A GREAT WEEKEND

Sharielle hoping to bring home what she is learning and admiring here

Amanda, Ashley, Sharielle

I learned a lot at the Human Rights Training Weekend that my internship, Africa Unite, put on. During this weekend there were 24 youth participants from: South Africa, Zimbabwe, Namibia, Somalia and Democratic Republic of Congo. We were all there, at a beautiful farm, to be trained on being Human Rights Peer Educators. A Human Rights Peer Educator, is someone who goes into their community and hold workshops, informing people on human rights and how it relates to their lives. The goal is to start a snowball effect where people affect change within their community through knowledge and action. In order to start the process of being Peer Educators, we were taught at this weekend about basic human rights, respect of other people, and how different perspectives play into how people view human rights.

One aspect that impacted me the most was the level of commitment that the South Africans and foreign nationals had. Seeing this level of commitment was hopeful especially as someone who is interested in community development. It is easy for us to see a problem in another country and help, however, I believe it is just as important to work with the social problems that plague our own countries. Their motivation is contagious and I am ready to go back to America and work in my own community. However, I do have trepidation about doing this. For me, I have really enjoyed my time at Africa Unite. I have enjoyed the working style and my supervisors. As I mentioned in a previous post, there is no sense of hierarchy or condescending attitude from anyone. I am scared that once I go back to America I will not have an experience or work dynamic like this.

Another thing that I saw at the Human Rights Weekend that I will miss is the spirit of South Africans. It reminded me of the Sunday that we went to the baptist church in Guguletu. Before we would start a session people would break out into singing (mostly Christian songs) and dance. I could not help but think that if we were in America that this would ever happen in a human rights forum or public meeting. However, here it was quite alright. I later found out that it was normal at the beginning of meetings in South Africa to start with singing. Of course since this was South Africa, the singing also meant that there would be some sort of movement involved. It was a contagious rhythm that would get everyone moving. It was hard to stand there and not move, no matter if you're as shy as I am when it comes to dancing. I was once again reminded as to how singing was a bond that tied a lot of people in the community together- in both South Africa during Apartheid and in the United States during the Civil Rights Movement. It was nice to have this cultural exchange were we all shared different aspects of where we were from. I hope to have experiences like this when I come home, because America has so much to offer in terms of diversity.

Anna coming back to the idea that she's only a partially developed learner

Anna preparing to present as part of her group project

Last weekend our group got back on our giant tour bus and travelled about an hour outside of the city to participate in our Human Rights Training Weekend.  The weekend was held by an organization called Africa Unite, where two of us are interning, that focuses on issues of xenophobic violence in South Africa.  There were about twenty five South Africans in addition to the twenty three of us, so not only was this the first time I had really learned anything about refugee/migrant rights, but also the first time I’ve actually gotten to interact with a large group of South Africans outside of internships.  Although the workshops were informative, I felt the mixing of cultures was where the true spirit of the weekend lived for me.  There was this moment on the first morning, when we were all sitting around waiting to begin our first workshop, with no idea of what was to come.  Suddenly I heard a beautiful and powerful voice singing over the chatter of the group.  One of the South African women, Amanda, who we have met before at our various community dinners, had begun a song out of the blue.  Even more amazing was that almost immediately four or five other South Africans joined in, and before I knew it the noise of a restless room had been transformed into song and dance.  At the end everyone was settled, and we started the workshop.  This happened several times throughout the weekend, and at the end of the week we were singing along with everyone and learning dances ourselves.

 The mixing of cultures became apparent in other ways throughout the weekend as well.  In the beginning, we were divided up into countries, and told that we would need to present our plea for money from the UN at the end of the weekend.  At this point in my life, I’ve done enough group projects in school to have a basic idea of how these interactions play out.  Interacting within our countries, however, with people from such different backgrounds and cultures from me, made me start to question how much of what I think I know is based on how I’ve learned to interact with people who are like me.  Once again I’m coming back to the idea that I’m only a partially developed learner- that by only learning with mostly people from my race, and mostly my socioeconomic status, my skills are only half there.  I’m continuing to see how the ways white supremacy, patriarchy and capitalism shape a society hurt everyone living within it.

