Finally getting to Calvary

Its Friday now, but I haven't had a chance to get onto a computer long enough to blog since last Tuesday.

After I finished my last post I spent some time researching Internet on the Internet, specifically prepaid Internet cards etc. What I found was quite disturbing. In order to get prepaid wireless Internet a person has to go and buy a USB modem, whether or not they already have a wireless card in their computer if I understand right, which costs between $150-$200. As soon as I saw this I made my decision that I wouldn't plan to try to get Internet that way anymore, and that I would go back to the phone store at the next chance I got and purchase a phone. When Sue and Pamela (from the Calvary site) picked me up I talked a bit with them about what I'd found and they confirmed the information to be accurate. Apparently wireless Internet in general is still very new here and hasn't become widespread or free anywhere. It seems that if a person were going to do Internet like this it would be more reasonable to get a plan with it which would then allow them to get the modem for free. Of course, starting up a plan isn't really an option for any of us.

After Sue and Pamela picked me up we headed to a home visit with a client that I had met the previous week. She is a client in the services of Calvary who is getting home visits to support her in her search for more permanent housing and a bit of stability. It just so happens in this situation there are some mental health issues that are pretty clearly manifesting and this was evident because of my experience at work in the Mental Illness house that I've spent a little time working in. We've decided that in addition to her home visit with Calvary staff/her caseworker I will try to go and see her 1x weekly to spend some time helping her get her house organized in hopes that this will lead to her being able to get her life a little more organized.

After we left her place we headed back to the Calvary site, which is in Morphett Vale. The drive took about 50 min +. We arrived just in time for lunch. I was able to meet most of the staff because they all make a point to take lunch during the same time of the day, therefore only having to close down the office for 1 hr. I lucked out because the Calvary site receives donations from a local bakery of their "day old" goods which meant that there was a veggie Pasty (Pah-stie) for me to eat for lunch. I haven't had a chance to get groceries yet so I didn't have anything around to make a lunch. Pasties are these wonderful things that have veggies (and some have meat) wrapped in a dough and then baked. They are very good, but probably don't have too much of a nutritional value.

After lunch Belinda took me on a tour of the properties and area that they are serving. The site runs a transitional housing program which includes a series of units (apt like) and houses in the community. Each family (that is experiencing a crisis/homelessness) is interviewed and determined whether they will be able to fit into any of the open housing units. During their time with Calvary services they will spend time working with a support worker/caseworker to secure more permanent housing and gain a little stability in their life. In addition to this there are also Early Intervention clients who meet with a support worker in hopes that they can fix their situation before they become homeless. In most cases there are plenty of issues to overcome in the clients' lives which need to be dealt with before any sense of stability can be gained. The process for a client intake starts with a referral. There is a service called FAIRS which all the clients must register with and then the service contacts agencies which will be able to assist/support the individuals or families. The agency then contacts the family and the services may begin. In many cases there are issues of domestic violence and trouble with drugs and alcohol. Other cases may involve an extensive history with the police which may make it real difficult to find a job. I had the opportunity to go along on a home visit to meet a family in one of the houses who were dealing with this issue. They were in the process of applying for different housing association and were having trouble because they were asked to provide something documenting the man's past offenses which was a struggle because it may be off putting and prevent actually getting help, and it is also a kind of invasion of privacy. I was taken to the train station to make my way home afterwards. On the way I was asked if I would be interested in working with 2 of the support workers to get a program/support group going to help tenants to quit smoking. I think this should be an interesting experience.

The train ride was actually pretty beautiful. It was about 50 min long, but it went along the coast within view of the ocean for most of the way. When I got off the train in the city I hurried to the shops to see if I could get myself a phone before they closed. I lucked out. It is a huge sense of relief to have a phone and know that I am able to contact people and be contacted. When I got home I decided to go grocery shopping so Hilary and I made our way to a shop a couple blocks away which was open later, but a little more expensive. Helen invited us all to bring our computers over to see if we could get Internet at her place. She showed us pictures from the wedding and spent some time visiting. My computer did work and I look forward to spending lots of time on Helen's porch checking e-mail and skyping.

