Man! I need to stop leaving it so long to blog...
The week after the holiday was a goood one. We were refreshed and felt better equipped to deal with and respond to the changing situations around us. We were well-rested and coming back to placement with new determination despite some anxieties about getting back into routine and how the latter part of our placement would/will play out.
I must say a big thankyou to our friends at church for supporting and encouraging us when we were frustrated and anxious despite not knowing us very well. You okes are legends :D
Had some eye-opening conversations with the learners in life orientation lessons about some of the situations a few of them had been in or heard about during the holidays.
Life in the township is a parallel universe to the sheltered upbringing I was so privileged to know. Crime is high especially involving sexual and gun/knife crime.
It is one thing to know that these things are commonplace and quite another to discuss the crimes as all too often lived experiences of 14-16 year olds.
We do discuss a lot of difficult issues like this all the time; after the break there were simply more discussions to be had.
Tuesday we did a mixture of life orientation and arts and crafts with the residents of the rehab centre; we asked them to design a poster to promote HIV/AIDS awareness and prevention. It was very difficult to get most of the boys engaged with the drawing. And although the conversation we then attempted to facilitate relating to HIV and AIDS had some good moments they weren't focused and therefore it was difficult to break through mindsets like 'if I have HIV I want to infect others so that I won't die alone'
The girls unfortunately never came to the group because there were ongoing issues that other staff members were working hard to resolve but which took most of the afternoon.
Wednesday I visited the creche that Gail has been working in; met some of the staff and saw the resources available. Gail then joined me visiting the disability home where we were fortunate to arrive at the home at the same time at some physio students from a local university who are doing weekly placement hours there at the moment. They ran their exercise group with the residents while we set up the painting activity.
We all then pitched in with assisting the residents painting which then freed me up for conversations with the manager and her son about some exciting plans I have up my sleeve (more on that later).
It was also really good to talk to the physios about what their plans were, inform them about my current objectives - they also helped me out with understanding the manual handling techniques that are used in the home.
We left the home tired and my hands resembled a smurfs/Avatars (delete according to your personal knowledge base..) but I enjoyed my morning there as usual :)
Thursday afternoon we were at the rehab centre in the afternoon and watched some roleplays which the residents had put together themselves. They did a very good job and I volunteered the use of my video camera to record the roleplays the following week :)
Friday was just a day at the school...I must explain that although I don't mention what we do in the school very often its because the specifics are often either not particularly interesting or would involve too much typing to explain; I'm thinking of explaining the structure of the two types of lessons we will often have. But I think that might come further towards the end when we're reflecting on the placement as a whole.
And then it was the weeekend!!
I love the weekends :) as always when you're working hard in placement...I can feel the nods coming from my fellow healthcare students right now :P
Friday night C and I went to Observatory - a local suburb which is described as 'hip and vibrant' in the tour guides and 'be careful' by some local South Africans.
We went to get late night coffee and (a rather mahoosive slice of) cake - I'm not sure that that was our initial intention but that's what happened :)
Coffee and cake led to a few hours of deep discussion; the best type of discussion there is...
We then wondered around a bit (don't worry we stayed on the well-lit streets..) and looked into a few bars but nothing appealed to us. We spoke to some random strangers for awhile - that sounds ridiculously dodgy I know - but it really wasn't!
We then drove back towards home with the aim of going to a bar along the way - but then the tiredness hit so we went home, talked some more and finally hit the pillow at 2am.
Not very hardcore of us I know - but thats just placement/working hours for you!
Saturday Gail, C and I went to Kirstenbosch Gardens (which Gail and I had visited with my family a few weeks ago) this time was more chilled; more time to wander aimlessly, look at the 'useful plants' section which was very interesting, eat picnics, soak up the glorious sunshine, take endless photos etc.
C headed home, Gail and I picked up some friends from UCT who then came and prepared some lovely food for all of us; then we headed to a joint birthday party for a couple from church...much fun - a shedload of crazy dancing - lots of sweets - plenty of good company and a generally great night.
However Gail and I were rather bored of introducing ourselves and explaining what we're doing in Cape Town by the end of the night!!
Sunday was actually a horrible day - wet and very windy which led to much sleeping/watching of movies/not doing very much. I actually really enjoy a day like that every once in a while so I mustn't complain!
S ran a 10km run (props - she's a great runner!) and we had a good Sunday eve - ready for the inevitable Monday morning!
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