My name is Jo Riley and I am from the UK. I moved to South Africa in October 2009, as my husband works for Mission Aviation Fellowship and his current job is based here in Johannesburg. I am a Registered Nurse and was keen to get involved in nursing whilst living in Johannesburg.
On first hearing about the work of Oasis, I felt really excited to see if and how I could be involved. I willingly accepted the job of nurse, helping in the Friday clinic and also with Home Based Care. Little was I to know how much I was going to gain and not just give from working with Oasis!
FRIDAY BABY IMMUNISATION CLINICS
Although I had worked as a Practice Nurse in the UK and baby immunisations had been part of my job there, I was not really prepared for a Friday morning clinic in Cosmo City! Although Oasis is not a government clinic, it is the only place in Cosmo City to provide free baby immunisations, so people arrive early to secure a place for their child. We are safely able to see 40 patients currently and on my first morning when I arrived, the queue of people stretched around the Oasis building. It is very difficult to have to turn people away, especially when you know that the next clinic is several hours walk away.
We had only been in South Africa for 2 weeks so I was not yet used to the heat, altitude or to the quantity of patients we would see that morning. The South African immunisation schedule is different from the UK and also some of the injections are not pre-filled, so it was a steep learning curve as Chantel, the Nurse Practitioner taught me on the job! I speak no Afrikaans, Zulu, Shona or any other language that was helpful, so that morning, I found it very frustrating to not be able to give as much information or advice as I would have liked to the people who didn’t speak any English. Four hours later, we had an empty waiting room and I was shattered! But with a great sense of what we had been able to achieve that morning.
There is a great team who work on a Friday to enable the clinic to happen and over the next few weeks I got to know them better and get more used to what would happen in the clinic. In particular, I am so grateful for “Shoes” who works with me in the clinic, as my interpreter and general helper, enabling me to provide a good service to all we see. Also, Josephine and her team keep the clinic running smoothly and keep people happy whilst they are waiting.
HOME BASED CARE
On a Wednesday, I have been joining Chantel as she provides Home Based Care in Cosmo City and the neighbouring settlement, Itsoseng. I was not prepared for the variety of feelings I would experience whilst working here. It can probably be best described as heart breaking and inspiring at the same time.
Inspiring, as we see firsthand the care that the Community Health workers provide daily to their patients. This can be anything from cleaning, bathing, chatting and generally supporting people who need their help. Heartbreaking, as we see people who have HIV, TB or other conditions, living in often desperate and lonely situations. We can test people for HIV in their homes and provide them with the result just 10 minutes later. This I found really quite difficult, to have to tell people that their worst fears have come true. But now I can see that with the correct diagnosis, treatment can be commenced and people can start to feel stronger and begin to feel better.
I am continuing to work with Chantel on a Wednesday as I learn from her about the various common illnesses and treatments here, about advising people about government grants that they are entitled to and what other help Oasis can provide such as money for transport and which clinics they should attend. I am beginning to see some of the same patients again and build relationships within the community.
I am often so inspired by people’s attitude to their illness or their poverty and their faith in God to be with them at times of great need and come away feeling that I have learnt so much more than I could ever give. What a privilege to be able to pray for someone at a time when it feels like there is no hope.
I was reminded recently of the familiar story when millions of starfish were washed up and stranded on a beach, dying. A man was walking along the beach and saw a young boy picking up a starfish and throwing it back into the sea, then picking up another and throwing it back to the sea. The man asked the boy what he was doing as he was never going to be able to throw all the millions back into the sea and was not really making a difference in the number of starfish washed up on the beach. The boy did not reply, but bent down, picked up another starfish and threw it back into the sea. As he did so, he said to the man, “I made a difference to that one”. My prayer is that when I am feeling that I am unable to make a big difference in these communities as the problems and difficulties seem so vast, that I can remember that even to help just a few is making a huge difference to them.