Week Four- "Social Work-Worms-Book Reviews"

January 27- This weekend I read, Diamonds in the Dust  by Shirley Mowat Tucker. It is a book about a widower named Ida who comes across a homeless runaway and ends up taking in 9 children whose parents have died of AIDS. There is a lot more to the book, it is a quick read and brings up interesting social issues (racism, social justice, welfare system, family, etc). One quote I liked from the book was, “Life is not a battle,” she would say. “It’s a choice. Make the right choices and the battle becomes a challenge you can overcome.”

There is a part in the book that speaks about the lack of social workers, so of course, I did a little internet search to see if it was correct. This is what I found (Department of Labour, South Africa, 2008):

• 63% of Child Welfare social workers have caseloads of more than 60, while 36% have caseloads of more than 100. Within other NGOs, some social workers have caseloads in excess of 300. In such circumstances, negligence is almost unavoidable. (Sowetan, 28 October 2005)

• Of the estimated 1.2 million orphaned and vulnerable children in South Africa (due mostly to the impact of HIV and AIDS), NGO and government welfare services together are currently only able to reach and deal with around 200,000 - leaving 1 million to fend for themselves. The backlog of processing foster care grants, which can take up to 2 years, is blamed largely on the fact that there are insufficient numbers of social workers and magistrates to deal with applications, with the consequence that the thousands of poor families who are forced to take in these children are increasingly unable to carry the cost burden of the extra mouth to feed over such an extended period of time. (Pretoria News, 30 September 2006)

• The need for social workers is greater today than ever before due to the alarming

rate at which the HIV and AIDS epidemic is destroying the social fabric that holds families and communities together. Social workers are needed to protect the rights of, and bring healing to, South Africa’s most vulnerable citizens through counseling and case management. (The Herald, 04 December 2006)

• In the Western Cape, a program that trains volunteers to provide therapeutic

counseling to sexually abused children has been put in place due to the severe

shortages in accessing qualified social workers and counselors. The measures are

seen as temporary but necessary to deal with the escalating problem. (Cape Argus, 14 December 2006)

• Ashley Theron, the first ever black, male national executive director of Child Welfare South Africa, states that there is no point to being able to identify vulnerable children if there aren’t the social workers and financial resources to assist them. (Star, 25 January 2007)

• According to the Minister of Social Development, Zola Skweyiya, who has been

instrumental in having the social work profession declared a ‘scarce skill’, the

serious shortage of social workers is one of the key reasons for under-implementation of state welfare services in South Africa and for the shortfalls in the delivery of services to large numbers of people living in communities impacted on by HIV and AIDS.  (City Press, 18 February 2007)

After finishing the book I took a walk to 7^th Street…it is across the main road and up a small incline (about 1km or .7miles). I figured there must be something going on up there (lots of restaurants, shops, and bars). And there was. As I was meandering down the street, I heard some fantastic jamming going on, I crossed, ordered a beer, and leaned against the wall listening. After they were done with their set, they told the audience to vote for them on South African Idol (equivalent to American Idol). As I was altering the picture and posting on instagram, a guy came up and asked if I was alone and wanted to join him and his friends. I figured why not. I met Tony, Mpho, and Jo Van. Tony is a doctoral student from England here for 2 weeks, Mpho is an ANC commander turned businessman, and Jo Van is a Swiss doctor for a pharmaceutical who also does a type of therapy called Bio-Resonance. We were able to sit in and chat until the sun began to set and I had to head home (like Cinderella).

January 28- Dr. Luneta picked me up for work today. His daughter attends university at the APK campus and is cheerleader, so he had to get her to practice early. We had a staff meeting to discuss the 4^th year students. This is the 4^th year of their program so they are still fine-tuning the program. One of the requirements is to write a research paper. I offered to teach some seminars on researching a topic, organizing research, and using research to guide a research paper. I have been able to use the materials from the class I teach at San Jose State University. I will be presenting my PowerPoint on a 5-chapter academic research paper next week (a mini-thesis).

One of the issues the faculty discussed students encounter, is that they complete their student teaching in a wide variety of classrooms (spoken about in Week 3 post). The team decided to create debriefing sessions for the students so as to support their understanding of best practice and learn from each other. I recommended they provide critical thinking guide to help students know what to look for and think about when they are in classrooms…and then I created the sheet (and powerpoint to go with it). I will be presenting the powerpoint at the first class next week.

