Week 4...It is nearly over

The stress is starting to creep its way in with the end drawing near, how time has flown by.

There was a huge change from last week in the Wellness Group which is a group I run on a Monday for the older ladies in the community. The week before was disastrous with nothing going right and I was ready to give up but decided to push on and try something different this week. It started on Monday morning phoning to see who was coming and reminding them to bring their photos. There were a few that mentioned that they weren't interested in scrap booking so I had planned to do it with those that had brought photos. Well by the end of it everyone that didn't have a photo was planning their scrap booking page for the next week because they could see they were missing out. I think it was because the session was more activity based than a discussion. One of the key aspects of group formation is for the leader to build rapport and I really left that principle out for the first session so by bringing in an activity that allows me to learn more about them and help them do it really helped with forming relationships with each of the ladies. I was also surprised with how much they got into the activity, I had to upgrade a lot by giving them the decorative scissors and not so much assistance and they came up with some brilliant end products as you can see in the picture below. Unfortunately I only have one more session left with these lovely ladies but this is definitely a group the next team needs to carry on because they are the heart of the community and are needing more constructive things to spend their time on.

Khetiwe this week was a challenge because the lady who normally runs it was out on a home visit and there was only one child coming and it was for the Speech Therapists and not us OTs so we were confused as to why we were there. Nevertheless we decided to play some games with the child and screen and see what OT intervention could be done. This child has a very mild form of Cerebral Palsy so therefore was very functional but wasn't communicating, she had difficulty with gross motor, hand function and perception. We made up activities on the spot for treatment because we had no knowledge of the case and no time to plan so we did what OTs do best, on the spot therapy planning. We did an activity with sticking numbers one-by-one onto the mirror with water and then taking them off one-by-one again which worked on hand function, body awareness, sensory etc. The child responded so well to the activity and was motivated afterwards to be involved with other therapy activities placed in front of her. It was so encouraging because we haven't had much experience with children yet and we were able to have a 2-hour therapy session with the child and the Speech Therapists even got involved and added their bit to the activities. It just showed us what it is going to be like when we are qualified and how important it is to maximize the time that you have with a child because they are only seen once a month and you need to make that time count.

Friday was such an amazing day because we finally got around to painting a play area for the children. The majority of the children that attend the schools in the community are bused in and because of this they are left with nothing to do after school while they wait to be picked up. The group before us came up with the idea of painting on the tarred open area and turning it into a play area for the children for better use of their time after school. Play is defined as a transaction between the individual and the environment that is intrinsically motivated, internally controlled and free from many of the constraints of objective reality (Bundy, 1991, Another more simpler definition of play is it can be spontaneous or as part of a planned activity. Play can be defined as a physical or mental activity that has no purpose or objective outside of pure enjoyment or amusement (Definition of play, 2004). Play is a very important area in a child's life and has many benefits such as:
1. Better Behaviour- It gives the child a chance to blow off some steam and therefore will be less frustrated and perform better in the classroom.
2. Teamwork- Teaches children to play together by making them aware of other's feelings and their own which therefore teaches them skills that they can use later on in life.
3. Movement- Play that is physical will encourage children to become more active in their later life and therefore will lower their risks of getting heart disease and other illnesses.
4. Learning- It has been proven that children that are able to acheive and pass tests during play are more likely to do well in academic tests because they are learning fundamental concepts during play.
5. Fun- Play is a natural part of childhood and it is a chance for a child to explore their imagination and have fun with their friends.
and lots more.

One very exciting project that has been started in this block is a Facebook page. This was started to keep the residents informed of what projects we were running in the community and updates of any events or pictures that we want to share. The residents already have their own group where they discuss important issues happening in the community but this is closed to the community members. We have been very excited with the response we have gotten on our Facebook page with people liking and commenting. Here is the link to the page if you would like to view it-https://www.facebook.com/otinmariannridge. There is still a lot more that can be done with the Facebook page but it will be a handover for the next group.

