Work Progress

Saturday 16^th July was our 1 year anniversary in Namibia – hard to believe in some ways!  VSO international have reviewed their strategy in light of reduced funding from the UK government, with the resultant decision that they are pulling out of their programmes in Namibia to focus on other countries in greater need.  What this means for us is that we have been asked to finish our placements a few months early – March or April next year.  We still need to confirm the date but either way we are now well over half way through and will be seeing you in less than a year!

It feels like all our perseverance with beaurocratic processes such as acquiring transport, ordering food and flipcharts for workshop participants and getting permission to leave Otjiwarongo are paying off!  There is so much paper red tape here – if a request has not been photocopied at least 4 times (at the moment the photocopier is out of action, and has been for over a month), stamped and signed by our Director, forwarded onto an economising committee who then checks with finance to see if funds are available, who sits on it for at least 3 weeks, who then passes it onto the relevant department to action – then it won’t happen!  As you can imagine, there is a significant amount of chasing up that has to be done at each stage, grinding away at our will to live!

So as our patience has increased, work is picking up at last!  June was a very busy month. We have delivered our second Community Based Rehabilitation (CBR) workshop for volunteers in Osire, the refugee camp.  This time it focused on identifying and screening people with disabilities and counselling for people with disabilities.   We also spent a day in the community, visiting people with disabilities in their homes with the CBR committee members to offer advice and provide some ‘hands on’ training.  We try and make the workshops as practical and interactive as possible, and everyone loves getting involved which is great.  Also, everything has to be translated into Portuguese for the Angolan refugees so actions definitely speak louder than words!….we’ve learnt quite a few anatomical terms, but aside from that we’re limited to ‘bon dia’ and ‘obrigado’.  

Playing the mens version of Bawo (there is a simpler childrens / womens version too!)

  

We take our tent when we stay in Osire and the nurse from the clinic is very friendly and lets us use her house to cook and wash, except for when the power and water go off, which they do regularly.  There are 6000 refugees at this well established camp.  The Angolans are in the process of repatriation, but more refugees from The Democratic Republic of Congo continue to arrive.   We are planning on delivering more workshops to the CBR committee up until December this year, by which time we will have covered all 16 modules in the nationally developed CBR manual which is pretty comprehensive.  Hopefully gaining rehabilitation skills and knowledge will help committee members gain employment when they are repatriated.

The following week we were asked by the Chief Social Worker to assist with facilitating a workshop for all the Social Workers in the region focusing on delegation.  It was the first time either of us had been asked for assistance by any member of the regional management team, so we were surprised but more than happy to help.  The Chief Social Worker is moving jobs and so wanted our support to plan her exit strategy as there would be a gap before her replacement is appointed.  It was a great opportunity for us to share some of our management skills, and the Social Workers were receptive participants so it all went very well.  It was also the first time ever that the Social Workers in the region had met together, so another outcome of the workshop was to make sure steps were put in place to improve communication.  Often the solutions are so basic, but there’s a real culture of just carrying on doing what’s always been done, and not questioning it.

The Region's Social Workers, been to the workshop...got the t-shirt!

Grootfontein CBR Committee getting involved

Ant left the Social Worker workshop early to deliver some more training to the Grootfontein CBR committee.  There is a very enthusiastic local volunteer, Jonas, who is keeping the rehabilitation department at Grootfontein hospital open in the absence of any qualified, employed rehabilitation staff.  Ant is hoping to get him over the HR hurdles and into an employed position as a medical rehab worker at the hospital, so fingers crossed that works out.

I’ve been to another rural area in Grootfontein District called Otjituuo and delivered 3 days Community Based Rehabilitation training to the community volunteers there.  They were delighted as we took some ‘International Day of People with Disabilities’ hats with us which they proceeded to wear throughout the whole workshop.  People really get involved with the training, especially the practical elements, which is great.  Neither Ant nor I are quite sure how much of the skills will get implemented in the target communities though as there are lots of barriers; lack of transport and financial incentive being the predominant complaints.  However, we have made recommendations to the national level Ministry of Health in terms of a strategic review and recommendations for CBR….not sure we can do much else to influence this though!

Practicing the recovery position!

Otjituuo CBR Committee proudly wearing their hats!

 

Over the next month or so we are revisiting the refugee camp to continue our programme there, I am spending a week around Okakarara District with one of the Rehabilitation Instructors delivering training, and Ant is in the process of sorting the logistics for receiving about 80 second-hand wheelchairs that have been donated by a local company, Ohorongo Cement.  We will need to assess the chairs and try to get any repairs done before then trying to match the long list of patients awaiting wheelchairs with the appropriate piece of equipment – easier said than done. 

Oh, and we are interviewing 2 people for the permanent Regional Therapist post this Friday – at long last!  The post has only been vacant for about 12 YEARS!  We have managed to push the recruitment through and after some negotiation, persuaded HR that although the 2 applicants look fine on paper it would be best to interview them rather than use an ‘eeny meeny miney mo’ tactic to pick one as they were keen to do.  (for those of you who have experienced NHS job applications which comprise of  a long list of therapy modalities and conditions seen, but yet nothing about the person, you will understand why!).

So, hopefully you are now persuaded that our time here has not been one long holiday (although, keeping a healthy work-life balance is important).  I think the next 9 months will fly by as we are now being far more productive.  Job satisfaction has definitely improved although the question of the sustainability of it all is still debatable.