In Response...

The blog I wrote last week about the guy from Angola has had some interesting responses, and I'd like to clarify a few thoughts and throw out a few more ideas. (If you haven't read the comments, you may want to take a minute to do a little perusing now.)

In response to the anonymous commenter: I think, for the most part, I agree with you. On one hand, I realize that I am from the United States, and because of my background I possess more wealth and opportunity than many in the world. However, I am by no means saying, "Yeah it's not my fault, I didn't choose to be born in the US" and leaving it at that. That is the last thing I want to say.

Secondly, there's no question the Lord calls different people to different vocations in all walks of life. Some are called to be engineers and teachers and lawyers. As the anonymous commenter pointed out, some, like Solomon are born with silver spoons in their mouth.

The question I'm posing is not: How do I get rid of my silver spoon? But rather, since I happen to have this spoon, how am I using it? Am I using it for my own edfication, or am I feeding others with it, too? To speak less metaphorically: How am I using my calling to serve God and others? Am I a good steward of the resources the Lord has given me?

Personally, I would like to think the answer to this question is yes, but meeting people like the man from Angola reminds me that it's good do do a little self evaluation every once in a while. The way I use my resources affects others in a very real sense. (And by the way, when I use the word "resources" I'm not just talking about money--opportunity and influence play a big part, as well.)




On a slightly different topic: I'm a little wary about the comment, "We are not to be advocates, but rather continue the advocacy Christ did (continue the ministry of reconciliation)." Maybe I don't fully get the gist of this statement, but if anonymous means that Christians only need to worry about saving souls and reconciling the "unsaved" to the the Lord, I disagree.

Yes, being a faithful person and knowing the Lord is important. Very important. But how can you care about a person's soul without caring about the rest of them? People aren't just souls--they are physical beings who live in a physical world and experience physical pain. I love the fact that when I read the gospels and look at Christ's ministry, I find that Jesus didn't just preach salvation. He healed sick people and fed hungry crowds. He cared for people's bodies and their souls. I can't think about this topic without the words of Matthew 25 coming to mind:

"Then the King will say to those on his right, 'Come, you who are blessed by my
Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation
of the world. For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty
and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, I
needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in
prison and you came to visit me.'

"Then the righteous will answer him, 'Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you something to drink? When did we see you a stranger and invite you in, or needing clothes and clothe you? When did we see you sick or in prison and go to visit you?'

"The King will reply, 'I tell you the truth, whatever
you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me.'

I have a hard time accepting ministry that is without advocacy. If Christians are not the ones to advocate for those who need it most, who will? Not to mention, advocacy for those who can't care for themselves is probably one of the greatest testimonies a person can give.

And one more thing, on the topic of people with wealth choosing to live in voluntary poverty: As Becrowe pointed out, "even such ways of living brings us no understanding of what it is like to live in a cycle of povery." It's true, voluntary poverty isn't quite the real deal. People who choose poverty almost never end up in intractable poverty--in other words, the person choosing to be poor doesn't get stuck in the cycle of poverty themselves. However, I don't think we should knock voluntary poverty as a bad idea. The church has a long history of supporting communities of people who choose to live in solidarity with the poor. Recently, I read a book by Scott Bessenecker entitled "The New Friars." The book details movements of Christians who choose to give up their wealth and commit their lives to others. It's a fascinating and unsettling read. I highly recommend it.

Thanks to all for their thoughts and encouragement.

Anonymous, I'm intrigued. I look forward to hearing from you soon.

It's About Time

Hey friends, sorry I haven't posted for a while. The Internet was out over the weekend and since Monday life in OT world has been nuts. So, it's time for some blogging.

(By the way, thanks to all of the comments on the last post. I've got a response in the works. Stay tuned...)

First of all: Fieldwork. Like I mentioned earlier, life in OT has really picked up. Now that I've been around for two weeks, the therapists I've been working with have been giving me more and more opportunities to participate in treatment. Overall, I appreciate these opportunities and I am learning A TON, but I have to admit, I spend a lot of time feeling incompetent. I haven't seriously injured or killed anyone yet, but I keep messing up little things. On Tuesday my supervisor in the burns outpatient clinic let me "be the therapist" and I kept getting stuck. Grrr. I hate feeling like I don't know what I am doing.

