Twenty-one UConn students are studying abroad in Cape Town, South Africa this semester, expanding their world view, working for social justice, and gaining skills essential to becoming well-informed global citizens.
The 14-credit program is led by Marita McComiskey, assistant professor-in-residence in women’s studies, and co-taught by South African instructors Vernon Rose and Vincent Williams. The students take classes at the University of Cape Town, and each pursues an internship three days a week with a non-governmental agency working to address issues of social injustice.
Follow their journey of discovery on their blog, Letters from Cape Town. Here are some excerpts from their recent posts:
Kenzi – Looking Beyond Her Own Reality and Inviting Others to Do the Same
Jan. 31, 2012 There is something about being ambushed by dozens of six year olds, just short of an hour after waking up. I walked into the kindergarten classroom at Christel House, face to face with a sea of huge smiles, singing and wishing me a “super day.” … On the surface – aside from their extreme and obvious openness – the children seemed no different from those that I have encountered in the U.S. They seemed so innocent, so completely and blissfully unaffected by their unfortunate environments. This innocence touched me deeply, and I wished for them that they could remain that way forever. …
The kindergarten teacher … brought to my attention several of the students’ situations, one, for example, was a child being raised by his grandmother. His mother was 19 and addicted to drugs. I found myself imagining this child living his life, growing up with a struggling mother. … How insane is it to think that while I exist, live, breathe, and brush my teeth every day, this child’s life exists parallel to mine. At the same moment that I scoop a warm bite of food into my mouth, this child may be feeling hunger pains. He may be missing out on the information at school because he is so hungry. At the same moment I am safely walking around the UConn campus, or driving in my car, this child has to walk through his dangerous neighborhood. … I in no way enjoy realizing that there are children like this that live in realities like that, but it is important for me to know that they are there. That my reality is not the be-all and end-all. It is not concrete. And therefore its possibilities are endless.
Becky Experiencing the Specialness that is Cape Town
Jan. 28, 2012 … My happiest memory thus far in Cape Town happened only yesterday, and it was completely unexpected. I went over to the house at Loch Road to spend time with everyone there, and found out that the house cleaner needed help with her math homework. Everyone suggested that I should help her (it didn’t take much to convince me) … There was an obvious language barrier, but she was learning something I learned about 10 years ago. She was probably in her fifties or sixties and was trying to work on problems using order of operations. Every time I helped her through a problem and she found the answer, the sweetest most genuine smile appeared on her face and she looked so happy. It was the most rewarding and eye-opening experience for me, because before I only thought that I should be helping the children who are trying to learn math. Now I see that my help should not discriminate by the age of the learner, but I should want to teach anyone that wants to learn.
Jan. 27, 2012 I’ve been in Cape Town for exactly two weeks and I am no less in love with it than the day I got here! … At the end of last week, our group went on a tour of the townships. Although we were all aware of the poverty in Cape Town, on Friday we were face-to-face with it. Rather than shock, I felt disgust. I was disgusted that such poverty could exist in such a beautiful place. I also had to be honest with myself. I have been saying “I want to move to Cape Town,” but which part of Cape Town did I want to move to? I was falling in love with a Cape Town that many of its residents will never know. However, having the opportunity to visit the Townships allowed me to truly experience all of Cape Town.
… [While] the township tours were important and fun, the most important task this week was the visit to the internships. On Tuesday morning, I discovered that we would be visiting my internship first, the State Attorney’s Office. I was a little nervous but also thrilled to see where I would be interning. … As a student interested in the law, I realize how great a privilege it is to work with such a distinguished institution. I especially enjoyed how this internship will allow me to see how the law can work to progress human rights. I pray that I can be helpful to the State Attorney’s Office. I am just so grateful for this opportunity.
Theresa’s Insights into Two Cities that are Cape Town
Jan. 25, 2012 … Maybe it is South Africa’s barely healing wounds of apartheid that allow me to see the disparities so clearly or maybe it is being a stranger in this new place, but the juxtaposition of wealth and poverty has never been so apparent in my entire life. At the District Six Museum, we exposed our own involvement in this mess, as the picturesque area we are staying in had its occupants vacated for white people to live in and occupy. Being confronted with my own privilege, and trying to find an equilibrium between appreciation and guilt and responsibility, has been one of the most challenging balancing acts of my life and will continue to be something I work on for my continued existence.
In the United States, I am lucky enough to work at Hallie House, an inpatient substance abuse treatment facility for pregnant and parenting women. … Elonwabeni Home in Mitchells Plain is a home for women and children living with HIV/AIDS, and many of the women are struggling with their own substance addictions. … What I took away from this experience was the reminder that addiction, abuse, violence against women, poverty saturate many people’s lives, regardless of the country we live within, the color of our skin, and our financial circumstances in life. I was centered when one of the women … told me that she would be graduating within the month, and it reminded me how hope, faith, and love saturate the world as well, and this is what keeps us all going.
Nicole’s Realization: She is Right Where She is Supposed to Be
Jan. 23, 2012 … we went to the Elonwabeni Home in Mitchells Plain. … We were introduced to some of the workers and then spent time with the children. We played games and let them take pictures with our cameras. … We all enjoyed ourselves and left feeling like we had done something special.
It was not until we arrived home … that our view of that special moment was flipped upside down. We had been so wrapped up in the children that many of us did not notice that one of our friends had been crying. … Marita, our professor and amazing coordinator for our program, called an urgent house meeting. It was there (after the majority had described how wonderful it had been to play with all the children) we learned that the two black women in our group had a completely different experience than we did. … [The children] would not go to [them.] … This hurt our friends badly, and as a group we had to talk it through.
… Many of us cried for the fact that at such a young age, it was so deeply engrained in these beautiful children that black was not beautiful. We hated that we were not aware, and hated that because of the color of our friends’ skin they could not have the same experience we did. … It brought to light how people are still so affected by this, when in our own country it is not talked about. It made many of us ashamed and not want to go back to our lives where we joke casually or are surrounded by this discrimination without even realizing it. It is very much present, and is adding a whole new perspective to our experience here.
I was … very humbled. There I was, thinking I was excellent with kids, when some of it could simply be credited to the fact that I was white. I do not want to have happy or sad experiences based on the color of my skin, I want to be judged by my character. … We were so close in that moment and there for each other, and once again I was reminded I was right where I was supposed to be, learning how to make a change.