On Wednesday I took the train back to Calvary and was picked up at the train station. I spent the morning reading case notes and attending home visits. One of the home visits was to a family that will be moving into a house next week. This was interesting because the woman has had an injury (dislocated shoulder) which keeps coming out and is requiring frequent assistance. This is less of a concern than it would be in the US because of their health care system and the fact that she can receive treatment at no cost to her. I can't imagine how much worse her situation could be if she were in the US and was unable to do that. She would have bills upon bills because of the ambulance rides and treatments. The support worker and client made plans to run some errands the following day to take care of paperwork and things that need to be done for the move. I was invited along and looked forward to seeing some of the different agencies that would be a part of the trip. We headed back to the office and I spent some more time reading case notes. After lunch there was a family support worker meeting with Belinda, the bosslady. The meeting covered both office topics/issues and then a brief update on each of the clients. As a part of the meeting I got delegated a task; creating a flyer for a cooking group that they hold at the office for the tenants. I spent time reading more case notes and doing a little work on a paper that needed to be written for class. Its been decided that I will be at Calvary T-Th of the week, now I just need to figure out what to do with my other 2 days. I suspect one will be spent at Magill and the other at Blair Athol, but we'll just have to see. By the time I made it home it had been an 11.5 hr day with the commute included. I was pretty exhausted. The commute includes a half hour bus ride and the hour long train ride. I spent a little time working out Internet and checking e-mail from Helen's porch. We made corn on the cob and mac and cheese for supper at the house. We watched a little bit of TV and I worked on my paper.

On Thursday I needed to leave a little earlier to make it to Calvary a little earlier for the errands that had been planned to do with the client I had met the day before. The plans didn't work out too well as her shoulder had come out of place again and she was unable to get it back in. She also appeared to be a little out of it from pain medication she had taken to help with the pain. She declined a ride to the hospital and her support worker reminded her of the things she'll need to do and said she'd check in on her later. We went back to the office. I was able to go along to 2 other home visits for the morning. One was to see a woman living in one of the units which is quite a different setting than the houses. They are literally located surrounding the office and as a result are very close to services and support. The other home visit was to see a man who will be moving out next week as well. He seemed pretty excited about his move. He has been able to get housing though the same housing association as the other client. He will be moving into a townhouse where through the association he will have subsidized rent. I was struck by his age though as he is only about 23 years old. That hits a little close to home.

I spent the afternoon reading case notes and working on the flyer. I finished it to the surprise of Belinda, who I suspect didn't think I'd work on it until next week. Throughout the day I had lots of interesting conversation with various staff about the differences between systems here and the US.

The education system is always interesting to talk about. Here it is so common to have children attending private schools (primary-high school) which can cost up to $10,000 a year. What I found out Thursday is that there are public schools, but they have a very poor reputation. One of the staff told me a little about her own daughter's experience at a public school which included being bashed up a bit and sworn at by other students. After trying to work this out with the teachers nothing was done and as a result she chose to move the child to a private school. Public schools here seem to tend to have ridiculously large classes sizes, something like up to 40/45 students. Australia also used to have free University level school, but that has now changed. It is expensive, but not nearly expensive as Wartburg, for example. The most amazing thing that they do, though, is that the government will pay for the schooling through loans, but they don't actually need to be paid back until after an individual has been working long enough to make $30,000 a year. If a person never earns that much then they never pay back the loan. I think that's quite reasonable.

On Thursday the people of Australia have begun to receive a stimulus package. There was one received around Christmas, and now this one. Anyone who makes under $100,000 a year will receive something if I understand correctly. For certain, though, student (tertiary/university level) will for sure get one. This comes in the amount of like $900. Everyone that I've talked to is quite excited about it. I've heard it called "Rudd Money" for Kevin Rudd who is the current politician in power. The two main political parties are the Liberals and the Laborers. Kevin Rudd represents the Laborer party, which would be like the Democrats in the US. They have only recently come into leadership and still are heavily criticized by the Liberal party (like our Republicans).

These bits of information are just snippets of what I am learning from talking to people, but it becomes really hard to express when I sit down to write and try to remember it all.

It was really exciting last night to get to hang out with Jess, whom I met at Fuel. I finally feel like I've made a friend here, which is a great feeling. She came over and we watched the Little Mermaid, when we weren't talking, and I even tried to help a little with her Spanish homework.

Today I will spend at the Magill office helping get ready for a budgeting skills training that I will help a bit with on Monday and Tuesday as well as hopefully settling my schedule for the remaining weeks.