As my first week at my internship
concludes and I am closely approaching the second week I already feel extremely
welcomed and involved. On my second day at the office the director asked me to
review and present the new draft of the National Youth Policy 2015-2019. It was
54 pages long- slightly intimidating at first but extremely exciting to learn
about the South African government’s stance on how young people will and should
influence the future. Also, it was noteworthy to see that the government was
encouraging as much feedback as possible from Molo and their child
representatives. However, I am feeling a bit uninformed on the U.S. side of
things. I have never inquired about our own youth policy in America or the
effects it is having on us. However I will not let myself be discouraged, for
just 3 days into this organization I am feeling more inspired to learn and
involve myself than ever before. Although I am not yet directly interacting
with children, I am realizing how often sexual violence and child trafficking
occurs within this country and the world. It is a common dialogue within the
office, which was a bit unsettling at first, but I am coming to realize it is
necessary for the progression of the organization.
On a more personal side I’m finding it hard to
find downtime since I’ve been here. What I have seen so far in Cape Town has
been more intense and thought provoking than anything that I have experienced
in my short 20 years. As an emotional person I am conflicted with the thought
of giving myself alone time to process what I have seen, learned, felt with
spending time and expressing myself with other people in the house who have
seen the same, if not more, than I have. However I have found great
identification in one of the most recent articles that Marita had sent to us
last week entitled “Traveling Teaches Students in a Way School’s Can’t” by
Amanda Machadodec. Although sometimes I feel overwhelmed with my emotions and
what I am being exposed to; I am learning far more about humanity,
communication and diversity than I have in my past 3 years sitting in a desk at
UConn. It has only been roughly 30 days in Cape Town so far and already I am
simply unable to compare this stay to any lesson I have ever learned.
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| In addition to learning Onna is also enjoying some of the food Cape Town has to offer. |
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