Jillian eager to apply what she's learned

Last weekend I was fortunate enough to participate in Human Rights Weekend on a beautiful farm far from Rondebosch. Going into it, I had no idea what the weekend was going to be like. I was also a little nervous because I honestly had no idea what human rights were. I had a general idea, but human rights were not something I learned in school. Thinking about that now, human rights are such an important part of everyone’s lives. I’m amazed that schools do not teach us about our basic human rights. If we don’t know what our human rights are, how are we expected to defend them and stop them from being violated? This weekend was extremely necessary for me to understand what my human rights are and how to avoid being taken advantage with them.

This weekend was much better than I had expected. I was expecting to be sitting in a room all day getting lectured at about Human Rights, but it wasn’t like that at all. I was able to interact and learn from everyone, not just Vincent (the facilitator). In addition to the 17 of us, there were several other South African and international people there that I was able to meet and get to know. Meeting these people was probably my favorite part of the weekend. Immediately when I got to my room, which 11 other people were also staying in, we all sat in a big circle and started talking. I was able to get to know everyone throughout the whole weekend with the group activities we did. I was able to learn so much through these interactions and I now have a much better understanding of what human rights are. One of my favorite activities was the perpetrator, bystander, victim, and defender activity. In this activity, everyone had to write down a time when they personally violated someone’s human rights, when they saw someone’s rights being violated and didn’t try and stop it, when their human rights were being violated, and when they defended someone whose rights were being violated. I enjoyed this activity because I was able to reflect upon my personal experiences which opened my eyes to experiences I had where I didn’t even realize human rights were involved. This raised my awareness of human rights in everyday life and made it easier for me to recognize in the future so I can try and stop any violation I see. I also liked it because we were able to share our experiences with the group. I learned a lot about the people I was spending the weekend with and hearing their stories was heartbreaking but inspiring at the same time.

Overall, I found the weekend extremely informative and I learned a lot about other people’s stories and about myself as well. I developed a greater level of awareness for human rights and I’m excited to take what I’ve learned and apply it to my life. Human rights are so important to learn about and I’m thankful I was able to get a better understanding of them. One of my goals during this program was to become more informed and with Human Rights Weekend, I am definitely more informed than I was before.

Onna's thoughts on the Human Rights Weekend

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….

Julia's lessons learned: practical and personal

Going into this weekend, I really didn’t have any expectations. I had only vague ideas of what the weekend would entail, but I was pleased with how it turned out and what I learned about human rights and different people.

           

I never took a class on human rights, so the information this weekend was mostly new and very informative for me. I thought a really important thing we learned was the differences between certain sets of rights and who receives them. For example, I learned that civil rights are rights given to anyone in a territory and are listed in a country’s constitution, while human rights are rights that don’t change from country to country and are given at birth and cannot be taken away. I think this is important to know just to better understand politics, news reports, and even Vincent’s lesson on which South African courts deal with which specific rights. I also thought learning the difference between a declaration and a convention was important. While a convention is legally binding, a declaration is not and there is no obligation for a country to implement a declaration. So it is especially crucial for individual people to ensure human rights are not being violated and stand up when they are because the Universal Declaration of Human Rights is not necessarily a law a country needs to uphold. They can agree to it, but if a right that is in the Declaration, but not listed as a civil right, is violated, there may be no punishment for the violation. Individuals are the primary violators, but can also be the primary protectors of human rights.

           

Aside from Vincent’s information on human rights, we also learned about human rights through the stories and experiences of others. Abdikadir, for example, is a Somalian refugee in South Africa. We learned from him how his human rights were violated and the struggles he endured as an unwelcomed refugee. His story about the rude woman and his forgiveness was inspiring. He considered her needs before his needs for justice. She had a family and kids to take care of, and he was considerate enough, despite her awful way to him, to forgive. I don’t know what I would do in that situation, but I hope the next time one comes around I can be as selfless as he was. Abdikadir also told me the explanation behind the hijab that Muslim women wear. He explained that it wasn’t oppressive, but rather a protection for women because women and their bodies are considered the most beautiful. Although I still don’t fully agree with some things about the hijab, I figure it’s not my place to judge. If the Muslim women want to wear the hijab and don’t find it oppressive, then why should anyone else find it wrong?

           

By working in our groups I also learned a lot about Somalia and different types of people. I learned that Somalia was colonized by Italy at one point, so spaghetti is a popular dish there. I also learned that their civil war started in 1991 and the effects have been damaging to the country’s society and economy. Families were separated during this time, and many still are, Abdikadir’s family included. Homes and hospitals were destroyed and still haven’t been rebuilt. The government is not doing a good job of protecting human rights or even providing for their people. The government is doing little to help people rebuild their homes that were destroyed, and some hospitals were never rebuilt. Countries don’t want to trade with Somalia and their GDP is very low, so they live off their own livestock and fish. Aside from learning about Somalia, I also learned how invested and opinionated people from South Africa, Somalia, and Zimbabwe are. For group projects in the U.S., students just look for a way to get the job done and don’t really care too much about how it gets done. If someone has a good idea, that’s usually good enough. This weekend’s group work was quite different, though, in the sense that absolutely everyone had an opinion that had to be accommodated. It was actually really frustrating for my peer educators and me. We just aren’t used to so much input and taking things that are not being graded so seriously, but the concept of human rights and their violation is a very real thing for them. It was nice to see that people are so invested in these things though, unlike many Americans that don’t even know about human rights or current events.

