Jen on leaving Cape Town

OH SOUTH AFRICA!

Now that is almost time to part, and everyone is winding now it seems to me like everyone is doing a lot of self reflecting, which in my opinion is great; and so have I.  I can honestly that I have checked off a couple of my bullet points on my bucket list. Since when I was a young girl and I always say those commercials asking to help poor children in Africa who do not have anything and are dying of hunger and thirst. I always wanted to be that person helping them out, not just sending them money while sitting at home and watching T.V.  In a way I was able to do that through Christel House on Sami Day, by going to poor communities and giving out sandwiches and hotdogs that we prepared at school.

I can honestly say that my experience in South Africa has been great; Thank God nothing has happened to me, (knock on wood). I’ve been able to meet very interesting people everywhere I’ve been, well I mostly also don’t have a problem meeting new people since I consider myself pretty friendly. I honestly feel like I have changed, and for the better, not that I was a bad person before but I’m definitely a better person now. I’m glad because now I have more confidence in myself.

The group is very torn--- some are ready to go home and some do not want to go home. I know I'll be very sad to go home but at the same time I am looking forward to  graduating and hopefully being an active member of society. I am also a new aunt and Godmother to be. I have a feeling that this summer is going to be a good one.

Snigdha, Sarah, and Jen

I am a bit worried as to how different I’m going to be when I get back home, and how my interactions are going to be with the people that I normally hangout with but regardless I know I'll have the people that are on this trip to be able to talk to them and relate. I have made what I like to believe are friendships that will last a life time which I’m really happy about.

Jen's experience of Jo'burg

Oh Johannesburg!

It’s amazing to me how fast time has flown by, it seems like just yesterday we were all trying to find each other at the airport and making sure we all got on the plane while trying to do our connect from Jo’burg to Cape Town. It’s funny because being in the airport while trying to get to Johannesburg brought back so many fun memories of our first time in Cape Town but it also brought some sorrow knowing that we only have 3 weekends in South Africa, that soon we will be traveling to the airport again. But this time not enrich ourselves in the history of South African or to see Lions or Cheetahs, but to fly back to NYC.

Johannesburg is great though I can say I’m a Capetonian myself. Jo’burg is more a city life, personally I see more disparity in Jo’burg than I see in Cape town. There’s one bridge which we have crossed several times now, and it’s shocking to me to see how a bridge can create such a division within a city. On my Left hand, you see buildings and nice cars, people walking, lots of commerce but when I look towards my right, there’s open roads, beat down cars, old abandoned buildings, piles and piles or garbage and people looking through it and gathering together and creating a fire. As we drive I take everything in and I think on how it would be amazing it I could just be able to take my glasses off and show someone exactly what I got to see being here in South Africa but honestly people wont be able to understand and even if I do a really good job at explaining myself, its not sufficient people wont really understand.

All week we have been attending different museums and just learning about the different events that took place in South Africa and how different life was back then. And till this day and perhaps I will never understand how people, a group of people can be classified as 3rd class citizens. This week has been very powerful. We have taken in so much information each explaining the events differently. I think my favorite tour of this week will have to be the Sharpeville Museum.

Jen with co-educators in Johannesburg

Jen's Human Rights Weekend

Before attending Human Rights weekend, it was all we could talk about at the house, it seemed to be the conversation of the week. I think the most exciting part about Human Rights weekend; at least for me it was that there was going to be just as many people from Cape Town and other parts of African than of us. We were going to be exposed to a whole variety of cultures, at least cultures that I was never exposed to before Human Rights Weekend.

Besides meeting different people, I was extremely excited for the food, since I was told that over the weekend we were going to get pampered with amazing food. Which we did, it was extremely nice to know that we weren’t responsible for getting our own food.

Jen introducing herself to group

In the beginning we were given 30 minutes to be able to know each other’s name, it was very challenging because most of the people from Africa Unite have names that I was not used to hearing, and on top of that I am horrible at remembering people’s names, it was like mission impossible for me. But as time went on I was able to remember at least about a 30% of everyone’s’ name.

  Working on the UN project was fun, we had to represent a country from Africa in the UN’s Assembly and the winner would get 1 billion dollars for their country. Every group got creative since we didn’t have many materials to work with. Everyone had tons of fun working together and getting to know each other. It was very interesting getting to know everyone and learning some of their culture, like for example some people remove their front four teeth to be able to kiss better and fit into a social status. I personally found that fascinating, it is completely different from our customs.  Also it is very common for a dad to not be present at their child’s birth and it is considered a norm for them to wait a couple of days before meeting their child.  During our Human Rights weekend I was able to learn a little more about the many communities.

 

Jen receiving her Human Rights Training certificate from Ntombi

Jen had an amazing time at the homestay

At first, we were all nervous for the home visit. It seemed like that’s all we could ever talk about. I was extremely worried for the food, since I don’t consider myself picky but I do have some things that I necessarily don’t eat. But over all my biggest concern was spicy food and peanut butter. I was trying to figure out what to do incase it ever came to that, especially because if I were to refuse their food, I was afraid of them thinking that I was too good for it, or a brat and that was not the impression I wanted them to have of me. My mother always taught me to eat everything people serve me, it is a form of disrespect to not accept people’s food if they’re offering it to you.

             

When we got to the township, everyone in the street was starring at us. I didn’t blame them, we really don't look like we're from anywhere around the area, plus can you imagine seeing 26 people with duffel bags, suitcases and huge backpacks, I would be staring too. We looked like we were about to take over the whole township.