To make life even more stressful, the head of the academic department at the university has decided that Sarah and I need to abide by university requirements and do some pretty extensive weekly assignments. And, on top of everything else, these assignments have unearthed a longstanding rift between the university and the hospital staff. I absolutely hate drama like this. This morning, though, I had a good meeting with a couple of hospital and university people and I think I finally got things worked out. Cross your fingers for me.

But, enough with the bad. Some really great things have been going on, too. Like I said, I'm learning a ton! I've had the chance to do some pretty cool things like splint clients in the ICU and do my own documentation. (Yeah, I know, that part doesn't sound too exciting--but it is!) Last night we had pancake night at the international student hostel. I like to think that we had our own international house of pancakes. (Insert laugh here.) Sarah and I cooked up the hotcakes and everyone else brought toppings. It was soo good. We had ice cream and strawberries and whipping cream and walnuts and other delectable toppings. It makes me salivate just thinking about it.

Living in the hostel has been great. We don't have a television, (or much of anything else!) so every night a bunch of us cook dinner and then sit around and talk until bed. And seeing as people are from all over the world and have many different perspectives, we've had some great conversations.

That's all I got for now. But don't worry, there's more to come!

Injustice on a Thursday Morning

I talked to so many people today. It was great. I love having opportunities to hear other people talk about their lives. It's like the grown up version of story time.

This morning, I found myself chatting with a youngish guy from Angola. He had come to South Africa to work a couple of years ago and landed in OT after a bad burn injury. As he was telling me about his life in Angola, he stopped and said, "For people like you--foreigners from the United States, you would have no problem in my country. You would be able to get a job and make good money. But for people like me, living is hard. I can't find work and I can't just let other people put food on my table. "

I didn't know how to respond, and honestly, I don't quite remember what I said. My gut reaction was to come back and say something like, "I didn't choose to be born in the United States. I didn't have any say in the family I got or the neighborhood I grew up in...it just sort of worked out that way." Now, I know that my Angolan friend wasn't holding my background against me, or trying to be offensive, but I was very uncomfortable.

I've been in a couple of similar situations over the past few years and every time I've come away feeling exceptionally guilty about the life I have. Injustice is not an easy thing to live with and I often forget that I am a privileged person; most of the time I don't think twice about the opportunities I take for granted every day. I probably shouldn't feel guilty about factors I can't control, but I think it's good to take a hard look at how I'm using the resources I possess. How do I personally address injustice in my everyday life?

More than anything, this morning reminded me that with privilege comes responsibility. And it's hard to live responsibly.

There's no good ending to this post. I don't have any answers; this is a topic I will probably think about and wrestle with for the rest of my life. But, if you have any ideas, post a comment and send them this way. It would be good to hear what you have to say.

A Great High Mountain

This weekend called for a little adventure. So, I grabbed some of my closest friends and we headed toward Table Mountain for some hiking.

But after we started, we decided that it would be better to check the map, first.

We hiked up a lot of steps and rocks. And more steps and rocks. But, the hardest part of the hike was when we had to climb up part of a waterfall. I was soaked.

But it was a beautiful sunny day, so it was easy to keep smiling.

We took lots of pictures...

...and met some friends from Canada and Texas along the way.

It was all worth it for the breathtaking view at the top.

It was a good adventure.

Strike!

So, remember that comment I made earlier about wanting to experience "real" South Africa? Well, it turns out I may doing just that, in a strange sort of way.

Sarah and I did not go to work today because of the national labor strike that is going on here. For those of you who aren't up on your South African current events, government workers have been on strike for about the last 10 days because they want a pay increase of 10%--while the government is only offering them 6%. Today Willie Madisha, president of the Congress of South African Trade Unions (Cosatu), is predicting that a total of two million workers are going to take part in the strike.

The therapists we are working with at the hospital aren't directly involved in the strike, although many nurses have stopped coming into work. Yesterday I heard that infants who are being admitted into the ICU are dying because there is no one around to feed and change them.

Don't worry, though. We're not in any serious danger, they just wanted to be on the safe side and make sure the American exchange students don't get into any bad situations.

Day One

Sarah and I successfully completed our first day day of fieldwork. Yes!

Even though it's only been one day, I think coming here for fieldwork may have been one of the best decisions I've made in a long time. I have a feeling that the experience I will have here is different than anything I would have had in the states.

The hospital we are at is a state run facility. The layout of the building kind of looks like an "H" made of two separate buildings connected by walkways. During apartheid, white folks were in one building and everyone else was in the other. I still can't quite wrap my mind around this.

