Claire becoming increasingly attached to South Africa and wanting to learn all that she can

Last weekend, my co-educators and I went on our Human Rights Training Weekend for Social Cohesion on an olive farm in Malmesbury. Without having any experience in any human rights classes, I went into the weekend hoping to learn a lot about this topic from people all across South Africa and from my co-educators as well. Before the weekend, I never realized how limited peoples’ rights were, especially since the idea of them seems so simple: everyone has a right to basic education, to a quality life and a right to dignity. Through conversations, presentations, exercises and written activities, I soon learned that not a lot of people are granted these rights even though these rights are universal; everyone owns them. I believe this is important for me to know because I am now more aware of when someone’s rights’ are being violated and I can step in and let them know what have done wrong- I can stop being a bystander. Through my interactions with other participants I realized how little I knew about South Africa’s history and how I need to expand my knowledge on the issues going on in different parts of Africa. During a project when we had to present information about a country, so many people in my group had so much prior knowledge about the politics and economy about each of these countries. I thought one of the most interesting parts was learning about asylum seekers and how it is almost impossible for them to fill out the forms they need in order to apply because it is typically in many different languages- it makes the process so much more difficult. I can’t wait to return back to the United States and make people more aware of our human rights.

Kaitlyn, Sara, Rav & Claire with Fire Fighters Soccer Club.

Last Thursday, a few of us started our activist project with the Khayelitsha Firefighters Soccer Club. We will be helping to run practices, manage tournaments and raising funds to buy new equipment for the team. Power and Bongi run the practices and it is truly incredible how much time out of their day they put to helping out this soccer team. After practice this past Thursday, we went to Bongi’s house and were warmly welcomed by his parents. We decided to step outside to see who was outside and within minutes, it seemed as if the entire neighborhood was out in the street asking to take pictures with us. Although it was nice to feel warmly welcomed, I also was a little frazzled and confused. Why were all of these people so fascinated with us? I didn’t understand what was so special about us being there- after all; we are all human- we are no different. On the way home, I couldn’t shake the feeling of what had happened. I talked with my brother about it and he told me that sometimes it is hard for us to see how much influence that the United States has on the world, which makes the recent events especially more shameful.

After this night, I really felt a sense of attachment to Cape Town. Although we have quite a few weeks left, it is getting harder and harder realizing that eventually I am going to have to go home. I know that this feeling will only grow stronger over the coming months and I look forward to seeing where the second half of my journey takes me.

On the brighter side, my family will be landing in Cape Town this week. With much anticipation, I am looking forward to our packed itinerary (thanks to my dad) filled with tons of sightseeing and eating. I also am looking forward to our homestay weekend in OceanView. So many things to be excited for in the next month!!