Week 3: 3-6 May 2016
Spending a while in the community, it's easy to forget that a world exists beyond it, filled with a billion other communities, each with its own particular phenomena, it's own strengths, and its own pertinent issues. However, despite our global diversity, some issues are interesting in the way they recur in communities, countries and continents throughout the world. One of these is the global refugee crisis, which has seen the massive migration of people across continents in search of a safer place to live, work and raise their children.
"We are currently witnessing the largest and most rapid escalation ever in the number of people being forced from their homes.
Millions of people are fleeing conflict in Syria, Iraq, Afghanistan and Ukraine, as well as persecution in areas of Southeast Asia and Sub-Saharan Africa, creating the highest level of displacement since World War II"
(IRIN, 2016)
The Occupational Therapy model on the Ecology of Human Performance places a great deal of emphasis on the way in which the context in which a person functions affects their ability to carry out occupational tasks, stating that context is 'a lens from which persons view their world'. (Dunn, Brown, McGuigen, 1994: p. 595). This model states that a person constructs their sense of self or identity in the context of their environment (Dunn, Brown, McGuigen, 1994).
For people fleeing from one hostile context to another, which may be equivalently hostile, and the instability this causes, it is therefore understandable that function and engagement in occupation may be affected.
Upon our entry to the community, we were informed that one particular client should be referred to only by the first initial of her name. It was important that no one in the community were informed of her (clearly foreign) name, as this may pose a threat to the individual, given the recent xenophobic flashpoints in the country and her illegal immigrant status. I went over to this individual's home to get a first hand account of what it feels like being a foreigner in a country whose people have exhibited xenophobic tendencies on multiple occasions. She expressed ' It is a nice place, but the people here do not like me. I hear them [her neighbours] talking bad things about me'. She also informed us that she would be sending her child back to her home country, so she could grow up amongst other children of the same nationality, possibly so that she would not face discrimination as a result of her being 'different'. For this woman, living in a community in which she feels unwelcome limits her motivation to engage effectively within it. She does not go out much, only interacts with the few friends she has who are more open-minded about her situation, and does not make use of many of the community resources.
Speaking to a native member of the community about people from other countries coming into ours as a result of conflict in their home country, or in search of work, he echoed a sentiment common to many people, "They come, and they take our jobs'. He expressed that while he 'feels for them', he feels they should stay in refugee camps, so that they cannot 'steal jobs' and 'sell drugs'.
This perception of foreigners poses a potential cause of occupational deprivation, as these individuals, whether through stigma, physical intimidation, or legislative barriers, are often prevented from engaging in meaningful work, social and leisure functions (Whiteford, 2005). As a result, they are stuck in the situation many refugees globally find themselves in:
“We’re in a situation where refugees can’t work, they can’t go back, they can’t leave their homes, [but] eventually they need to eat.”— Patricia Safi, lawyer providing legal assistance to refugees
(IRIN, 2016)
For many of these people, who possess highly valued skills sets, and therefore a high sense of personal causation, but are unable to use them due the effects of the environment, this occupational deprivation becomes even more poignant.
(IRIN, 2015).
As occupational therapists in this changing dynamic, we need to be prepared to face the repercussions of this phenomenon. With an influx of new cultures and nationalities, our idea of cultural competence will have to be expanded. Not only do we have to understand the complex and unique cultural identity of a person within their environment, but we need to now begin to understand the dynamic culture of a person whose identity has been thrown into flux by the transition from one context to another. Added to this, the increase in disabilities caused by the conflict situations these people are attempting to escape is likely to increase the demand for our services, meaning that we will have to improve our efficiency at all levels of practice to cope with this potential increased demand.
Unfortunately, there is no quick fix to this issue, both globally or locally. While legislative changes are occurring internationally in response to the massive migratory shift we are currently seeing, the integration of these displaced communities into the societies they now find themselves, and their ability to function optimally within them, will require change at both the political and social levels. Apart from the various logistical issues that come with the massive influx of new people into a country, the stereotyped, and often negative, perceptions of native people towards those from other countries will also need to be addressed before these individuals will be able to achieve optimal occupational performance within their new environment.
IRIN (2016). The Global Migrant and Refugee Crisis. Retrieved from http://newirin.irinnews.org/global-refugee-crisis/ on 5 May 2016.
Dunn, W., Brown, C., McGuigan, A. (1994). The Ecology of Human Performance: A Framework for Considering the Effect of Context. The American Journal of Occupational Therapy 48(7). pp. 595-607
IRIN (2015). Photo Feature: Humans of Syria. Retrieved from http://newirin.irinnews.org/humans-of-syria on 6 May 2016
Whiteford, G. E. (2005). Understanding the Occupational Deprivation of Refugees: A Case Study from Kosovo. Canadian Journal of Occupational Therapy 72 (2) pp. 78-88
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