The Injustices Of Our Past Echo In Buildings And Structures That Still Surround Us

Sanibonani bafw2 J

The title of my piece of thoughts today was words said by my lecture on Tuesday during one of our lectures. I was made aware of these words by a classmate of mine when during our break; we quickly tried to make sense of all the information that was delivered to us that we were meant to grasp. It was information that ranged from the importance of being able to reflect on our feelings, and understanding that critically analyzing our thoughts may help us grow; to the importance of daily news and the importance of staying current. For instance, the class had a discussion about the current headlines about COSATU leader Zwelinzima Vavi and the rape charges brought against him, and ended up in discussion about international affairs like the Zimbabwean elections that were taken place that day. In the most profound manner, our lecturer was able to help us realize that weather we choose to be totally oblivious to our surrounds we at least must try and understand that keeping abreast of mega trends and being knowledgeable indirectly affects us and the people around us. And that knowing such information is mostly important for us budding OT’s because we are a profession that works with individuals and their ever changing social context.

On the day, the main point that the lecturer was thriving towards was attempting to instill a broader spectrum into our understanding of what occupational therapy is. You’d think that a student at 3^rd year level studying OT should already know what it is that they are studying. True. But to think that occupational therapy is fixed and entirely defined to what literature said would be to diminish the value and deeper meaning of what this profession truly strives to achieve. And that’s why I think a concrete and more wide based knowledge into our profession is important because it helps us realize that boundaries within practicing this type of job are non-existent. And without a doubt, even though I have been learning and defining occupational therapy for 3years now, it was only this Tuesday I learnt to define OT as Occupational Therapies, purely because there is just so many ways to look at it and so many factors that determine which “therapies” to choose from lol. Important factors that are undeniable, which were discussed were Occupational Injustices and Occupational Apartheid.

In an attempt to interact with an individual in a therapeutic manner, a therapist must view a client as a whole. Now this is not only bound to the conditions and circumstances that the client is currently faced with as you render your service as a therapist to them, but it is also based on past occupational injustices and past occupational apartheid .“The injustices of our past echo in buildings and structures that still surround us”, this was said to help us realize that even though this is the society we currently find ourselves in, our past and our ancestors experiences have filtered through and still exist in the modern day age. And that those injustices that were once faced by them are still evident in buildings such as eKuhlengeni and Town Hill for instance were eKuhlengeni was a facility for people of colour and town Hill for people of paler skin. So integrating such an example in today’s society helps us realize that our background, our values, beliefs, norms and expectations may be rooted and sprung by our history which indeed makes us who we’ve currently become. A therapist then needs to understand that a client’s past might as well be their present and might be the very thing that makes who they are. Buildings and structures that we are faced with today are imijondolo (shacks), RPD settlements, rural settlements and underdeveloped townships. And such settlements or rather “structures” are occupied by people of colour. We are faced with apartments and flats located in the city and houses made of bricks located on the upper east side, still mostly occupied by people of other skin colour either than black. This is evident that injustices of our past echo in buildings and structures that still surround us, and that we have to take note of that because it has influenced the background our clients come from.

Therefore as therapists, it becomes important that we thrive to understand and become aware of the occupational injustices that have become remnants in creating the background of the client we interact with.  Because I think understanding these injustices may also help therapist identify what the reasons for a client’s particular occupational choice, and the client’s barrier to occupation.