Poor communities in south Africa are faced with challenges that impact the individuals performance in daily occupations. These challenges include inequality where one gender is usually prioritised over the other, people with disabilities are faced with discrimination as well as stigma. Children in poor communities have less access to adequate intervention to pre-primary school education and development. Poverty being one of the main contributing factor to lack of access to adequate resources in households, vulnerability in the streets and poor education within the young people. These factors may lead to occupational deprivation, imbalance, or occupational disruption in one’s life .
SDG 3 Ensure healthy lives and promote well-being for all at all ages
One of the issues in the community I work in is access to adequate health care serves daily. To work towards this goal I plan to continue doing the health promotion talks in the morning at the clinic to ensure awareness to various health topics such as mental health (depression, anxiety, substance use disorders or abuse ) interacting with the clients and issuing pamphlets (Kumar & Preetha,2012). This helps improve the clients’ abilities into what they can do in theirs physical and social context together with rehabilitation of clients which also allows a better chance to access schools or workplace regardless of injury or disability. Empowering the community and clients coming in at the clinic young girls and awareness to sexual and reproductive health and empower for them to gain autonomy and choose what is best for them and their health such as fulfilling their unmet needs for family planning which they are sometimes decided on by abusive apartn9. https://section27.org.za/wp-content/uploads/2019/07/S27-adolescentSRHR-2019spreads.pdf . I will be working towards prevention of diseases and disability through awareness as well as programs such as fall preventions to elderly , and other educational/ health promotions. To reduce maternal mortality through promotional talks , screening as well as providing mental health care services . Starting the elderly leisure groups which aims at engaging in leisure to promote health and well being , mental health as well as physical health .
SDG 4: Ensure inclusive and equitable quality education and promote lifelong learning opportunities for all.
Most children in Kenville go to poorly resourced creches which limits their ability to develop physically as well as cognitively. The areas and backgrounds they come from sometimes do not support good development due to living conditions, poor economic backgrounds which prevents the parents form accessing quality early development to and limited space (Venter, 2022). The intervention while working in this community as well as the creche we see at the NPO centre l will aim at promoting childhood development through engagement in creches projects planning and implementing activities that promote stimulation and development physically and cognitively such as gross motor activities, fine motor skills and activities that involve basic concepts as their ages are when their brain develop . As one of the creches is severely poor resourced , starting projects that will help with resources such as toys using affordable and easily replaced materials that can be accessed easily. To promote quality childhood care and childhood development .
Due to marginalisation , a lot of children with disabilities face discrimination as well as stigma in the society which is mainly due to lack of awareness ad , conducting awareness to disabilities or children with special needs and promote acceptance in the communities to promote engagement in education . I will also ensure to promote learning by making or issue or refer for assistive devices to improve attendance to schools and learning. https://enablingdevices.com/blog/assistive-technology-in-the-classroom/
SDG 5 AND SDG 10; Gender equality and reduced inequality.
I am going to work towards this goal by empowering young girls to continue to go to school to get educated and increase chances of better employment. To engage women who go through violence into a support group to share their experiences which can help others who are going through abuse or similar situations . Educating men and awareness of the health issues that women come across in households for men to assist where they can. Empowering women through vocational skills to improve ability and chances to get employed. Reducing inequality through advocacy work for the special needs client for accessing facilities that are friendly to assistive devices and special needs.
SDG 8 Promote sustained, inclusive, and sustainable economic growth, full and productive employment, and decent work for all.
One of the important occupations for adults is work. Although a lot of people in the community I am currently in do not have stable jobs or are unemployed some of them do engage in some work to earn a living. Different illness, physical injuries or disabilities can affect one’s ability to carry out work. Starting from prevention in the community with the clients I see or come across during the clinic visits can help promote physical and mental health at a workplace or during engagement in work. prevention project will include educational programs into good ergonomics and body mechanics to ensure protection of joints thus reducing chances of cases such as low back pain, Stress management techniques as in most work places a person gets under a lot of work pressure that sometimes they struggle to person assigned duties.( Rai et al,2019) Providing education in energy conservation techniques to promote optimal work performance thus leading to productive employment. As a student therapist I can also further assist by advocating for the special needs client’s who qualify for jobs but get discriminated , to promote inclusion of every person’s as they also have right to employment. To also advocate for assistive devices and refer for issue where needed to improve the client’s chances of return to work.
References
Venter, L. A systems perspective on early childhood development education in South Africa. ICEP 16, 7 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1186/s40723-022-00100-5
Prozesky D. (2014). Giving a health talk. Community eye health, 27(88), 76.
