Wheelchair-ing in Africa - Day 1

 

Happy to leave, in the airport

We started planning this trip right after our wedding. My life long dream, to visit Africa, was starting taking shape.

We chose month of May, although during this period, in Africa is winter time. Our initial purpose was to see animals in the safari, and May it's a good month for that. Also, we wanted to avoid crowing.

It was perfect!

Winter temperatures during winter in Africa are aprox. 61-68F/ 16-20C max, and 39-45F/ 4-7C min. We usually had around 20C, also because it's May, and just the beginning of winter. The coldest time was in safari. The two games we had were in the evening, right before getting dark, and next morning, at 6.30 AM. Fortunately, they gave us blankets!

Evening safari

Luckily for us, few days rained and was cloudy, and only short showers during the day. Lucky for us but not so good for them, as they are currently confronting with a water crisis. The water consumption is being rationalized everywhere, from domestic use to restaurants and public institutions.
 

We were both freezing on the morning safari

So our adventure started on April 30th, in the airplane. I had chosen two seats on a row of 3, the one in the middle and next to the window. I usually prefer to get the seat next to the corridor, to have space to stretch my legs, but Ionuț loves to look on the window during the flight, so I told myself that probably we won't be back soon to Capetown and it would be nice to see it from above. 

Missed the fact that we will be traveling during the  night. And because my legs started twitching (MS related spasms) we switched places, to make sure I won't hit the guy standing next to me.

Anyway, there was nothing to see for Ionuț on the window. Night. And a lot of ocean. 

The person who sat next to me, on the seat next to the corridor, seemed to me a 40 year old man... not quite sociable. He came, he sat. No "Hi!", no eye contact, nothing.

Later, I got up and made few steps and met him on that part of the plane where there is more space. He was speaking English. I assumed that he was from London, where we had a layoff, so I imagined he just got in the plane. 

But no. We started talking and found out that he flew from San Francisco, with a layoff in London, going to Capetown! No wonder he didn't feel like eye-contact after so many hours of flying!

Later, him and Ionuț were aleady exchanging contacts, he was showing us pictures with his wife and two (gorgeous) kids, we were talking about parenting , psychology and traveling.

I was also wrong about his age. Especially Ionuț, who thought he was about 35. He was actually 51! When we asked him how come he looks much younger, he explained that he always did sports. More than this, his wife finished two Iron Man competitions (sport contest that consists in swimming, running and cycling for long distances). 

We said goodbye with a promise to visit him and his wife in San Francisco.

 

Table Mountain view

After eleven long and uncomfortable hours of flying, we landed. It was morning. Finally, we could enjoy the long-expected landscape: Capetown, seen from above, is spectacular! Table Mountain image, seen from the plane, almost made the eleven hours on the British Airways uncomfortable chairs worthwhile. Almost.

Later on, we got here

Although I had only slept the entire flight one hour, from 8 to 9 AM, when we landed I got so energetic! So I befriended fast with Bernice, a South African woman from the airport disability service, who accompanied us to the rental car company. She said she will look for us on May 15th, when we had our return flight, to tell her how was our vacation. Unfortunately, we never did see her again, seems it was not her shift. But our stay in South Africa confirmed what Bernice transmitted: Africa people are fantastic! 

In this first day, nothing special happened... we were so tired after the flight. We only went to eat in the evening in a near by restaurant, where we befriended Jadene, Cerilia and Philippe, one of the waitresses and the two managers of Roco Mamas (the one in Buitenkant street, where we stayed in Capetown). As they were just next to our accommodation, we visited them in other occasions also.
It's a wings-ribs and burgers restaurant, with very good food and a lovely young team. The fact that they were our first contact with South Africa, young people always smiling, dancing in the restaurant and asking us every two minutes if we are ok, gave us confidence on our South-African experience to come. More than this, because we were a bit insecure when we got back to our accommodation after dark, Philippe, one of the managers (measuring 2 meters I think ha!), accompanied us to our building.
Later, we were more relaxed, especially after we found out that the area is quite secure, with the Police Department near by.

My first conclusion at the beginning of our trip: maybe I am not so unsociable as I thought!
But more important, what I can say now, after two weeks in South Africa, is the fact that my life would definitely be easier in a wheelchair if I moved to Cape Town!

In the following blog posts, more about this and our south african experiences!

Love,

Florența

Just normal

My best friend from childhood is a ballerina at Birmingham Hippodrome.

                          Daria

This weekend was planned to go and visit Daria in Birmingham, to see her perform in The Nutcracker.

Unfortunately, few days earlier, Daria got injured and was not able to perform on Saturday evening, but I'm happy we had is snowing , what is that? - Confetti. - And don't you slip? -Yes...but usually after that scene we mostly run around, and after that, the curtin falls and they sweep").
more time to spend together :X. And because she sat next to me during the show, I had the chance to ask her all the curiosities I had regarding this show, and also the "backstage info" .And gossip :)) (things like "in the set when
Of course people around us were starting shsh-ing us, and every time I had the impulse to say "It's fine, she is a ballerina here!" :))). She was trying to tell me that this doesn't mean she owns the theater. But it was funny anyway!

Birmingham Hippodrome , interior

The first thing I noticed after the show ended, was HOW MANY PEOPLE WITH DISABILITY ATTENDED THE SHOW!! I knew that outside Romania this is completely different, but I couldn't help my pleasant surprise that they actually go out and enjoy themselves! And not just to the nearest shop to buy bread! They actually have a happy, fulfilled life, they travel, go see ballet shows, attend concerts.
We had to wait quite a while to be able to get into the elevator: people in wheelchairs, canes and smiles on their faces, were using the elevator. Stylish ladies, in shiny black dresses and elegant hats, gentlemen with canes and ties, even loud youngsters with wheel chairs, accompanied by friends.

