Community Engagement in Occupation.
COMMUNITY ENGAGEMENT IN OCCUPATION
This week we were tasked with engaging in a community occupation. We were required to participate in and analyse a community occupation which is different from what we were used to. There are many different community occupations that community members engage in, there are those that sell goodsā¦. There are those that sell foodsā¦ there are those who build, make bricks, make houses etcā¦ there are those that work in the clinic (staff), plumbers, electricians, mechanics, upholsters (if thereās such a word) and the list goes on.
As an African woman, I have a very special hair type that requires me to constantly plait my hair as it breaks easily otherwise. This requires me on average once a month to go to my community salon to either braid my hair, relax my hair, perm it or treat it. Thereās an upside and a downside to having my hair done. I admit that it is a good feeling to have my hair touched, and washed and blow dried. The downside to doing my hair is the behind-the-scenes that not a lot of people talk about it, i.e. the long hours, the gossip, the different smells (good and bad) that one gets exposed to, the hunger, the thirst etc. ā
But as it is said āthere is light at the end of the tunnelā or in the words of my mother āyou suffer for beautyā (not sure if that is a legit saying). So I decided to āvolunteerā my services in a salon, where I was for once not going to be the customer but the actual service provider. I donāt know much about doing hair, so the only thing I could do was separate the extensions for the hair dresser as well as the various hair pieces, in addition to sweeping the floor constantly whilst someoneās does their hair.
What a painful yet very eye opening experience I hadā¦
Firstly, I never ever took into consideration the amount of hours these ladies (in rare cases, men) spend standing up, bending they backs, the constant use of their hands (obviously). I spoke to head hair dresser and she was explaining that almost everyday she gets back home with swollen feet and a sore back. They eat whenever they can between clients, and on full days usually take energy bars or drinks to keep them goingā
Secondly, I never took the time to actually ask these women if itās what they are doing because the enjoying it or it is because they have to. The ladies that I spoke with each gave snippets on how they are pretty much forced into doing it, because if they donāt do it, they go hungry, their children go hungry etc, in addition to having limited education.
It was a painful experience for me personally as I only go to experience just an hour of many in their occupation. The amount of physical and mental endurance that is needed for the actual job is astounding. Physical endurance because of the physical demands of the actual job but mental endurance most importantly.
āthe worst part is doing not what you want to do, because we all have dreams, but doing what you have to do to make a livingā
How many of us are actually doing what we dream of doing? Itās sad to see how many people (regardless of whether they have the choice or not) are not doing what they dream of doing.
