WOW what a week it has been, coming in from last week when we were so overwhelmed with everything happening and the things that we still needed to do, and now its the end of the week and we have found new ways to overwhelm ourselves. The thing about community is the more you start to understand the community, the more you find the needs and want to meet all of them. We have added a few new projects this week because we have found a need and its too big to just ignore. It has been great though because we have all found projects that we have a passion for and are coming up with great ideas.
My new project is the wellness group that runs on a Monday from 10 till 1, it involves a group of older ladies that get together to perform Leisure activities but mainly gossip with each other. Meeting them on Monday was just such a great start to the week because they all welcomed us with open arms and there is so much love in that room. There is though a need for them to be involved in more planned activities with the aim to prevent the effects of old age e.g loss of memory, joint problems. So I have decided to base the group on Reminiscence Therapy which is defined by the American Psychological Association (APA) as 'the use of life histories-written, oral or both-to improve psychological well being." It is used to help maintain good mental health, boredom reduction, reducing stress, prepare for death, conversation, finding identity, maintaining and introducing new relationships, problem solving, and to teach/inform. These aims and principles will be melded with activities to make it fun and functional. For the first week we will be doing a scrap booking activity. They will be using a photo from "the good old days" and will each be required to explain why they chose that photo and the importance of it to them. They will then get creative and design a special page around this photo to put up in their houses. Other activities that will be introduced are knitting items for the community, cooking meals together which will focus on their senses, memories related to everyday objects etc. This is such an exciting project because these ladies are the heart of the community and have a huge influence on it. To target them and help them will in turn help the community because they are living with the families and have influence on those younger than them.
One of the biggest breakthroughs this week was our meeting with the counselor The group before had struggled the whole of their block to see him but we finally got through to him and were able to meet with him. During the meeting we discussed with him the projects that we were doing in the community and what the problems and drawbacks were that we had found. He showed lots of interest in what we were doing and identified with the problems that we had found. He then asked us to make a list for him of the things that we would like him to do for us because he was having a meeting with the big boss and wanted to bring up the list. He also organised a meeting with us on Monday when he will bring the people who could help us and discuss what the plan would be to move forward and better the community. All of this got us very excited because if he came through on all of the asks we would be able to do even more in the community. After the meeting however we discussed it with our supervisor and members of the previous group and they voiced some concerns of us being too excited and the possibility of him not delivering on all his promises. It took me back because I tend to be very optimistic and always think the best of people and believe that they will deliver on what they say, but getting this reality check was good for me because it made me realise that he might not deliver on everything and I shouldn't be disappointed if he does. I am still excited and hoping for the best but even if we get one thing that we asked for it would be great because we are also wanting to improve his relationship with the community members.
One of my tasks that I had for this week was assessing both the Grade R classes at the creche which proved tougher than I thought. I designed an obstacle course to assess their gross motor abilities, they then moved onto a cut and colour activity and finally copied one part of the VMI. The children took a great liking to the obstacle course and all wanted to do it at the same time which was a problem for the one doing the course because they were being distracted by those wanting to do the course. This was solved by having the rest of the class waiting inside till they were called to come do the obstacle course. The other two parts of the assessment were done as a group which helped show the difference in the work speed. We noticed lots of delays in gross motor, fine motor and perception. One child was struggling with the activities because he was unable to see out of one of his eyes, his glasses had broken a long time ago and nothing had been done about it so he was struggling in school. It is so sad that a lack of information and finances could lead to this child been delayed in school because he is unable to see. Plans are being made to take him to Spec Savers for a free assessment and frames so that the assessment can be redone and see if there are any problems.
All in all it has been a very productive week with lots of planning and foundation work that will hopefully start producing change from this next week. We are all so excited about the meeting with the counselor on Monday and are hoping he comes through with his promises. There are three short weeks left and so much still to do. I will leave you with this quote, I have found this in community, it isn't about you and your ego but rather about the bigger picture and wanting to make a change and using your talents to do so.
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| This is what gets us through each week... |
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