Students empower communities one helping hand at a time
The four UKZN occupational therapy students have collaborated with communities at grassroots level to expand their career choices and to empower them.
USING lessons learnt in the lecture room to empower underprivileged communities are University of KwaZulu-Natal (UKZN) students Kaylee Becker, Noluthando Greaves, Mbalenhle Masilo and Minenhle Ngcongo.
The four occupational therapy students have collaborated with communities at grassroots level to expand their career choices and to empower them.
“The projects came about when we worked in rotations as part of our studies. During the past three years of our studies, we primarily trained in hospitals, but this year we were given the opportunity to work at a primary healthcare level within communities. It’s a part of our degree that we never expected before and it really sets the tone for our career and has helped us realise how dynamic it is,” said Kaylee who has also gotten local businesses from her very own community of Montclair to get on board with these projects as sponsors.
“In all our projects, we try to get the community involved to see what difference we can make in their lives. For example, as part of our Kenville Inspirational Trade Experience (KITE) Project, we collect second hand clothes for unemployed community members, they sell the clothing and are able to keep 70 per cent of the profits. We use this project to train work skills and for our physically disabled employees, it is a means of vocational rehabilitation. It has also become a means to an income and helped them support their families. The initiative is about giving the less fortunate something to inspire them to broaden their horizons and change their mindset,” said Noluthando.
“The community we work in is a low income one and it’s our first time working in an informal settlement. Through this opportunity, we have discovered just how limited the occupational choices and activities are for people, just by living and being brought up in that environment. Likewise, to have a disability or being unemployed sets them back even more. In the final year of our studies we’ve expanded beyond our medical focus. Now it’s about how do we empower people through activities and occupations,” said Kaylee.
Over the past four weeks, the group of students have been working at the Kenville Sea Cow Lake community clinic. The clinic is surrounded by informal settlements, which has been an eye-opening experience for them to the harsh realities of life for the many living below the breadline. They have also provided occupational therapy services at the Denis Hurley Centre in Durban Central which provides services to the homeless and refugees.
“We provide screening services, individual treatment and health promotion to those using the centre. We also run a substance abuse and art groups.
“The art group has been successful in developing natural artistic talents and allowing for self-expression for a population that is often overlooked. We facilitated a mentorship programme between a client with natural artistic talent and a local artist from Montclair to help train him on how to use this skill to generate an income to combat poverty,” said Kaylee.
The fourth year students have also visited informal crèches to train caregivers, established a youth development programme and started a community garden project to provide food security and develop gardening skills. These are just a few of several community collaborative efforts aimed at health promotion as well as empowering and uplifting communities that the group has embarked on. 
“This has been such a rewarding experience and has opened our eyes to so much beyond the confinements of our own lives and surroundings.
“Doing this work has really opened our eyes and has made us think twice about the recommendations that we need to make as occupational therapists. You get to see people’s way of life and really get in touch with them and the context of the challenges that they face. You see the realness of a person rather than just a patient. You want to build them up so that they can reach their greatest potential and have a fair chance at various opportunities. It has been the biggest learning curve for us. It has inspired us in so many ways and we want to work in such communities after our studies,” said the UZKN students who look forward to continue planting seeds of hope and nurturing greatness in many underprivileged communities after they have graduated.
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