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Planting the seeds of knowledge by Priya Singh
A fourth-year occupational therapy student from the University of Pretoria joined Camphill for her clinical block, gaining hands-on experience while contributing to residents and enterprise teams. Her time at Camphill was filled with learning, new perspectives, and getting involved in village life.
At Camphill Village, the Health and Wellness team have students coming from all over South Africa to gain knowledge and skill during their clinical blocks. This month, an occupational therapy student, all the way from Gauteng, joined us for her elective practical block. Riëtte, completing her fourth year at the University of Pretoria, selected Camphill Village specifically. She heard about it from her cousin, a resident of Camphill, and wanted to learn more about the inner workings from an OT perspective.
Riëtte worked with residents and enterprise leaders, focusing on the analysis of the job tasks and using the MODAPTS (Modular Arrangement of Predetermined Time Standards), a work assessment tool designed by an Australian engineer, to calculate reliable production standards and facilitate ergonomic improvements to optimise the work processes. Riëtte fully immersed herself in the life and routines of Camphill and went above-and-beyond as a student; from presenting a workshop on Cerebral Palsy and Intellectual Impairment, to feeding the calves, learning how to chop wood and showing off her line-dancing skills during our Thursday morning sports hour!
As the clinical OT, getting stuck in the day-to-day running and problem-solving of Camphill, it’s been refreshing to have an outsider’s clinical perspective. It has given me the opportunity to not only share knowledge but also expand on my own. Supervising OT students allows for the chance to provide further insight into the field of occupational therapy, a relatively young discipline in Allied Health Sciences.
As a new season enters, it’s the perfect time to reflect on how much we have learnt since last winter, how much we have reaped, and what seeds we can focus on maintaining and planting.