           

Everyone was told who his or her host parent would me. For Emily and I our host-mom was auntie Netta. Netta short for Annetta. Chantel also asked if Emily and I liked children, and without a doubt I said yes. I love children, I cant think of a better way to spend the weekend then playing with children, plus it would be a great icebreaker. And if things got awkward children would be a great way to buffer.

           

When auntie Netta picked Emily and I up, there was an awkward silence after we introduced ourselves, so I decided to ask her about her children and she said her youngest, was 30 years of age. This is not quite what I imagined when I pictured children.

           

As the weekend passed, I can’t think of one single awkward moment besides that awkward silence. I really enjoyed the company of Auntie and our host sister Leslie. Auntie Netta took really good care of the whole weekend. Breakfast, lunch, and dinner. Also that weekend we got to go to a birthday party. Which of course there was a Braai, and I love me some braai, which is the South African BBQ and it’s amazing. We also got to meet great people. I really enjoyed talking with Amy, which is Auntie Netta’s granddaughter. And is also the daughter of Jessica and Tina’s host-mom. Overall, I had an amazing time at the home visit. I’m glad that we got to experience it.

           

Emily and I talked about taking our host mom out to dinner, it should be a great time. 

Jen's loving her internship after one day

During my interview I expressed my passion for education and children, and I remember exactly that Vernon said, “I think you will be a good fit for Christel House School”.  When this was said, I remember picturing a small little school, with little to no funding at all. Children having to sit on the floor because there weren’t enough desks for the students, I was basically picturing the poorest of the poor. When we were visiting internships and we were approaching Christel House, I was definitely shocked by how nice it is. When they explained how Christel House was implemented and how it worked I was shocked to know that one person has impacted the lives of so many children.

I was definitely nervous when going, I didn’t know what to expect or if they were going to like me. But I figured that regardless of the fact I am in Cape Town and I’m here for the experience regardless of what that might come attach with.

Christel De Hann, founder of Christel House Schools

Everyone there was extremely nice to me, I really enjoyed talking to the teachers, I also liked the fact that I was not portrayed as a girl but as an adult. The kids ARE AMAZING, I have fallen in love with them. They are all very cordial and greet every elder, even though I’m just a few years older than some of them.  I love the fact that they call me MS. Jen it always brings a smile to my face when I hear a kid calling for me and I doubt that will ever get old. One of my favorite things about interning at Christel House School is the fact that the kids run up to you to hug you, I cant imagine someone having a bad day and leaving cranky from that school. I’m excited for what I’m going to be doing in the future because I will be doing home visits and will also get to interact with the children. I do believe that I got the better end of the deal with any internship; though many of the internships are extremely interesting but I honestly can’t imagine a better way to spend the day than enjoy the innocence of children.  

Jen's first impressions

CAPE TOWN where to begin? I’m originally from Colombia. I was born there and was privileged enough to be able to live there for 9 years of my childhood. I feel like living in Colombia and moving to the U.S has made see the best of both worlds, as I like to call it.  When thinking about South Africa, I imagined it to be similar to Colombia.

           

When we arrived I was able to find a lot of similarities between the two nations, so many of the things that we were experiencing as a whole were not shocking to me. Like for example having to pay to use a public restroom in some locations or Internet café’s. But though  there are a lot of similarities there are many things that they both differ in and I know I will enjoy figuring out the diversity of Cape Town.

     

      

Orientation week, was a lot of fun, I would dare to say that the beauty of the city mesmerized us all. We passed by table mountain everyday and more than once a day but yet, like typical tourist we could not stop taking pictures of it. I probably have 100 pictures just of the mountains. I can’t wait to be able to hike it and see the city from above, I’m sure the view must be phenomenal. Though orientation week was tons of fun, I can say that it was very tiring, especially since most of us were still jetlagged. We tried different cuisines ranging from African food to Thai to your casual pizza or burger. 

We got to sit in on wonderful musicians as they played their beautiful tunes making the audience fall more and more in love with Cape Town. One of the days we were able to go to the American Consulate and experience one of their safety talks. That was a very interesting experience, due to everyone’s background some people took the information more seriously than others, by any means I am not trying to disregard the importance of being safe in South Africa but to me it seems like the U.S Consulate was the rich stuck up kid on the playground bashing all the other kids that are different than it. I can honestly say I got a kick out it. 

Further that week we got to observe some one of the world’s most beautiful places, like cape point. Being able to see something as magnificent as that made me realize how unappreciative we can be and how beautiful our planet is. I am extremely excited what the rest of the time here might bring us and what adventures we might encounter in our journey though Cape Town. I consider myself very fortunate to be able to have been granted the opportunity to come here and potentially make a difference in someone’s life. I cant wait for the next 13 weeks.

Jen fulfilling a dream

My Name is Jennifer Melissa Gomez, my family calls me Melissa and my friends call me Jen.  I am a senior at the University of Connecticut and I will be graduating in May 2014 as shortly after our adventure in Cape Town. I’m majoring in Human Development and Family Studies with a minor in Human Rights. Since I was a young girl, I always dreamt about going to Africa and being able to help and interact with children in a third world setting, this program offers everything I ever wanted to do, I will be able to touch many hearts during my journey in Cape Town as I’m sure that many more will be able to touch mine. Being able to be accepted into the program makes me happy and anxious at them same time. Being in a whole new setting with people I barely know but I’m sure that in the long run it will be well worth it. It has been a childhood dream of mine to be able to visit Africa and provide some of my human services abilities. I wish to be able to help out and make a difference in someone’s life.