Molly is nervous but excited to begin her internship at Cape Town Refugee Centre

Before I came to South Africa, I had learned that it had this super progressive constitution with a lot of human rights provisions, and I had this idea that working to enact those existing laws through policies would be the best way to improve the quality of life for South Africans. I’ve always been a little skeptical of nonprofits’ ability to improve long-term quality of life. This may sound problematic for someone who’s majoring in human rights. I have volunteered and interned at nonprofits and seen that many of them, especially those that work directly with people by serving them food, educating them or providing them with medical care can provide immediate help and truly help these individuals out in the long term. However, I also believed that the best way to reach a larger group of people over a longer period of time would be through policies and legislation. Don’t get me wrong - after we visited all of the internship sites over the past week, I felt inspired and energized by the dedication of the locals who run them and by the services that they’re able to provide. However, I was also saddened to see just how necessary all of these NGOs and nonprofits were. In an ideal world, kids wouldn’t need to be rescued from gangs by the kindness of those who work at great nonprofits like Molo Songololo, and they wouldn’t need funding from international donors to get a quality education. In an ideal world, Christel House wouldn’t be necessary. Walking around Christel House and seeing the students who were striving and achieving great things, I’m sure we could all agree that it provides an incredible service and we are all glad that it exists. However, it also only provides this service to a very, very tiny percentage of students. Education is a great tool because it can create an impact that spreads far beyond the student who receives the education. At the same time, there are many more students who deserve to receive the education and the benefits that a well-equipped classroom and teacher can provide.

All of that having been said, I don’t underestimate the value of helping individuals improve their circumstances. Of course I’m nervous about starting my internship, but I’m also very excited to work in both one-on-one interactions with refugees during intake, to assist with groups on social cohesion, and to hopefully work on the civic involvement projects with the Cape Town Refugee Centre that have the potential to create a larger structural change.