Caroline's South Africa Story

Our trip was an amazing experienced that enhanced our knowledge of people and different cultures outside of the United States.  Being with South African occupational therapists really allowed us a personal view of how the profession is viewed there as well as how it differs than in the U.S.  Roseann was a great role model and used her therapeutic use of self to converse with every person we encountered.  We talked to taxi cab drivers, refugees from other countries, people selling items from vendors, nursery school teachers, youth students, occupational therapy students, and even the Dean of the University of Cape Town’s occupational therapy department.  We learned that a lot of the theories we apply to our treatment sessions here couldn’t be applied to life in South Africa, in the townships, where poverty runs rampant.  The townships are miles and miles of shacks along the highway where people live.  It is hard to move up and out of the townships.  We visited a youth center in one of the townships and handed out American t-shirts.  The teenagers smelled the shirts and said, “American clothes smell so good.”

Robben Island

   We also had the opportunity to go on a tour of Robben Island, the prison where political prisoners were detained during the Apartheid years.  Nelson Mandela was also a prisoner here for 16 years.  The man in the picture with us was our tour guide for the day.  He actually was a former political prisoner on Robben Island.  He shared his experiences of life on the Island and his story was amazing.  He talked about how the prison guards tried to instill hatred among the prisoners by rationing the food so one group of people had more than another group of people.  The guards tried to cause riots among the segregated groups, however, Glenn, our tour guide, explained that they all took their food and put it in the middle of the floor.  One person, a prisoner, divided the food equally among all the prisoners.  This act of unity helped them survive.  Glenn spoke of hope and togetherness.  He now lives on the island and is neighbors with one of the former prison guards.  He says they both have their differences but they talk all the time.  He says that holding in your feelings and beliefs will only make things worse and life will not go on.  His speech reminded me of our values as occupational therapists and how we are outlets for people to reach.  The tour was very inspiring and taught us a lot about the Apartheid in South Africa.

South African Nursery School

 The last day of our trip, Vivyan, an occupational therapist in South Africa, took us to visit a nursery school in one of the townships in South Africa.  There were 96 children schooled in a three-room shack.  There were no chairs, tables, or other things that would be in a typical classroom in the United States.  There were posters hanging on the walls in English and Afrikaans.  We brought school supplies and were able to hand out crayons, colored pencils, and markers to the children.  The children were awe struck when we walked in and were so happy to receive such little gifts.  They sang, “if you are happy and you know it”.  As occupational therapists there is so much we could do to provide social outlets for the children and people working there.  For example, OTs can help provide opportunities for individuals with disabilities in the community.

Caroline Rebhun, OTS

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