We have started the new year at work with increased optimism. By no means does this mean that our resource will not continue to be underutilised or that our placement will in any way be cost effective, but we do now have more opportunity to make some progress with some of the projects we have identified.
January saw the end of the region’s transport budget for this financial year with two months to go. This represents an improvement on last years budget management in which the funds available for transport were spent by October. Funds are now only available for essential activities, of which rehab unfortunately is not one.
However we have both been able to conduct outreach exercises by hitching rides with colleagues whose work is deemed of higher importance. Julia has been back to Okakarara and spent a week undertaking service delivery, supporting Eben, the CBR volunteer who is still diligently turning up to the clinic everyday to support the community, and organising the acquisition of some donated wheelchairs. She will be returning next week for an event to present the wheelchairs to their lucky recipients and will hopefully be able to continue monthly support visits. This should also give her an opportunity to keep her Otjiherero up to scratch as it was getting a bit rusty. (Afrikaans is more useful in Otjiwarongo).
I have been to Otavi, a small town an hour north of Otjiwarongo. Rachel, a Peace Corps volunteer, has been doing a great job supporting community members with disabilities by establishing a disability committee and gaining much needed donated wheelchairs. Unfortunately Rachel does not have a rehab background, nor is she supported by a Ministry of Health rehab worker or with any rehab equipment. I visited to address a rather politically sensitive mess regarding donated wheelchairs. Without going into details all is now sorted and I am hoping to perform monthly support visits and to engage the disability committee members in some training. The main language spoken here is Damara Nama. I’ll give it a go but I think the clicks might be beyond me! Further benefits of my visits will include a great lunch spot and fresh veg market.
Last week we managed to visit Osire, a refugee camp about 90 minutes from Otjiwarongo. The majority of the refugees are Angolan, with others from Burundi, Congo and Rwanda, and the widely spoken language is Portuguese – another language to master! There are 6000 refugees and the camp is now in a process of repatriation for these people. We met the CBR volunteers and it was like a breath of fresh air. Three volunteers make up the committee providing rehab for 125 people with disabilities (they even had a record!). They get support from Diomede, a nice chap from Burundi with physio assistant training. They expressed the usual needs of support, resources, incentives and training, but in a much more optimistic way than other committees we have met. They are the only committee we have met that I would describe as active and it will be good to finally have an opportunity to work with a group that are motivated and receptive to training. We should have no problems with monthly support camping trips to Osire as transport is provided by the UN.
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| Demonstrating new found Occupational Therapy skills... I'll be basket weaving next! |
Last week we managed to visit Osire, a refugee camp about 90 minutes from Otjiwarongo. The majority of the refugees are Angolan, with others from Burundi, Congo and Rwanda, and the widely spoken language is Portuguese – another language to master! There are 6000 refugees and the camp is now in a process of repatriation for these people. We met the CBR volunteers and it was like a breath of fresh air. Three volunteers make up the committee providing rehab for 125 people with disabilities (they even had a record!). They get support from Diomede, a nice chap from Burundi with physio assistant training. They expressed the usual needs of support, resources, incentives and training, but in a much more optimistic way than other committees we have met. They are the only committee we have met that I would describe as active and it will be good to finally have an opportunity to work with a group that are motivated and receptive to training. We should have no problems with monthly support camping trips to Osire as transport is provided by the UN.
We have also been busy getting our fingers into some pies in Otjiwarongo with limited progress. Julia is providing clinical support to the rehab worker at the hospital here. I’m sure she would be a delightful lady if the world was not against her and people just got off her back. Unfortunately Julia’s progress has been slowed due to this ladies attendance at the hospital being affected by spending most of her time ‘working in the community’. We have had some meetings regarding other projects including providing disability awareness and rehab training on the Nursing diploma course. We are awaiting feedback from these meetings.
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| Me and one of our volunteer friends Toyah enjoying the rains last year |
January also saw the most rainfall in Namibia since records began in the 1890s. After seeing one of the clay walls in our complex collapse and experiencing a few leaks in the house we did get a bit concerned about our clay home surviving the rainy season. However all seems ok so far and fingers crossed we make it through to the end of March.
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