Lauren on renewing her passion for human rights

Lauren receiving her Africa Unite Human Rights Training Certificate from Ntombi Mcoyi

This past weekend, we went to a Human Rights Training seminar, organized by Africa Unite. I was very excited for this weekend, because when my sister was on this program in 2011 she interned at Africa Unite and helped to organize different aspects of this weekend. She had told me a little about what to expect, so I was prepared for a fun and valuable weekend; however, I was not prepared for how much of a wonderful learning experience it would actually be, in so many different ways.

First of all, the venue in which the training took place, Goedgedacht Farm, was amazing! It was surrounded by beautiful green fields and hills, and when it got dark, I saw the most stars I have ever seen in my life. We were accommodated extremely well, with comfortable beds and DELICIOUS food. Goedgedacht is an olive farm, so obviously we had home-grown olives in every salad, not to mention the olive oil and salad dressings. I was well-fed, to say the least!

Secondly, I learned an incredible amount from the people that attended the training weekend. Young people with an interest in human rights traveled from all over Cape Town and the rest of South Africa, as well as Swaziland, Tanzania, and Zimbabwe. It was inspiring to meet so many motivated and intelligent people, and to hear their stories and what caused them to become involved with human rights. My roommate, Sive, for instance, was from Gugulethu, a township in Cape Town, and she had a particular interest in working with youth in the area. Meeting so many new people was admittedly a little overwhelming at first, especially trying to remember everybody’s names; however, by the end of the weekend I had bonded with multiple people and I really enjoyed getting to know everybody. Because there was such a diverse group of people, it helped me to see the human rights training in a new light. The diverse setting allowed for much broader discussions, that we might not have been able to have with a group of only American students. The wide range of backgrounds that everybody came from also gave us the opportunity to learn different national anthems, cultural dances, and languages.

Lauren (far right)

Thirdly, I learned valuable lessons about how human rights is more than just studying UN documents; it is about applying the information that we learn, and the experiences that we have had, to the real world. One of the most important things that I learned this weekend, however, was how difficult it can sometimes be to put our human rights training into action. I found that it is often easy to slip back into the mindset that the world is the way it is and, unfair or not, there is no point trying to change it. It is easier to just let things happen, rather than speak out and create change. As much as we learn about human rights and the importance of mobilization and action, in order to put this into practice, we need to change the ways that we think, behave, and approach situations. Over the weekend we did numerous activities that demonstrated this need for personal change. These activities were frustrating, often leaving me feeling ashamed of my actions, or more often, my inactions; however, they were also extremely eye-opening and inspiring. I hope that I will be able to apply the lessons that I learned to my future actions and way of approaching the world. 

One particular activity that struck me demonstrated the difficulty that asylum seekers face, trying to apply for asylum in another country. We were all given an Application for Asylum, and we were told to fill out the form and submit it to Ntombi, one of the facilitators for the weekend, for approval. She was playing the role of someone that worked in the Home Affairs Department. The problem was, the questions on the form were all written in a different language, which no one understood (we later learned it was Creole). Even though we knew it was pretty much hopeless, we tried to piece together the few words that we could understand and guess what the questions on the form meant. We then waited in a long line for Ntombi to examine our applications. Sometimes Ntombi wrote “Granted” on the applications, more often she wrote “Denied,” and other times, she just handed back our papers, refusing to read them without any explanation. She randomly left the room on numerous occasions, and we would all just stand there, waiting for her to return so that we could immediately flock to her again. At the time, this seemed like this was the only option; we were like a herd of sheep, helplessly wandering around the room without any idea what to do, just trying to gain approval. After the activity was over, however, Vincent asked us why we did not try to mobilize ourselves into a group and protest the unfairness of the situation. We could have, should have, banded together and demanded that we be treated fairly, with an application that we could actually understand and more clear directions from Ntombi. In reality, however, we all just blindly accepted the helplessness of our situation and did not attempt to change anything. 

While the Human Rights Weekend showed us that we sometimes have a tendency to settle for injustice, it also renewed my passion for human rights. I hope that in the future, I will be able to use the knowledge that I gained this weekend to speak out against injustices and have faith in the power of mobilization.