           

Lastly, I did learn a little bit about myself this weekend that I don’t like. I learned from the mini workshop activity that when things don’t go my way and people don’t listen, I resort to an authoritarian manner. When people were yelling and not listening, I responded by yelling back and raising my voice. I think this was definitely an extreme version of what could go wrong in a workshop, but I did not prove to be a good facilitator in handling the situation. I hate to think that I resort to dictatorship, but apparently I do. Vincent did give tips on how to handle situations like that. Next time I’m in that situation, I hope I remember to just be quiet and wait for people to quiet down as they see me waiting. I never want to be a dictator facilitator, so I will make sure to keep this in mind, even if the yelling and noise frustrates me. There are better ways to deal with things and the main way is to respect everyone even if they aren’t respecting you. Don’t change your values when someone challenges

Christina's weekend experience exceeded all expectations

This past weekend we travelled to the farm land of Goedgedacht Olive Groves for a humans rights training weekend. Along with all of us UConn students, young people from various parts of Africa including South Africa, Kenya, Zimbabwe, and Zambia attended and participated in all of the workshops presented. Upon arrival we were immediately split up, assigned a new roommate, and got the chance to settle in. My roommate was from Cape Town, named Sahleen, and got involved with the program through a previous organization she worked with regarding human rights for farmers

The very evening we arrived, our workshops began. First, the program was announced and explained… a bit (much of the time everything was a surprise).  Africa Unite is an organization that works to educate and spread awareness about human rights through various different workshops, involvement opportunities, fundraisers, and so on. And it just so happens to be the very organization that one of our beloved professors Vincent is a board member and facilitates these workshops.

Looking back on everything now, the weekend almost seems a blur. We did so many workshops and activities revolving human rights that I’m a bit on overload at the moment. Every workshop related or emphasized a different aspect of or about human rights. One of the major ones we did was to actually break into different country groups, I was Somalia, and then put together a whole presentation about our country and why we deserved to win a 2 billion dollar check from the world bank. In my group we actually had a guy from Somalia that educated us all on the history, its troubles with human rights, the economy, its culture, and so much more. It was such an amazing opportunity to learn about another country from someone with first hand experiences in addition to working so closely with people from honestly all over. This truly was my favorite part of the trip because before I get to the final presentations, for many of the other workshops throughout the weekend we would gather in our country groups to discuss and complete the assignments. Each time a different humans right concept was brought up and each time we had opinions from people from at least three different countries and a dozen different opinions. The amount I learned in those small gatherings was not only beneficial to my personal knowledge of human rights and what they mean as a whole and to those individually, but it was such an eye-opening experience hearing the personal stories that go with each thought of everyone in the group. We shared experiences, ideas, and feelings all different, or similar at times, from everyone else because of our different backgrounds and cultures.

To end the weekend, on the final evening each country presented their own creative plea for the money. My group, Somalia, did a bit of dramatic story-telling. We had our local Somalian play the role of a heart-sick grandfather aching for change and help as he told his story through the translations of another member of our group, Julia. As the story was being told, various members such as myself acted out each scene in a humorous, yet tasteful manner.  We ended the act with a song and dance to rally up our supporters. When the winners were announced we were honestly SHOCKED when Somalia had won but couldn’t of been more excited. It was such a great way to not only learn and understand another country and its problems but to enjoy it too. This weekend exceeded all expectations before I could even make any.

Christina (second from left) with her Somalia country group.

Taylor P's weekend highlight was meeting different people

This past weekend we went away for a human rights retreat at a farm basically in the middle of nowhere. Aside from the amazing home cooked meals and frequent tea times, I learned a lot from Vincent, Brilliant and Faith, our instructors for the weekend. Previous to this weekend I only had basic knowledge about human rights and the fact that everyone had them. I learned about the several ways that our rights can be and are violated each day. However, the highlight was the different people that I met from several different backgrounds, countries and cultures. I met people from Zambia, Zimbabwe, Kenya, and Holland amongst other places. It was insane how many people that I spoke with and the stories that they told me. At one point Vincent asked everyone to go up and write human rights in whatever language they spoke. If I remember correctly there were about 11 different languages, which is crazy to me. It actually makes me wish that I knew a language aside from English.

Taylor P, Faith, Jillian,        , John at Human Rights Weekend