One big positive for the day, I bought two tickets to the final Africa Cup. I am in section 532…we will see how much I see (I promise to bring my glasses).

January 29 I took the shuttle from the APK campus to the Soweto campus this morning. This week, the students are not in session so the wait was about 30 minutes and the ride was less than 30 minutes.

The email I received about the shuttle service. :)

January 30 For my Fulbright project in South Africa, I am interviewing educators about how well they are able to support different learners in the classroom and how I can support their practice. By different learners, I mean students with language issues, disabilities, and other personal challenges that keep them from being successful at school. This week I was able to meet with four of the Childhood Education lecturers at UJ. Based on the information I collect, I will be able to create more specific professional development seminars for the university preservice teachers and local schools. Research is exciting! Here is the flyer for the Storytelling Festival (a service learning project for preservice teachers).

After taking the shuttle home I was very tired, but I had made plans with one of the women living in the guesthouse to go see some Jazz. We headed to 7^th street to a restaurant called Sophiatown (pronounced So-Fie-Uh-Town) playing latin jazz. She ordered calamari, and as I was perusing the menu, I noticed worms on the menu. I asked about them and was told, “Oh, yes, worms, like caterpillars, they’re nice.” So I ordered them. When Ronnel returned from the phone call she had made after ordering I told her about my order…she said she grew up in Cape Town and they didn’t eat things like worms. I asked her to at least try one. She agreed. The caterpillars (short, fat, and black) were fried then added to a red sauce with a piece of white bread on the side. They tasted…smokey. Not the best thing I have ever eaten, but not the worst either.

Fried Worms

January 31 After coming home from campus, I went on a walk to pick up some Epsom salt (best addition to baths ever). I had noticed this restaurant called Nando’s Chicken and because I had missed lunch I decided to go in for a snack. It was delicious and reminded me of my dad’s grilled chicken during a summer bbq. I quickly checked the internet to find out how unhealthy this chicken was seeing they were advertising “healthy” chicken all over their restaurant. I was excited to find out there were no MSG, preservatives, flavors, or colors. Just spicy peri peri sauce. Peri peri is a chili sauce created when the Portuguese and Mozambique cuisines were combined. Unfortunately, I also looked at the salt content of what I ate…I am not sure if I can justify going back for a while.  

That evening Agata, the Sicilian post-doctoral student, invited me for dinner. She made bruchetta with sundried tomatoes and pasta with pesto sauce and ham. I added the salad (which of course came at the end of the meal). We invited Maxim, my French neighbor to join us. He was very happy with the invitation…as he put it I was so hungry after school I ordered the pizza and it wasn’t very good.  

February 1, 2013 During the day I worked on my seminar and analyzing the interviews. Then, Michelle and Kai picked me up to go to China Mall and have lunch. China Mall is exactly as it sounds. Store after store of Chinese knock-offs, trinkets, and electronics. The shuttle passes it on the way to Soweto so I was excited to actually see what was inside.

Dustin (Michelle’s older son) told me about a book he was reading in school called No Turning Back: A Novel of South Africa by Beverly Naidoo. My students at Ida B. Wells read another book of Ms. Naidoo before I left on this trip, so I was interested in seeing what this book was about. An excellent read about a boy who runs away from home and ends up on the streets of Johannesburg. The book does a wonderful job describing what it is like for these youth. Here is an example of her writing: “Sipho’s heart was thumping against his chest. It had been screwed up for the last few days, like the rest of his insides, as tight as a fist. But now it was going to be wild like the tail of a puppy just let out of a cage. He would have to get it under control before he got to the taxi rank.”

How could I not love these boys? (Kai, Me, and Dustin)

February 2. 2013 I woke up early and did yoga by the pool. The pool is about the size of a king size bed (I am exaggerating a little), so laps are impossible but having it there for stretches is nice. That afternoon I was reading facebook and someone posted this quote I liked by Mother Theresa:

"People are often unreasonable and self-centered. Forgive them anyway

If you are kind, people may accuse you of all ulterior motives. Be kind anyway.

If you're honest, people may cheat you. Be honest anyway.

If you find happiness, people may be jealous. Be happy anyway.

The good you do today may be forgotten tomorrow. Do good anyway.

Give the world the best you have it may never be enough. Give your best anyway

For you see, in the end, it is between you and God. It was never between you and them anyway." (Mother Teresa)

Later that night I took a taxi to my friend Niki’s. He was having a braai (bbq) and invited me over. I took a picture of the amount of meat that was prepared for four people.