By iobrien1093
Exactly, three weeks ago I landed at Cape Town International Airport where I nervously exited the plane, unsure of what I was supposed to do next. To my surprise, I encountered fifteen singing and dancing CIEE staff members waiting to welcome me and the other CIEE students to South Africa. Three weeks later, the staff’s enthusiasm hasn’t waned a bit; it’s hard to feel anything but excited when I’m around them. Thus far, my group has done everything from cable car-ing up Table Mountain for a gorgeous sunset, to exploring Langa Township, to touring Robben Island and learning about Mandela’s life and imprisonment. The weeks have flown by, but at the same time I can’t believe all that we’ve accomplished.
I’m studying abroad this spring with CIEE’s Service Learning Program in Cape Town, South Africa. Starting Monday, I’ll be taking 4 academic courses related to poverty and community development, including: Intensive ixiXhosa, Social Research Methods, Community Partnership: Theory and Engagement, and Poverty and Development. These courses are different from many of the Human Services and Public Health courses I’ve taken back home, as they involve experiential learning and reflection. Alongside my academic courses, I’ll also be completing an independent research and Capstone Project at a service site within the community. The program offers the opportunity to choose one of seven different service sites, with focus areas ranging from recycling to tuberculosis and medicine. Twice a week, I will be spending the day at New Chapter Foundation, a community center that serves nearly 60 children, ages 6-18, in under-developed Phumlani Village. New Chapter Foundation helps children and young adults realize their potential by building academic life skills, offering relevant training and development opportunities, enhancing talents, and empowering youth to live a Life of Purpose. The community center offers a day care and after-care program meant to keep children both active and safe between school and the time when they’ll have parental supervision. While at New Chapter I will be split my time between the office where I will assist with administrative tasks, and the daycare where I’ll assist with academic programs and with supervising the children. For my capstone project I would like to undertake research into establishing a library for the children or into enhancing the aftercare literacy program in some way. I begin serving at New Chapter this week and will be able to see then which projects would be most beneficial to the staff and to the community.
I chose CIEE’s service learning in Cape Town program for two reasons. The first was that I’ve always been drawn to the idea of participating in a less traditional program. I’m hoping to work in international community development after graduation and I thought service-learning in Cape Town would give me a better understanding of my interests as well as the exposure to problems impacting underdeveloped communities. I’ve traveled abroad before but I wanted a program that would push me completely out of my comfort zone. In Cape Town, I can experience the culture and the languages of completely different communities through voluntarism and hands on service. Secondly, I chose this program for its structure. It’s a smaller program, with only 23 students from all over the U.S. We take all of our classes together, we’re guided through the capstone project together, and we even live together on the same floor of an apartment building. I’ll also be serving at New Chapter with two other girls from my program. This program is the perfect way to break out of my comfort zone while still feeling like I have a solid family behind me to depend on. We’ve all grown so close in just a short time. I can’t imagine spending my time abroad in any other way.
Can’t wait to see what this week has in store!
Isabel