Kaitlyn's informative and exciting week

Attending the Human Rights Weekend for Social Cohesion was such an informative experience for me due to my limited prior knowledge of the topic. It’s something I strongly believe should be included in all high school curriculum and a part of college/university general education requirements. I know everyone has different passions and interests and human rights might not be one of them, but it’s a topic that concerns ALL human beings everywhere; no human is excluded. It is so important to know about human rights because one needs to be aware of their rights in order to know when they are being violated or when they are violating the rights of others. This will allow for better social cohesion and a society focused on the concept of humanity and compassion. I learned so much basic knowledge about human rights that I felt like I already should have known, which is part of the reason why I think that it should be an education requirement. Before this weekend I honestly (although I'm embarrassed to admit it) couldn't name more than 3 human rights. I learned how much our society doesn’t question the system, no matter how twisted and wrong it may be. Just because a law is a law does not mean that it is humane or right. For instance, I never knew that the application people have to fill out when seeking asylum is often in a language different from their own; when they ask questions to the officials in the room, they often don’t respond and then choose people at random to be accepted. On another note, I know that we should be taking part in the hard, uncomfortable conversations whenever possible, but I realized that just because those conversations occur does not mean they’re productive. I feel like I often take part in them, but that the conversation may not be going anywhere if either myself (which I am guilty of) or the other person(s) are not willing to at least listen. Splitting up into groups and presenting on group presentations, allowed me to learn so much about other African countries that I had no idea about. For example, in the Democratic Republic of the Congo people live on under one US dollar a day and children are regularly forced into labor. The poverty in South Africa feels real to me since we are constantly surrounded by it, but it’s important to be aware of the same in other countries. 

On Thursday, I went to the Firefighter’s soccer practice in Khayelitsha, one of the biggest townships in Cape Town. Practice was so so much fun and the kids are adorable. I think switching to making this activist project my main one and then I plan to continue to help out as much as I possibly can for Mams. We will be sharing a GoFundMe page to fundraise for the boys to provide them with soccer balls, cleats, socks, new uniforms, and game-time snacks and water. 

After practice on Thursday, Power (the head coach) brought us to Bongi’s house to see if he missed practice because he was sleeping, but he wasn’t home. Bongi’s mother and father welcomed us into their home regardless, and were so so sweet to us. We went out into the street to see the children playing and within a few minutes, all the neighborhood kids were out asking to take pictures with and of us. It didn’t quite hit me until we got in our Uber car to go home, but they treated us like celebrities. But why— we’re all just human beings? Sure we have differences, skin color among the many others, but that shouldn’t call for unique treatment. I know society has instilled that value in all of humanity, but I wish it could disappear. As soon as we got in the car, all the children crowded around it on the street staring at and waving goodbye to us. I lived a new reality that day that I had never really felt before. Today, we went to one of the senior team’s tournaments and although we left before they even got on the field, it was so great starting to get to know them when hanging out on the bleachers. 

We have the homestay this coming weekend! I’m hoping to be paired with someone I don’t spend that much time with here, and I am so excited to build a bond with our host family… also hoping there are kids in my family!