Cape Town is starting to feel a bit more real now that we’ve started to settle into our routines. It no longer feels like a vacation, it feels like our home since we’ve started classes and out internships and we know how to get around and have a general sense of where we are at all times. I started my internship last week and I am so so happy with it, I can't even explain how Vernon (our internship coordinator, one of our professors, and overall one of my top 5 favorite people I've ever met) found EXACTLY what I want to do with my life. I’m working at Africa Unite with another UConn student, Sharielle, who is just as excited as I am about our placement. Africa Unite is an organization that works mainly to prevent xenophobia attacks in Cape Town (which has become a serious problem in the last 3-4 years) by promoting awareness, unity, and overall human rights. They have a bunch of amazing programs, including a Human Rights Ambassador Program where they train youth in human rights, and then send them into their own communities to train other people. Africa Unite is very dedicated to ensuring that people help their own communities and take responsibility for changing what they believe needs to be changed.
I am excited for work and yet slightly apprehensive because we are jumping right in to everything and are being given many responsibilities right off the bat. I like this because it is forcing me out of my comfort zone but it’s still a bit nerve-wracking! For example, the first day we were there, only an hour into our day, I was asked to take minutes on a mediation meeting between Somalian business owners and South African business owners because there have been many attacks on Somalian businesses because their prices tend to be lower and many South African shops are being run out of business. I had never taken minutes for anything before and it was difficult for me to understand everyone’s accents (and everyone in South Africa talks at a normal volume as opposed to the screaming that we do in America; honestly I always thought I had good hearing but I cannot hear anyone here!), but I managed to do what I think was a good job. I've also been involved in planning a youth forum to encourage young people to vote and I sat through a meeting in which all the activities that Africa Unite is doing for the next year was outlined and a budget was set. I am learning so much about what I want to do when I am older. I thought the mediation meeting was so fascinating, and that is basically what I want to do. I am also discovering that I hate budget meetings, but obviously that is part of every job in any field, and so I am glad that I am learning and experiencing all of these different things at my job. I can’t wait to see everything else that I do this semester.
Siobhan climbing Table Mountain
We climbed Table Mountain yesterday and it was the most invigorating thing I've done since being here. I can't really put into words how I felt as I looked down from the mountain, at all of Capetown, the ocean, and the cliff faces surrounding us, but I felt happiness on a whole new level. I felt alive and invincible, which is probably not the best feeling to have on top of a mountain, but still. It was also one of the most challenging things I’ve every done, and I am so proud of all of us making it up and down that mountain. Another highlight of the day was when we finally made it to the summit and everyone was just jumping up and down yelling “WE DID IT, WE DID IT!” I love that I can now look out my window, see Table Mountain, and say, I CLIMBED THAT! I can’t wait for all of the other adventures we'll be going on this semester. "I’M IN AFRICA!!!” (I will never, ever get tired of saying that)
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