaking of and showing part of our UKZN Flashmob. Who would have thought that a day of fun and excitement in my incredible class would resound so much with what I thought was the theme of this congress- dance and connectedness through collectiveness. So blessed to have been a part of this congress. Throughout the week, we were privileged to be a part of many lectures and workshops that challenged everything that I have ever learnt, as well as enhanced all my learning that I have learnt over the past four years. I think a big realisation for me was how narrow-minded my thinking was. Yes our client is the most important part of treatment, but what about treatment that extends far beyond just our client. What about their family, their dependents, their community’s awareness, the community barriers, the community positives that may assist in optimal living for your specific client. My eyes were opened to the endless possibilities of what can be achieved in treating your client. It’s more than just an individualistic approach, if we extend our intervention further than that of the individual and their problems, and rather focussing on the much bigger picture and the ABILITIES of the individuals, we would make a much larger impact. I wish with all my heart that my whole class could have experienced what we experienced, but after this week, I will encourage my class with all that I am t attend Uganda OTARG in 2015. That will be our year where we all come together again after a year and a half of working and experience in the real world, and we come together to experience OTARG together as a collective. Imagine the endless possibilities of MY class after attending something like OTARG. It excites me as I know that the passion will be even more ignited after attending a congress like OTARG.