Women's Day in Mariannridge

Myself and a classmate arrived early to the community this week as we took our own transport, and decided to use our spare time drinking tea at the cafe and catching up with the ladies from the soup kitchen/knitting project until the rest of our class arrived. As the next day was Women's day, I had bought some pins to hand out to the ladies.

"I am an extraordinary woman"

Once we arrived at the cafe we met a group of people, many of whom were high school students, who are out from Shanghai on a 10 day trip to work into the various communities in the area. They too were going to be spending some time at Candy Floss Preschool after their tour of the community.

After our cup of tea, we headed up to Candy Floss. The children were in the hall watching a puppet/magic show. Those whose parents had not paid the R15 for the show were in a separate room, so we decided to do some language stimulation and story telling with them. We used a lovely book that incorporated different sounds, which enabled us to include more auditory aims into the activity. It was a bit difficulty working with so many children in a small room, as there were only 2 of us and a wide age range, but we managed to hold their attention for just long enough to finish the story. We then headed outside to the playground to do activities where the children would learn through play. These activities included "Simon says" and songs such as "ring-a-ring-a-rosy". Songs help to develop rhythm and rhyme, which are crucial for speech and language development, particularly for those learning a second language.

Halfway through the morning we headed back down to the library to help set up for women's day gathering, where the community worker had asked us to speak to the ladies about hearing loss. We set up tables, a 'pamper station' with nail polish, hand cream etc. and tea and coffee. The ladies who had been invited were all involved in helping in the community, such as community workers and ladies from the soup kitchen. It was so great being able to serve them and treat them to an enjoyable morning, as they are usually the ones serving others in the community.

Some of the ladies, gladly posed for a photo for my blog

Soon the room was filled with the aroma of coffee, laughs and chatter as all the ladies were seated around the tables. We began by explaining some of the causes of hearing loss, and informed them that if they feel that they have a hearing loss we will be available to do hearing screenings every Thursday. We then went on to explain the role that they can play in their community with regard to hearing loss, particularly in children. This included informing them about signs of hearing loss in children (not responding to loud noises) and milestones that are affected by hearing loss (such as the appearance of the first word around 12 months of age, 2-word utterances around 24months of age) and causes of hearing loss (Otitis media, congenital hearing loss, medication etc.). The information was welcomed by the ladies, and we ended off with a question and answer time before heading off home and leaving them to enjoy the rest of their women's day celebration.