Sarah I. trilled to be given this incredible opportunity

My name is Sarah Isaacson and I am a junior majoring in Human Rights and Women, Gender, & Sexualities Studies here at UConn.  I decided to join the Cape Town program because I believe it is the best opportunity for me to gain the experiences and perspectives necessary to successfully advocate for change in the future.  Although I have read numerous articles and listened to countless presentations on injustice, inequality, and oppression, that can only do so much.  For while being educated about these topics are essential for my activist goals, I believe gaining the incredible experiences this program provides will give me the ability to effectively help others with sensitivity, compassion, and understanding.  

I do not want to be someone who knows of inequality and violence, but does not try to seek justice and peace.  I do not want to be another white female with first-world privileges who ignores that there are suppressed groups living with discrimination because of unfounded prejudices.  I want to be an ally to those who want to advocate for change.  I want to help people, especially females and individuals who are gender nonconforming, realize that their potential is limitless despite what society tells them.  Essentially, I hope that this program will help me become the person I want to be.

Now knowing that I have been accepted into the program has provided me with both hope and excitement for the future.  While it is intimidating to think that I will be living in a house with seventeen other people in another country, immersed in a new culture with new practices and norms, I am thrilled to be given this incredible opportunity -- an opportunity that will allow me to gain a new perspective about the world and the people who live in it.  Although I know it will be hard to leave home, to be away from my family (and cats) for three and a half months, away from all the comforts I frequently take for granted, I am ready to embrace the unfamiliar. After years and years of schooling in Connecticut, I often feel as though I am just going through the motions of my life, stuck in a place I can never be rid of; but now, I am anxiously waiting to hop on that plane and take off for Cape Town, to another part of the world I know will teach me things about life that no classroom can.