Julian on eventful weekends

Sizwe, Julian, friend, Logan

Two weekends ago we had a human rights training program that lasted from Friday to Sunday. I didn’t learn too many new things about human rights, but I did learn a lot more about things I do know; perspective being the main point. Vincent, the facilitator of the program, had a quick point to make about perspective from the start. He had one person face a poster board and one person with their back to the board. When he asked them where the board was one person said in front of them and the other said behind. I liked the example because it shows how people can see the same thing in different ways. Later that night I experienced a true difference in perspective that put this example into practice. I stayed up until about two in the morning talking to South Africans about gender roles and homosexuality and how equality doesn’t mean the same thing for everyone. I was baffled at how we were at this human rights conference and how equality in their minds wasn’t actually equal. I was forced to step back and think about Vincent’s example and wondered if I would think the same way if I was born in their shoes (I still don’t condone their views on the topics). I hope to say that I would think the way I do now, but how could I if I was taught something else from the time I was born.

This last weekend was definitely one of my favorite because of how culturally rich I felt afterwards. I started off strong with a pina colada crepe at the Old Biscuit Mill market. This place is basically an enormous food fair with tons of free samples and too much good food to try it all (my kind of place). From there we hopped into a couple of mini taxis that eventually brought us to the world cup stadium where a gay pride parade was going down. This wasn’t anything too new for me because my family visits Provincetown pretty often, but this parade was still pretty off the hook. The group got tired after marching in the parade for an hour and decided that we needed to experience a little more culture. Naturally, we ran to the nearest McDonalds and refueled with Fanta and fries. I forced myself to refrain from a Big Mac because I had eaten three of them in the two days before that. We decided to extend that meal over at the Italian restaurant Giovanni’s across the street where I had some pesto pasta salad. Another quick mini taxi ride brought us over to the company gardens where we strolled through the park and topped that off with a little bit of sushi (I just realized how much I ate that day). And to top it all off, I had the time of my life at a dance show where we saw krumping, break dancing, hip hop and everything else of the sort. And we went to open mic night at a bar on Long Street (very scary place). That was Saturday; I had plenty of culture for one day.

But not enough for the weekend. Sunday we woke up and hurried to get ready for Mzoli’s where we met up with our friends from the human rights weekend. Mzoli’s is a cross between a club, a restaurant and a market. It was BYOB (bring your own bread; and booze for those who drank). We ate unhealthy amounts of meat and danced until we couldn’t dance no more. Then we went to Kirstenbosch for a Goldfish concert and danced even more! The weekend wore me out but I’ve never experienced anything like it. I can only hope for the rest of our time here to be as eventful.

Logan feeling this is where his life is now

For Ashley's birthday we went to a very cool restaurant called Mesopotamia. Here we got to enjoy delicious Kurdish food, smoke a hooka, and watch belly dancers perform. What was even more exciting is that after a little bit the dancers pulled some of us up onto the floor to try dancing. Although my hips did not move nearly as well as Julian, it was still fun to try it out. 

Teddy & Logan (Emily in background)

Last weekend we went to a human rights workshop. At first I did not really want to go too much because I felt a little stressed about my work that I wanted to work on over the weekend, but once I got there I was so glad we went.

 

It was really cool to meet so many South Africans and Africans from other nationalities. When we weren't in official program and had free time we learned so much from them and had a great time with them in such a short period of time. We played a lot of fun games that I had never heard of. It kind of brought me back to my childhood because no one was reserved or embarrassed to play these games. 

In official program or workshop I learned a lot, especially listening to the many similarities and differences on how the some of the Africans viewed human rights based on their individual experiences. Listening to their knowledge on so many different countries and the problems in those countries was very impressive. I really hope that we stay in touch with some of the people we met over the weekend. 