Kumar, S., & Preetha, G. (2012). Health promotion: an effective tool for global health. Indian journal of community medicine : official publication of Indian Association of Preventive & Social Medicine, 37(1), 5–12. https://doi.org/10.4103/0970-0218.94009
Rahman, M. M., Saima, U., & Goni, M. A. (2015). Impact of Maternal Household Decision-Making Autonomy on Child Nutritional Status in Bangladesh. Asia-Pacific journal of public health, 27(5), 509–520. https://doi.org/10.1177/1010539514568710
“Immerse Your Soul: New Release from the Tranquil ‘Ambient Buddhism’ Series”
Released on bandcamp on April 17th!
"Ambient Buddhism III" Japanese Ambient Album
This is the third in the "Ambient Buddhism Series" of ambient music albums based on Buddhist thought. This album was produced as a presentation to a world in the midst of chaos.
Please experience the philosophy of Buddhism that can keep your mind at peace even in the midst of further chaos.
This music is also for mental concentration.
01-Ambient Buddhism Section25 (15:00)
02-Ambient Buddhism Section26 (15:00)
03-Ambient Buddhism Section27 (07:40)
04-Ambient Buddhism Section28 (08:16)
05-Ambient Buddhism Section29 (17:40)
06-Ambient Buddhism Section30 (10:20)
07-Ambient Buddhism Section31 (15:01)
08-Ambient Buddhism Section32 (07:32)
09-Ambient Buddhism Section33 (08:52)
10-Ambient Buddhism Section34 (08:28)
11-Ambient Buddhism Section35 (09:35)
12-Ambient Buddhism Section36 (10:02)
13-Ambient Buddhism Section37 (08:03)
14-Ambient Buddhism Section38 (06:57)
15-Ambient Buddhism Section39 (07:54)
16-Ambient Buddhism Section40 (13:20)
17-Ambient Buddhism Section41 (08:57)
18-Ambient Buddhism Section42 (08:40)
19-Ambient Buddhism Section43 (12:31)
20-Ambient Buddhism Section44 (09:07)
|| TAKEO SUZUKI Electronic music Ch YouTube Membership Information
I have decided to start a YouTube membership service in order to make my music more widely known and to ask for your support as I continue my musical activities.
The membership will provide ad-free videos, behind-the-scenes footage of the making of music production that is not available to the public, advance releases of new songs and albums, downloadable album art, and downloadable MP3 files of live performances, DJMIXes, and other sound sources. The frequency of updates will be 2-4 times a month (weekly for ad-free videos). We hope to connect deeply with our listeners through music.
Life Esidimeni meaning a place of dignity but instead became a place of indignity.
“This is a harrowing account of the death, torture and disappearance of utterly vulnerable mental health care users in the care of an admittedly delinquent provincial government.” Former Deputy Chief Justice - Dikgang Moseneke
A very well-known mental health issue that created a dilemma was the Life Esidimeni tragedy which took place in Gauteng in 2016.
This is an absolutely tragic story caused by the negligence of the Gauteng Department of Health and later deemed a stampede. The Life Esidimeni tragedy occurred as a result of the rushed execution of the Gauteng Mental Health Marathon Project when the Gauteng Department of Health (GDoH) prematurely terminated its contract with Life Esidimeni, a facility that provided highly specialized chronic psychiatric care to thousands of mentally ill patients.
Over 2,000 mentally ill patients were moved to ill-equipped and unlicensed NGOs in an attempt to cut costs. These NGOs were not prepared for the influx of patients and became overcrowded. They lacked the basic necessary resources that they needed to take care of these patients. NGOs were not staffed with trained healthcare professionals, lacked appropriate medicine and equipment, and in some cases even basic infrastructure like beds, bedding and sanitation.
In March 2016, they started moving the first lot of people out of life Esidimeni. They moved 54 adult patients to Takalani Children’s Home, which is an NGO for children. Now that in my opinion, is a major red flag because how is an NGO that is specialized in catering for the needs of children now going to adapt to catering for the needs of adults with mental illnesses without trained nurses and health professionals dealing with mental health illnesses?
SADAG, SASOP and families litigated to stop The Department from moving these patients, but the Department misled the court by denying that these patients needed special medical care and guess what? The court ruled in their favour. Without even investigating whether or not this was true. This emphasizes the lack of attention that the government shows towards mental health.
