Immersion

Week 5: 16-20 May

Spending so much of our time working with those who have disabilities or some form of functional impairment, we sometimes slip into the unconscious habit of believing that this is the norm. Over the past four weeks, we have interacted with depressed mothers, burnt out caregivers, children who would never achieve what their parents dreamed of for them, and people who had suffered more loss than all of us put together.
This week, moving around the community and getting to know the actual people on the street: the municipal workers running the poverty alleviation programme, the brick-makers, the mielie-ladies, and the friendly old ladies selling cupcakes, was a ray of sunshine into our souls. There is an underlying sadness within the community, as so many people fall into the category of 'have-not's'. However, there is a deep resilience among many people within the community, which we were privileged to witness this week.

 

The sound of a ladle scraping across the bottom of a pot had never before evoked such emotion in me. Standing next to the Poverty Alleviation container in my role as the 'guardian of the bread' on Tuesday, I watched the long line of people trailing around the container and out into the parking lot. In their hands, each person held a bowl, an ice-cream tub, a Styrofoam container or a faded margarine tub to collect their 3 ladles of steaming hot chicken-feet soup the municipal workers had prepared. At first, I greeted each person as they passed by to collect their soup, but it became harder and harder to meet their eyes as I noticed the holes in their clothes or shoes, the threadbare packets in which they had brought the small, well-worn containers, and the way they humbly accepted the soup with both hands and a slightly bowed head, the cultural equivalent of sincere gratitude.

As the line progressed and the level of the soup began to steadily drop, I could se my colleagues also becoming anxious as we mentally compared the number of people to amount of soup remaining. Hearing that inevitable scrape of the ladle against the base of the pot, and looking up to see the line of people with empty containers, who had heard it too, and knew what it meant, was heart-breaking.

 

For some reason, the vulnerability of their position was painful to witness. To me, being in such a dependent position, relying on others for basic needs is a terrifying thought. And yet, the humility of these individuals was humbling. Standing in neat, orderly lines after collecting their cardboard number, every person we interacted with was polite, courteous, and dignified.

Speaking to the co-ordinator of the programme, she echoed a similar sentiment. For 12 years, she had been in charge of the Poverty Alleviation programme. 'Sometimes it is painful when the food is not enough, but the people, most of the time, they understand. They say, "There were too many of us today."' This statement stuck with me, because it broke down the perception I had unconsciously held: that there would be a mad rush for the food as each person put his or her own basic needs over the needs of another. It was a reminder that as much as we explore and attempt to remove our biases, there is always a reference point from which we come that defines how we perceive others.

 

However, for those 7 or 8 people who had missed out this week, there were a hundred others who had received a hot meal. Even though our role in providing that meal had been minimal, it was gratifying to know that we had been part of making someone's day just a little better.

 

This week had already taken a positive turn from Monday, watching the sports hall fill up for our Boccia Sports Awareness Day (much later than expected, but what with African time and the massive M19 protest traffic jam, we were grateful it was only an hour and a half's delay...).

 

This day was one of the first times I have seen people with disabilities, and those without, able to engage together in an activity, without one having the advantage over another. The beauty of Boccia is that it allows every individual to play to his or her strength. Whether by using ramps for those with minimal voluntary movement, or assistive devices such as head pointers, each individual is able to use his or her residual skills to play the game (ThisAbility, 2011). I had the opportunity to play side by side with a young man with cerebral palsy, and I have to admit, he outplayed me by far. When the KZN Boccia champion and community member (a young man with muscular dystrophy, whose dream had inspired Monday's sports day) was given a chance to showcase his skills, you could have heard a pin drop in the shocked silence that followed his perfect throw, before the applause rang out across the hall. With the facilitation of occupational engagement being such a critical part our role as OTs, in a community where people with disabilities experience occupational deprivation on a daily basis, this event will remain of the highlights of my student experience.

 

 

Throughout the week, we continued our attempts to engage as much as possible with the people in and about the community.

 

I spoke with the friendly lady at the entrance to the clinic, who, without fail, greets us with a smile and a loud welcome every morning. She sells sweets, chips and the most amazing carrot muffins that she and her friend bake every morning to sell to people passing into and out of the clinic. Her job does not pay a lot. Unlike the R12 muffins at the campus cake shop, hers are just R3, as most of her customers cannot afford to pay exorbitant amounts of money for luxuries like cake. She says she wants to get a job as a domestic worker in an affluent area, where the pay would be better, but she is old, and from her spot outside the clinic, she is able to meet a range of new people to interact with every day. Studies have shown that social interaction in the elderly is instrumental in maintaining health and wellbeing (Thomas, 2011). Hence, this woman, engaging every day with new people, forging new connections and making the world a happier place, one cupcake at a time, is fulfilling an important life role that many other elderly people unfortunately are not able to experience due to illness or disability.

 

 

Stopping on the side of the road, we met Joe, a brick-maker, who had been working for 10 years under the tutelage of his boss. Brick-making had never been his dream growing up, but he enjoys working with sand, and it pays the bills, allowing him to fulfil his family roles. If something comes up that pays more, Joe said, he would take another job, but a stable job in the community is a valuable thing, and not something to be given up lightly. Spending 2-3 days waiting for each lot of bricks to dry, and making up to 300 bricks a day, Joe sells bricks to people from both outside and inside the community. An interesting community dynamic emerged when talking to Joe: Although his bricks lay outside all night when he goes home, he says no one steals them anymore because the people living around keep a watchful eye and will report to him if anyone attempts to walk off with a brick or two. We often make the assumption that these communities are unsafe places because of poverty and opportunistic crime. However, when community members themselves begin to take responsibility for the safety of their own communities, there is no room for crime to flourish.

 

Walking through the town, we met the Mielie lady: a cheerful round woman roasting fresh mielies on a grill, with a towering pile of raw mielies next to her. Her business acumen was inspiring: she had found a supplier in Richmond who brought her a truck-full of mielies fresh from the farm every morning. She then sold the raw mielies to mielie-ladies all over the community every morning, who would roast and sell them to passers-by. She had been selling mielies in that spot for 20 years and it was her life. Her business skill had been obtained through years of experience instead of any formal training. This sort of experiential skill is valuable in a community such as this one, where knowing the dynamic of the community and where the opportunities are, are an integral part of success.

 

 

Engaging with people in the community was an amazing experience. After spending time with community members who have borne the brunt of the adverse living conditions within the community, in small, cramped houses, with the additional burden of disability or illness, I had unconsciously begun to project their bleak, jaded worldviews onto the other members of the community facing similar living conditions. But if this week proved anything, it was that the human spirit is an amazing thing in the way it can endure and find a way to thrive.

 

 

Thomas, P.A. (2011) Trajectories of Social Engagement and Limitations in Late Life. Journal of Health and Social Behavior, 52(4), 430-443.

 

QuotesGram (2016). Never ask questions quotes. Retrieved from http://quotesgram.com/never-ask-questions-quotes/ on 20 May 2016.

 

ThisAbility (2011). Let's Play Boccia. Retrieved from: http://www.thisability.co.za/sports&recreation.php?id=4#.Vz9WQtFunIU on 20 May 2016.

 

Joe (2016). Interview with students