It felt so good just being there.

I though about things which are different in Romania vs other European countries. I realised (as I have initially intuited), that the big difference is mostly in the inner way we look at things:

•  I will naturally start by analyzing infrastructure. At the Birmingham Hippodrome where we've been, there were ramps everywhere, elevators, adapted toilets. Anyone would give priority to a person who uses a wheel chair, cane, pre-walker. The designed parking places for disability persons are never occupied by other cars and most important, no one would stare at a young person with a cane. Everything is...just normal. In comparison, at the University in Bucharest where I now study Psychology, University Titu Maiorescu, there just isn't an elevator. For classes and exams I've always climbed the stairs. The parking places for disability (five of them I think), are always empty. And not because people really respect people with disability, but because nobody has the key from the chains that surrounds those parking places. Usually, there is no doorman there anyway, but when I sometimes find anyone there, tells me " Sorry, miss, I don't have the key, but here...park here" (somewhere else, so not just near the entrance). I am planning to make a complaint at the university, as this is my last year, so at least something would get changed, hopefully...

Our infrastructure issue is really annoying  most of the times. As I'm struggling to walk anyway, I always need to plan my route and the best option to take so that I avoid stairs, where to park, whom I can meet to help me if I need to climb stairs etc. Although luckily I still can climb stairs, it does make me anxious.

Despite all these, let's see what WE could do:

• At least from what I noticed - but my English boss, who lives in London, also confirmed, nobody who has a disability doesn't feel ashamed for being sick, doesn't feel that the people around need to do something special for her, doesn't accuse herself for leaving the house and other people see her. Again, everything is just normal, things are happening as they need to happen.

I feel that everything I do, I hit the mentality of so many previous generations in Romania. I also felt the embarrassment for being sick, during long years preferring to keep the diagnostic and symptoms to myself. I felt so ashamed when noticing that my symptoms are worsening and I start limping with my left leg. Even more drama when work colleagues, neighbors, even people passing by were asking me what's wrong, why am I walking like that. Although my answers were always evasive, polite and with a smile on my face "I'm gonna be fine, it will pass!", those people almost instantly were becoming my enemies, people who, in my fantasy, were laughing behind my back.

Once I started personal psychotherapy, started reality checking process and realised that usually people have their own dramas and even if they get surprised for a moment, five minutes later they will forget about me. Even though in Romania people tend to stare... :)). Ideally, nobody will be bothered at all that I use a cane. If they do, it's their choice, their problem, and I'm just not responsible for that.

• When in need, people ask for help. Once again, there is nothing shameful to need some help to climb a stair. When thinking about it, most people that have a disability in Romania (the ones I talked to), know that. More than that, we are the firsts to offer our help to anybody, even to people that have no physical problem (Ionut -my husband, always argues with me when I hold the elevator door in our building for other people, as the ex-communist buildings don't have automatic doors!). I guess it's our nature, and maybe even a statement that says "Look! I can do it by myself, I'm really not disabled!" -though I obviously walk with a cane :)). At least part of the Roumanian people has the obsession not to disturb other people, as we imagine they will be bothered for doing something for us

Since I started studying Trasactional Analysis , whenever in doubt in a situation, I use Berne 's principle , OK-OK. Long story short, this principle states that each of us is ok, or is able to be. If sometimes we encounter issues, we have the inner ability to solve the problem, we can reason and make decisions (there are exceptions of course, as people with different psychic disorders, but even they can lead a fulfilled life).
In my example with the stair, I consider it is OK for me to ask for help when I need to climb a stair, that doesn't make me less independent or less valuable. Then, in that moment, I needed help.
In the same time, the person I've asked for help is OK. She has the ability to reason, to make a decision if to help me or not, depending on her mood, feelings etc. There is no need for me to feel awkward asking for help, to think my request will bother, as long that person acknowledges her feelings and can reason. As an adult, she can say NO, and that is fine.

Every time I cross the borders from Romania, I notice how things should be here. And if, at a national level, the benefit system for disabled people is far from perfect, so it is our own internal system, as disabled people, meaning the way with deal with everyday challenges. The difference is that we are able to improve our perspectives starting TODAY, not having to wait for things we can't control, to change. We can change our own mentality, the way we think and do things.
We can choose to be happy, us with ourselves, the way we are.

Even if we only were in Birmingham one day, arriving on Saturday morning until Sunday evening, we all felt it was such an intense weekend!
After the ballet show, we went for dinner in a very nice restaurant in Birmingham.

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Only me, Daria and Katie (my boss from London, who has met Daria at my wedding, back in July) attended the Nutcracker show. For dinner we met our partners (as guys usually reject the idea to go see a classical ballet :) ), Katie's lovely daughter and her boyfriend.

After dinner, we had the famous English tea at Katie's parents house, a couple retired for a while now, and we fell in love with them immediately. In their eighties, they attend all the  Birmingham ballet shows (they had seen all of Daria's shows, even though they didn't know each other). This, when they are not traveling (everywhere in the world!). I was so impressed by their spirit, and their genuine curiosity regarding Romania, the education system, politics, what we do and how we are able to learn so many languages (Anyway, Daria speaks 7 foreign languages, which is a lot even for us!).

Katie's parents showed us, again, once over sixty years old, life doesn't have to mean only cooking or going out for bread, as we tend to see in Romania.

We got back to Bucharest after a weekend in Birmingham as from a vacation that taught us so much! I feel grateful for this opportunity to see once again, that life doesn't need to be taken so seriously!

Love,

Florența