July 3 – July 10
I am currently in Durban, we arrived last Thursday evening. The bus from Johannesburg allowed me to see the beautiful countryside. The landscape of the country is so varied. In Johannesburg it was a moderate climate with mining dumps dominating much of the landscape. The road between the two changed from wheat fields to buttes to the Drakensberg mountain range. Durban is defined by a tropical climate with rolling green hills on the coast of the Indian Ocean.
In Durban we are staying under the gracious hospitality of Ari Seirlis, the National Director of the Quad/Para Association of South Africa (QASA). He is putting us to work and hosting us at his home. Since we have been here we have been very busy. We visited the QASA the QASA self help center in Durban, Ashley Village which houses a call center and a computer training center. We attended the first class of the week to help register the students and make suggestions to improve the training program. We are also working on a CV template for the students at the center to create their own CVs, a part of the training program. There is a challenge with the current template because many of the students have little to no work experience and need a way to spice up the CVs. We are also creating a presentation to present to the students to prepare them for a job interview. We are working creating and working on other projects here too. Today we visited the Association of Persons with Physical Disabilities of Kwazulu-Natal, the provincial office of the NCPPDSA. It focuses more on providing services for the people in the province. Its services include outreach programs, rehabilitation, education, and sheltered employment centers. We were able to view the centers and gain perspective on what the provincial directors are coming from in the strategic planning sessions we attended.
We spent the weekend at the beautiful Durban beach. We saw the beach wheelchairs that allow people who use a wheelchair to go onto the beach. They are a great item to increase access as well as promote awareness for everyone who sees them. It is a talking point to educate people about disability and the organizations that support the chairs. The water in Durban is very warm even in winter. I spent my time on the beach while Ari rode his bike with hand petals along the beach front. On Wednesday we went to a touch rugby league. Unfortunately for me there was not an opportunity for me to join a game, which was probably a good thing for any team who would have let me play. Athletics are not my strength given a natural lack of hand-eye coordination. We are going to the Durban Sharks rugby game on Friday, and I am very excited to be watching, where I belong.
Cheers for now,
rachel