It is really starting to feel like this is where my life is now. I have a hard time remembering that there is still a world in the US that I have to return to in a couple months. My mind is so far away I have not really been keeping up with what is happening in the US, at Uconn, and with my family and friends. I keep putting off responsibilities that only matter at home like filling out scholarships. I know I need to remember that I eventually do have to return to the States, but I love being so comfortable here. I no longer feel as much like a tourist, I know how to use the transportation, I  know where a lot of locations are or can at least recognize the names, and I am really starting to adapt to the cultural differences. Things such as language barriers and other customs that seemed a little overwhelming at first, have now become things that I love about Cape Town. 

Logan giving report for group

Susie on the Human Rights Training Weekend

Susie (on left) at start of Human Rights Training Weekend

This weekend, we took a break from our activist projects and “study Sundays” and embarked on a new kind of adventure. Africa Unite, an NGO that works on bringing peace between different African nations and refugees, held a Human Rights Training weekend that we were invited to attend at Goedgedacht, an olive farm. At first, I was excited to be doing something completely new, but a little nervous that it would just be a conference filled with boring lectures. Either way, I knew I would learn a lot about human rights, a topic that I could definitely know more about.

When we arrived at the olive farm, we were introduced to the other half of the group attending the training weekend; most were from South Africa, and some have recently moved from various other African countries, such as Zimbabwe and the Democratic Republic of Congo. After branching away from other UConn students and talking with new friends, I was immediately inspired by all of their stories. Some of the students were younger than me, and recently graduated high school to move onto bigger things. I roomed with Mabongi, an amazing woman who has definitely had a much more interesting life than me. She told me about how she got involved with a range of human rights issues, but also has had extremely thrilling smaller jobs. One of her highlights was working with prison inmates, teaching them different life skills for when they are eventually released back into society. I could have listened to her tell these stories for hours!

The training weekend itself was not filled with boring lectures as I thought it would be. Vincent, our History and Politics of South Africa class teacher ran different exercises to learn about human rights. My favorite of these exercises was when we were divided into five different African countries, and given a specific scenario and the role in which our country fit in (I was the Democratic Republic of Congo.) The scenario was that we had used up all of the earth’s resources and forced to move to planet “x”; after we arrived, the four other countries either asked permission to join, or just showed up. We then had to create five rules or laws for the DRC, and five basic rules for other countries moving onto planet “x.” Sounds simple right? Well, it was hard enough to come up with five rights for our own country, let alone how it would affect the refugees from other countries arriving later. After long debates, it was clearly evident that everyone needs their respected human rights, and if you take one right away, such as voting, then it affects all of the other rights one should receive. Although we are all pretty tired from a more hectic weekend, Human Right training weekend was extremely informative and worthwhile, and I loved meeting new people I hope to see again soon!

Susie (on right) works with her group on a project

Nicole on acknowledging and respecting differing perspectives

Nicole (far right) on Human Rights Training weekend

This past weekend we had the Human Rights training experience. In the time that we spent at the olive farm there is so much that I learned about human rights and the way that people work together that it is overwhelming. It is not even that everything I learned was necessarily taught. Rather, what I learned form the most was watching the ways that different people from different places interacted with each other. This weekend was really cool because it allowed people from South Africa, Zimbabwe, DRC, and Namibia, to interact with American students. We had to do many projects and split into many groups and come together and make decisions that would benefit us all and incorporate all of our ideas without making anyone feel like they’re ideas weren’t making a contribution. From this trip, where there was just over 50 people that had to work together, it really put it into perspective just how difficult it must be for any decision, ANYWHERE in the world to be made. It took our small group of 8 people hours of discussions to try to come to agreements on certain issues and even still we didn’t all agree with the final outcome of our presentations. It just further enforces the idea that everyone has different experiences in their lifetimes. These different experiences forces us to have different opinions, viewpoints and perspectives. Just because we disagree with someone else’s beliefs doesn’t necessarily make either one of us wrong. It just makes us different. It’s just important for everyone to understand that there are going to be these differences when you interact with other people. And while you don’t have to agree with them it is important to acknowledge their viewpoint.

"You and I both see the world through a different lens, with different perspectives. 

We have different viewpoints and see different things.

 But it is just that, Different. Your perspective is no better or worse than mine."