Thanks to the cruel and inhumane decisions of the Gauteng Department of Health, 141 patients with mental health conditions died in undignified conditions, an additional 44 patients still unaccounted for and 63 bereaved families. 7 years later, justice for these patients has still not been served! The court case is still ongoing due to the shifting of blame and responsibility between government officials.
One of the most vulnerable groups of our society that we are supposed to protect yet they were left to die due to negligence, starvation and torture! The patients’ human rights such as the Right to Human dignity; Right to life; Right to freedom and security of person; Right to privacy, right to protection from an environment that is not harmful to their health or well-being, Right to access to quality health care services, sufficient food and water were infringed upon.
As a student studying Occupational Therapy, it saddens my heart to know that people living with mental illnesses had to endure such appalling actions due to no fault of their own. This was a perfect example of a mental health issue that caused a dilemma in South Africa between the rights of Mental health care users and funds.
As a country, I believe that we need to do better when it comes to mental health. We need to prevent mental health from being the Cinderella of health care so that never again will we be faced with a dilemma this big involving the lives of innocent people.
A group of high-profile South Africans sent a letter to Ramaphosa asking him to sign new laws – here’s what it said
A group of prominent South African individuals, trade unions and non-profit organisations have urged president Cyril Ramaphosa to sign the draft Copyright Amendment Bill and Performers’ Protection Bill into law.
The open letter – published by the Mail & Guardian – includes signatories such as the former justice of the Constitutional Court Zak Yacoob and Umunyana Rugege, executive director of Section27.
They argue that the legislation is vital for the promotion of inclusive economic growth, broadening access to education and creating jobs in South Africa.
“There is a great deal of innovation and investment into South Africa that is being deterred by failure to sign the nills,” the letter states.
“Technology companies require a balanced approach to copyright to invest in new growth sectors such as artificial intelligence.”
The groups also argue that the rights of several groups are being denied by the failure to allow the bills to pass into law. These include that:
Blind and partially sighted people are being denied rights to information;
Actors, musicians and fine artists are being denied royalty income commensurate with their work;
Journalists, filmmakers and photographers are being denied the right to own their work and the right to incidental use of materials;
Learners, students, teachers and academics are being denied the right to access essential educational materials; and
Writers, authors and composers are being denied the ability to ensure copyrights revert to them in good time.
“We feel it would be harmful and detrimental to our country for you to allow further time to elapse before passing the bills into law,” the letter states.
Controversy
The proposed legislation is a point of significant controversy because it could damage South Africa’s trade relations with the US as it is seen to violate terms of the Generalized System of Preferences (GSP) under the US Trade Act.
The Office of the United States Trade Representative is now holding public hearings in Washington D.C. on South Africa’s eligibility for the GSP programme.
The country’s eligibility for the GSP programme has been called into question as a result of the passing of the Copyright Amendment Bill in parliament last year.
If South Africa loses its GSP eligibility, the country will potentially lose up to R34 billion in export revenue, the Copyright Coalition of South Africa (CCSA) has warned.
“Our country cannot afford the diplomatic stress, loss of export revenue, and the thousands of jobs that these South African exports create.
“Our current GSP designation allows South Africa preferential duty-free access to US markets for selected export products. Should the upcoming review find that the Copyright Amendment Bill does not adequately protect US intellectual property, South Africa will lose its GSP designation,” it said.
The GSP
The office of the United States Trade Representative said in October 2019 that it would review South Africa’s eligibility to participate in its Generalized System of Preferences (GSP) based on a petition it had received.
The GSP is the largest and oldest US trade preference programme.
It is designed to promote economic development by allowing duty-free entry into the United States for 3,500 products from the 119 designated beneficiary countries and territories.
To remain eligible for these advantages, beneficiary countries must comply with 15 statutory eligibility criteria that are important to US interests, including taking steps to afford internationally recognized labour rights, providing adequate and effective protection of intellectual property rights, and assuring equitable and reasonable access to its markets.
Under the GSP programme and the African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA), sub-Saharan African countries are granted duty-free access to the US market for more than 6,000 products.
These include: meat, fruit, vegetables, precious metals, chemicals, iron and steel products, and a range of manufactured goods.
#Justice4Michael Rosina Komape:a person can say sorry and go to sleep if you carry a child for 9 months you cant sleep! and this case is making me feel the wounds again.
Picking and choosing which tips add to your life as opposed to restrict it is the goal of weight loss, as your period of change is going to transition into a lifestyle once you get to your goal weight. Choose what you can maintain!