"Mama you are so strong"

I sat in awe as I heard the horrific story of how the Mama in front of me came to lose her hearing. She fumbled beneath her scarf to point out the rugged scar on the side of her head where the bullet had entered, and bravely told me the story of how the gunman, her own husband, had pulled the trigger. First aimed at her, then at each of her children, and finally at himself.

"Mama you are so strong"

The physical scar is quite something, and I thought it a miracle that she is still alive, but what gripped my heart was the strength and determination that is getting her through each day. She beamed with thankfulness at each small action that was taken to help her- from removing impacted wax to rescheduling her different appointments for the same day to avoid multiple trips to the hospital. I'm thankful that I got to meet this lady. I'm thankful that audiology services are made accessible to her because of community services, and I'm thankful that I get to play a small role in giving back a part of what was taken from her on that day. The social situation that many of our patients find themselves in makes one consider what we actually have to complain about.

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.

'Hunting down Hearing Loss'

Myself and my good friend and fellow student audiologist Lesley began this week's prac in Mariannridge with the aim of finding members of the community with hearing aids in order to start up a group aural rehabilitation- we aimed to 'hunt down hearing loss' in Mariannridge. We thought that the best place to start would be by asking the ladies down at the cafe. These ladies are very involved in various projects in the area, such as the Thursday soup kitchen and the teddy-bear knitting project for children who are victims of rape. They were able to give us the names of 4 different people of various ages who use hearing aids or have hearing loss. It was interesting to note how differently thing work in small communities- everyone knows everyone! It was great being able to chat to these ladies and find out more about what the do in the community. They were pleased to hear about this blog and gladly posed for a photo for it :)

Two of the amazing ladies who work into the Mariannridge community

Before leaving, 2 community members who were at the cafe had concerns about their hearing and wanted to talk to us about it. As we only had our otoscopes on us, we did otoscopic evaluation and then offered advice on which public hospital to go to for a hearing evaluation. This was slightly challenging as one of the community members could only communicate in Zulu, and my Zulu speaking is not yet at a level of having full-on conversations! Thankfully the ladies who run the soup kitchen were willing to help translate for us :)

After obtaining the names of people in the community, we headed over to Mariannridge Primary School to find out if the office staff know of any children who potentially have hearing loss or use hearing aids. The staff were very helpful and suggested that we print out some forms that the individual teachers can fill in to give us accurate information.

Mariannridge Primary School

On our way back up to the clinic, we were greeted by some children aged (I'm guessing) 2-4yrs, who excitedly ran across the road to give us hugs! While I love all the hugs we got, I was slightly concerned about them not being supervised...and running across the road without looking! Thankfully the roads aren't busy in the community, but it just takes 1 car...Anyway, Lesley and I spent some time tying their shoelaces and having 4-year-old conversations with them, and attempted to teach them how to cross the road safely. They seemed to understand, said 'good-bye'...and ran straight across the road without looking again!

Once we had reconnected with the rest of our group, we decided that it would be of greater benefit if some of us went down and did some language stimulation and auditory skills development with the children playing on the road. Plus, at least we could watch over them for an hour or so and prevent them from running across the road! By the time we got back, he children had run off on another adventure, so we headed back to the cafe/library area to look for other children who were not at school or creche. Before too long we had 5 young children join us, so we took them into the library and learned shapes, colours and animals, using a book and an iPad. The librarian was so welcoming and has asked us if we will run a story book session in the library with one of the creches in the area some time. This is a great opportunity for the speech therapy students to join us for a team approach :)

I really enjoyed this week, interacting with various people in the community. I am starting to see the benefit of building a relationship with people in the community, even though we do not work directly with them for assessment or intervention it is so helpful knowing people who are aware of how things run in the area and know everyone else in the community. It is also so encouraging to see how people, such as the ladies who run the soup kitchen and knitting project, care about the community and are making a difference in people's lives!