Job Shadowing

I was more than delighted to learn that I would be able to shadow at the homeless shelter called The Haven. My interest grew once I figured out that the shelter is a high barrier shelter rather than where I am interning in Colorado Springs because it is a fundamental difference in how the clients receive services. This experience has given me a broader view of interventions for people experiencing homelessness. In Cape Town, a person seeking shelter at The Haven is given 3 days to commit to a personal development plan (PDP) that is progressed by meeting with a social worker and following what is outlined by the PDP. At the end of 3 months, if the client has not made progress towards the goal, or has not worked well with the social worker, then they are terminated from that particular shelter. If they have made good progress and need more time, then they are allowed 3 more months. Keep in mind that there are about 23 different Havens in Cape Town so if a client wishes to seek shelter, then they must go through the whole process again at a different location. A client can return to the same location but only after a 3 month waiting period. According to an estimate from one of the social workers I talked to, about 30% of clients return to the shelter after completing a 3 or 6 month PDP. Additionally, clients must pay a small amount of money each night to stay at the shelter. This is usually covered by money given to a person experiencing homelessness by the government. This is a specific allowance for homelessness. If the person, for whatever reason does not have money, the shelter allows the person to work at least one hour a day at the shelter to pay for the bed. Interestingly, each shelter attracts a certain type of client so I was able to visit a shelter that had more clients needing mental health services and another that has more clients with substance abuse concerns. These two shelters offered specialized programs to match the clients. In the Cape Town homeless community, the different shelters have a reputation for helping better with certain issues and are referred to by those in the community, thus specific shelters attracting specific needs of the clients. From what I saw, in Cape Town there is a beautifully complex web of lots of smaller moving parts that covers for the needs of the whole town. This is different from the shelter I intern for which tries to be a big shelter that does everything. Given the comparison of these two types of shelters, it really makes sense for Springs Rescue Mission to be low barrier because there would be no safety net for many people if the admission into the shelter was more restrictive. Given the life-threatening nature of the cold weather in Colorado, it also makes sense to be a low barrier shelter. Some things that left an impact on me are how much work the social worker at the shelter has on a daily basis. I was impressed by the level of detail that the client files included and appreciated that level of work once learning that the social worker that I observed also put in 20 hours of group therapy sessions a week. I also really like the required participation in the PDP and meetings with the Social Worker because it really gets the client thinking about getting out of homelessness instead of just relying on the free handout. Although this would not work at Springs Rescue Mission for a myriad of reasons, I am left wondering if there is more we can do to encourage case management. The last big learning was how well the South African social workers empowered their clients by being direct with areas of improvement, especially during the assessment and PDP. For me as an intern, and very new to doing assessments, I was challenged to say what needs to be said to a client rather than being afraid to offend or overwhelm the client. The key here is that when I am direct, it should be in a way that is empowering not demeaning or dismissive of their story

The wilderness experience

The Wilderness Experience- This is the part of the trip that I looked forward to the most because it is something I never thought I would ever do in Africa. I fully expected myself to travel to Africa at some point in my life as a tourist but never as someone sleeping under the stars in the mountains. This was mostly due to my misconceptions for what the mountains would look like. I expected a straight forward, flat, plateau environment. The reality was a dynamic boulder field that was certainly anything but flat. This perception is indicative of my personal growth in the wilderness as well. I expected to reach a predictable amount of growth due to my strong connection to nature going into this experience. Fortunately, Educo Africa does some small things to subtly add to the experience that made it different from anything I have ever experienced being in the wilderness. This was removing all devices from the participants that tell time. Additionally, the Educo staff would not share the time since they still had timekeeping devices for safety reasons. Any time the time needed to be communicated we used the phrase “half-past two”. So, if we wanted to know what time we were eating dinner, the response would be “half-past two”. To me, zooming out on the measure of time was incredibly freeing because it caused me to listen to my body for basic needs like sleeping and eating rather than deciding what I need based on the exact time of the day. Rather than setting alarms, we woke up when our body was ready. Since I didn’t know how many hours I slept, I would decide how well I slept based on how I felt rather than deciding that I didn’t sleep well because I may or may not have gotten a full 8 hours. I probably slept 6 hours and had I known, imposed anxiety on my mindset because I ‘must’ have 8 hours to be functional. This was a small piece of structure that the staff implemented that really helped me understand how to connect by disconnecting. This connection was spiritual as well. Before the trip, I assumed that the African wilderness would be dangerous because of all types of creepy crawlies. Once we were out there, I soon discovered that we were quite safe from these creatures and I think the only crawly we saw was an armored cricket. Laying on the ground the first night was incredible because I got this deep sense that humans have been laying on this land for a very long time. This gave me a sense of safety and security that had a spiritual aspect as well. I’ve never been one to give any thought to ancestors and the connection to the land, but I felt watched over when we slept. Then, waking up in the middle of the night to see the milky way as clear as I ever have in my life made me feel small and weak but in a good way. I got a sense of the fragility of life and how as a social worker, I can be an agent of change to improve the quality of life of those I connect within Colorado Springs. So out of this weakness, we can be strong when we are connected as healthy communities.

First Impressions

My first impression of Cape Town is how this city is a land of contrasts. Obviously the historical context of race relations bring a contrast of white and black with a new dimension of colored as a description of race. With this context there is the contrast that every city experiences which is the difference between the rich and the poor. This is easily seen when looking at the informal settlements also known as shack towns. Then there is the difference between city and mountain. Adding to this is the element of verticality since the mountains sharply protrude steep cliffs out of the city, or rather a city build around these cliffs. This vertical dimension also contrasts the rich and the poor because the poorer communities live further out from the mountains on the more flat part of Cape Town. Usually, the higher and closer to the mountains one is, the wealthier. The people we have interacted with have all been warm and friendly with the occasional contrast of a person begging and even threatening the group with a knife.

South Africa pre-departure

The day has finally arrived for the trip to South Africa! I have been managing my expectations well and feel like the reality of this trip has finally hit me. I am letting myself get psyched sitting here at the gate. It is a foggy day here at DIA and I’m sure there is some kind of metaphor for traveling out of the fog into the clarity of what this experience will be. I am looking forward to getting out into the wilderness and am terrified of the possibility of baboons. Something about those naked butts just creeps me out. I am looking forward to the learning that will happen while shadowing at the Haven, but something about it feels more like work, which I am not mentally ready to return to as of now. I am definitely in a vacation mindset and am curious to see if that will change before we shadow the South African social workers