Our human rights weekend for social
cohesion was an amazing experience that allowed me to step back and remind
myself why I chose to come to Cape Town. Our weekend started on Friday evening
with a few icebreakers to get to know the 22 other people outside of the
UConn program. These people came from many parts of Africa- Zambia,
Johannesburg, Zimbabwe and Somalia and ranged from ages 17-35. That night we
broke into groups of 10 and were told to create country names, for on Saturday
night we would be presenting our country based on its history, culture &
human rights issues. We did about 15 different activities with our groups which
Vincent, our Politics professor, facilitated the workshop throughout the
weekend and kept us on our toes with activities. Through these activities I
realized that the need for power has been instilled into our minds since we can
remember. This weekend taught me how to work as a team, although it might be
hard sometimes. I’m also realizing that collaboration is much more valuable
than competition. I think this is extremely important for me to carry on as I
grow because competition is constantly surrounding us, sometimes discouraging
us that we are not good enough for the goals that we have. Through my
conversations this weekend I noticed how unaware I am of the unimaginable
events that have happened or are still happening in foreign countries. Things
such as the Somalian Civil War or the incredible economic and unemployment
crisis in Zimbabwe. It was stimulating to hear these stories first hand from
the amazing people that we grew so close to in just 2 days. Hopefully we’ll be
meeting some of our new colleagues at Mzoli’s (a huge Sunday barbecue in the
township of Gugulethu)! The memories continue….
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