We Walk

This week involved a lot of walking around the community. I would never normally walk around my community, but for some reason I love taking walks around Mariannridge, down to the library or to see the ladies knitting outside the cafe, or walking to do a home visit. Maybe it's the adventures that I find along the way, and the interesting people I get to meet. Sometimes it is rough, like the times when we walk through groups of teenagers smoking all sorts of things, or cross the road trying not to attract the attention of the stray dog with the gaping hole in his leg, or are greeted by an intoxicated individual giving hugs. At 10am. Sometimes the walks are beautiful, with the amazing warmth of the winter sun shining down onto us, children running up to greet us with the biggest smiles and giggles, and community members sharing about how much they love their community and the people in it. Cars stop out of pure kindness to offer us lifts up the hill, and we see primary school pupils utilizing the play area that the OT students put together. Our walks are ALWAYS interesting!

I have been thinking a lot about why there is such a strong sense of community in Mariannridge, compared to the community that I live in. Maybe it is because people live closer together, where as the houses in my community are separated by high brick walls or electric fences. Maybe it is because people in Mariannridge rely on each other more- families are far less likely to have nanny's or child minders in Mariannridge, so everyone looks out for everyone else's children...which reminds me of an African proverb:

In Mariannridge, it really does take a village to raise a child. Children can be so easily exposed to bad things in the area, but at the same time can learn important lessons, skills and values from those around them. For some of these children, it does take a village, as their parents are no longer around. So maybe it is because there is a greater need or reliance on those around them. Or maybe it is because people walk. I think that community happens when you walk.

I found this image a few weeks back, and I have been thinking about it a lot.

This week while walking around we went to find a young man who, according to some of the ladies in the community, has a hearing loss. We found his house and he came to the door, and was more than happy to hear that we had come to investigate his hearing. Within a minute I was conducting otoscopic evaluation outside his house, while he sat on a small broken chair. I am slowly getting used to these 'informal' environments that we work in at Mariannridge! Otoscopy revealed impacted wax in the right ear and what looked like could possibly be exotosis in his left ear, however there was some wax which prevented me from getting a clear view of his ear canal. We then explained some of the reasons why wax can accumulate in ear canals, how it can affect hearing and how to get rid of it. I have learned that most people from this community who have impacted cerumen will not go to see a medical professional for its removal, for various reasons such as travel time and expense, and the long waiting time at the hospital. So instead, we recommend individuals to either purchase cerumen removal drops from the chemist, or to use olive oil, and try to follow up a week or 2 later to see if that treatment has been successful. We wrote down the name of a few products that he could use, and we will be back in 2 weeks to see if the cerumen has made its way out of his ear canals. We will then be able to do a hearing screening to see if it is necessary for him to be referred for a full assessment. 

After this we headed up to the library, waited around for a few minutes for the library to open and then, together with student speech-language pathologists, met with the librarian about taking some of the children from the preschool on an 'outing' to the library where we would have story time. We could easily do this at the preschool, however we feel that there is value in getting the children excited to spend time in the library, with the hope that it would encourage reading and literacy development. We were given days and times that we could use the library, and hope that this small outing with the preschool will happen!

Back at Candy Floss preschool, we took groups of six 4-5 year olds at a time for some language development activities. These activities included simon says (using body parts), musical statues (for auditory awareness) and identifying picture cards while expanding vocabulary. We made sure to incorporate our aims into physical activities such as running and following commands on the jungle gym to ensure that they did not get bored or loose concentration, and to facilitate learning through play.

It was another great week spent in the community. The weeks to come should involve some of the community projects that we are currently planning for.