Reflecting on May 2008

When xenophobic violence erupted in the Western Cape in Du Noon in May 2008, the Trauma Centre was requested by the City’s Disaster Management to co-ordinate a mental health response to the crisis – a role we have played at various times since 2005. The magnitude of this crisis was far greater than any we had been involved with before. Twenty thousand people were displaced - so we called on professional volunteers to help. 40 psychologists, social workers and chaplains attended briefings and of these, 20 members of the Cape Town Psychoanalytic Society offered to go to various sites that the City set up in church halls and municipal camps. Six members of the Society reported back this week by presenting a paper on their unconscious motives for volunteering and their reactions to the plight of the displaced people they encountered. They had supported each other by writing e-mails - thereby creating a space for reflecting on their feelings and experiences, and they also met regularly.They were not sure what they were able to achieve but what they offered was "the continuity of our mindful presence". This did seem to make a difference to some individuals and sometimes to a whole site.

 

Municipal camp at Soetwater before the rains came