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.