So this is it....FINAL WEEK!!! This brings with it a lot of work and the tying up of loose ends. There is also lots of fun things happening this week like finishing the play area, assessing a child, hippotherapy, newspaper articles etc. So watch this space for a full report on my final week in the community.

History of Mariannridge

Here is a link to a site explaining the history of Mariannridge and some stories of the people involved in the community.

http://wiki.ulwazi.org/index.php5?title=Marianridge

Week 3...Not the greatest

So this week was a toughie. It was filled with letdowns and having the strikes happening at the schools meant that we couldn't do a lot of what was planned. But we just did what OTs do best, we made a plan on the spot.

The teachers have been on a go slow since the April holidays because they are wanting a wage increase and added to this the parents are wanting to strike because they have not received the term 1 reports because of the go slow. The teachers have been warned that they need to attend school for the whole day in order to get paid but the ones in Mariannridge have been at the police station during the day and the schools have been closed. These strikes have been going on for the whole week and it has caused them to close the schools for the childrens' safety even though their is no violence happening. This all has caused the children who are bused in and live in the community to come and sit around, waiting to see when the school will be open in order to get an education. This is a huge concern to my group and I because there is a big drug and alcohol problem in the community and they are needing something to spend all this extra time on. We have intervened with impromptu educational sessions with the smaller children with the use of play dough, stories, games outside etc. We need to look into a programme that we could run with the high school children that are sitting around because they are loosing out on important lessons. An idea that was put onto the Mariannridge residents forum was getting the parents to take over some of the lessons in order to ensure there is some continuation of their studies. This is something that will be spoken about this next week when we will identify a solution to this problem that has affected the community. For articles on the strikes please refer to the following articles:
http://www.news24.com/SouthAfrica/Politics/Dept-Poor-hardest-hit-by-teacher-strike-20130424
http://www.news24.com/SouthAfrica/Politics/Govt-shocked-disappointed-in-Sadtu-20130425
http://www.news24.com/SouthAfrica/Politics/Strike-and-be-disciplined-teachers-warned-20130423
And here is a video done on the Mariannridge Community about the strikes:

This wellness group I am running seems that it is also going to be a challenge. The grannies that attend have a tough life at home taking care of their families and their households so when they come and attend the wellness group they are just wanting to gossip and forget about their own lives, this is not constructive. I tried to run a reminiscent group reflecting on their lives and sharing their photos but nearly everyone forgot their photos or everyone spoke during the group. They had said in the book I am using for the group that it should be done in a big group but I think they will benefit more from smaller groups in order to focus their attention on what is happening in the activity in front of them. We will be testing out scrap booking with them in the next session.

One of the highlights of the week was going to Hippotherapy on the Tuesday.The American Hippotherapy Association, Inc., defines hippotherapy as a physical, occupational or speech therapy treatment strategy that utilizes equine movement. The word hippotherapy derives from the Greek word hippos, meaning horse. The term hippotherapy refers to the use of the movement of the horse as a treatment strategy by physical therapists, occupational therapists and speech/language pathologists to address impairments, functional limitations and disabilities in patients with neuromotor and sensory dysfunction. This treatment strategy is used as part of an integrated treatment program to achieve functional goals. This has been an interest of mine so I was extremely excited to attend. We worked with SARDA (South African Riding for the Disabled Association) www.sarda.co.za at their stables in Shongweni. We were inspired by the stories they told us of hippotherapy helping children communicate, calming them and improve their muscle tone. Here is a video explaining what Hippotherapy is and the benefits of it done by an organisation in America, a similar one was filmed while we were there which we star in so keep a look out for the SARDA promotional video.

The one thing that I love about Occupational Therapy is that you can have a really bad week but you will always find the positives and use them in order to improve the negatives, we look at a person's abilities rather than focusing on their disabilities. I look forward to this next week and know that it can only be better than the last week because we are looking forward and change will happen.