I learned that I'm going to be working in burns for six weeks and then rehumatology. This is very exciting. (Right now you are probably thinking: burns?...BURNS! Karen, you are one sick puppy...) It's true, burns are one of the most painful and disfiguring injuries that a person can have, but I've always been intrigued by burn injuries because even though the injury is nasty, people who are burned often have great recoveries and go back to living normal lives.

I learned that the majority of the people who get admitted to the burn unit here are lower-income folks who live in the surrounding townships. The number one reason people are burned: cooking injuries from explosions of paraffin stoves. Paraffin stoves are really cheap and not regulated, but many people are forced to use them because they can't afford a safer alternative.

The second reason people are admitted is because of domestic violence. Ouch. And the burns they see here are pretty intense, people don't get admitted unless over 20% of their body area is burned.

So, in any case, it should be a good learning experience, provided I don't pass out.

Half the World Away

Just a few tidbits for OT (or arbeitdsterapie) friends:

We had a chance to wander around the OT department here and check out the library. Things didn't seem as different as you may think--in fact, many things were surprisingly similar. Including...

Class pictures on the wall,

and the obligatory OT quilt wall-hanging.

Welcome to Bootcamp

Fieldwork doesn't start until Monday, and Sarah and I have been taking advantage of our mini-vacation by sleeping in, reading, and doing some exploring here and there.

This morning, while we were still in bed, we got a knock on the door, "You need to get up, now!!" And so we jumped out of bed, swung open the door, and met Francis, our very enthusiastic cleaning lady. She gave us clean sheets which we put on our beds. I guess we didn't do a great job, because upon examining our work, she asked us if we still lived with our parents and proceeded to re-make the beds. Sarah and I sheepishly watched as she man-handled the mattresses.

So, maybe I'll learn how to make beds in South Africa, too.

On the Waterfront

Getting off campus can be a little tricky, seeing as Sarah and I don’t have a car here. (Note: This may change shortly, and there’s a good chance you’ll have the opportunity to read about me learning to drive a manual on the left side of the road.) But yesterday, we called a cab and ventured off campus to the Waterfront area of Cape Town. We had a pleasant afternoon people watching and sea-lion watching. Another highlight was the tasty pancakes we ate for lunch.

Although wandering around the Waterfront made for a relaxing Sunday afternoon, all in all, I think this part of the city can be characterized as a tourist trap. The highly commercial, artificial atmosphere made me feel like I was in Disneyland or something. I think it is going to be hard to get a true taste of South African culture, not just the Euro-centric touristy brand I keep finding myself in. I hope that my placement in the hospital here (which starts next Monday) will change that.

Look, you can see Table Mountain in the background!

Sarah and her feta-tomat0-spinach pancake.

These guys put on a pretty good show.

Two Countries, One Mountain, One Day

Hello everyone!

Warm greetings from beautiful Cape Town. I'm excited to finally sit down and write and let you all in on what has happened during our short time in South Africa.

Sarah and I safely arrived In Cape Town on Friday morning after a 9 hour flight to London, a day spent snoozing on the leather couches at Heathrow, and a second 12 hour flight to Cape Town. All in all our travel was uneventful and included lots of sleep and some really good Belgian chocolate, but once we actually made it to the university things became very eventful.

We met up with the international student coordinator (Jeanenne, we finally met the infamous Mariska!) and she helped us get settled and showed us around the university.

Sarah and I are staying in the international student lodge, it's comparable to a hostel. The thing that's kind of funny about the international student lodge is that it isn't very international: the majority of the students who live there are German or Dutch, although there is one other American and a couple from Norway. Last night when we were hanging out with a few of our dutch lodge-mates felt strangely similar to my Calvin days.

Anyway, after we moved into our new home Sarah and I traveled to Lion's head, one of the mountains that the city of Cape Town is built around, with some of our new Dutch friends. Lion's head is part of Table Mountain National Park, a huge nature preserve minutes from the city. We half climbed, half rock-climbed to the top and watched the sun set over the Atlantic ocean. Gorgeous!

And climbing down the mountain in the dark was especially fun.

And then we ate pistachio nuts.

I could say more, but I'll save it for another day. I hope to write more about my experiences here as well as reflections on fieldwork. So, keep the comments and emails coming and we'll stay in touch.

PS Jeanenne, Sarah says that she is interested in doing some cage diving here. At first I didn't think this was a good idea, but it might give you a good reason to come visit us here...