Week 3 done...all downhill from here

Our week 3 has finished meaning only two weeks left...i almost want to make time stand still, we arent ready to leave our community block yet. I feel like we only just started the other day and we still have so much to get done. The Sadtu strike has slowed things down in the community, but none the less, we keep on swimming.

The more we venture into this block and take in all the happenings around us, the more opportunity for change we see. Its hard to not take on a million different projects and try to go in depth and focus on only just a few. Its almost like our block needs to be a yearlong so that we can do everything we want to accomplish in the community block.

Monday let us down a little, the counsellor couldnt make it, the high school was closed and the primary school was closed. The baby development that I ran as a project in the clinic went well. We are finding kids that are in need of both speech and OT intervention. Treating these children now will ensure success in schools and in life for these children. This will ripple and in turn will result in a more positive community if the children do well and make something of them and hopefully get a successful job. Education is key. What has really helped is learning a little from the speechies, They have taught us how to pick up certain problems regarding speech and how to encourage speech in ypung children. As the speechies are not in the community on monday, we are able to pass this information on to the mothers of the children. we put 2 developmental charts up in the clinic and explained them to the sisters. The sister will be able to quickly see, using the charts, which children are not developing properly and they will refer the children to us and the students to follow. If we nip it in the bud now and treat the children at a young age, this will really prevent problems in the future. These are the posters we found that we placed in the clinic:

Tuesday was hippotherapy day ( hippo as in greek for horse not the hippopotamus). What an incredible thing to see. The cp child from being carried before the horse riding to walking with assistance after the riding. This is possible because when the child is riding on the horse, the child's hips move in the exact same movement as walking. It was just amazing to see such a different form of therapy and how much the children enjoyed it, engaged and benefitted with the therapy. This is a real by the way approach to therapy and these are just kids so to do something a little different, FUN and therapy not in a classroom setting resulted in such a success! The horse therapy is possible through a NGO called SARDA which stands for the South African Riding for the Disabled Association. An amazing association with amazing people who give up their time to bring joy and therapy into these childrens lives. Their website is: http://sarda.co.za/ and its worth a look.

During the week we went on home visits which was an experience. At first I felt a little uncomfortable going into someones home and into their personal space but the more I visited people at home the more I become comfortable and started to see the necessity to do home visits. This is where the person lives. They eat, sleep, relax and spend most of their time at home...so isnt it logical to intervene in the homes. Rails for elderly, wheelchair accessibility, bath rails and transfer boards for stroke patients...these things need to be put in place and would go unnoticed if a visit to the home was not conducted. It is also such a lovely way to understand the client a little better. Photos, books and other personal objects in the home allow you to get to know the person a little better and for some reason the little switch turns in your head and you realise these clients are people, they have lives separate to the hospital or clinic where we see them. I think I sometimes forget that these are normal people...although I treat them holistically and will incorporate their home lives in my treatment, as this is the beauty of Occupational therapy, the emotions arent attached. Home visits change that completely. It really was a lovely experience although sometimes its difficult to leave when you have to leave the home as the clients just want to talk and show you pictures.

During the Thursday tut, it really hit me when December was discussing the importance of the community building the tippy taps. As he said, there is already a misconception that white people and indian people must bring them stuff and that is what is expected. If the students build the tippy taps, they are not going to build more themselves as it can only be done by the "white and indian" students. It all comes back to that old Chinese proverb...give a man a fish. They need to actually DO it in order to carry on in the future.

Bin posters went up educating the community to put litter in the bins, a jungle gym was finally completed and ready for the children when they return to school and the students are ready for the next week. We have prepared a plan A, B, C, D and E because you always need 100 plans in the community because it is very rare that things go the way they are planned in community....which just makes it that much more fun and exciting.