Amelia finding the path she wants to pursue

This past weekend the organization I’m interning with, Africa Unite hosted a Human Rights training in the lovely land of the Goedgedacht Farm. Although I was interning there I still had no idea know what to expect just as everyone else (although with all the questions I got you would think I was running the place!). I spent the first few hours showing everyone around and to the swimming dam where I was happy to see a lot of interaction between the UConn students and everyone else since I know we have a habit of being cliquey. 

The activities of the workshop consisted of a number of icebreakers, introductions into Human Rights Principles and the UDHR, and an experience to learn about other countries since there were about 8 countries represented there. As most people have stated the most influential experience I had leaving the weekend was just interacting and getting to know the people there. I’m proud to say I talked to every single person there and it was an experience in it self to hear their stories and how they came into human rights and what they’re doing with their lives.

My immediate reaction to the weekend was negative because I was looking to gain a more practical application of how we can fight for human rights. However after a few days of reflecting with my peers I realized that my view of the world was actually changed. Prior to this weekend I was starting to give up hope that fighting for social justice issues would ever make a substantial impact due to the ignorance, closed-mindedness, selfishness, lack of care or empathy, and unwillingness to learn from the oppressors. This was especially prevalent to me when my white Canadian-South African coworker, Aneen, and I were discussing how her relatives in South Africa were still extremely racist, sexist, homophobic, and essentially against everyone who isn’t white, cis-gendered, able-bodied, rich person and how she rarely communicates with them because their views are so vastly different. That got me wondering how if these people who come from the same family, have polar opposite views on the world, and still can’t come together to agree on basic human rights how can people who not only have polar opposite views but aren’t wealthy white people try to convince them otherwise? I found it so disturbing that if she couldn’t educate her oppressive family, how could I as a person of color, whom they wouldn’t open their doors to? However after this weekend it made me realize that I was asking the wrong question. I was asking the question as if I was going to be knocking on every racist person’s door, who doesn’t want to be educated, to share my reasons why they’re wrong. But that’s not what I’m doing nor do I intend to do. I realized that, as of now, the most effective way to stir up change is to mobilize and build communities where although you may not agree on every single thing, your end goal is the same. Once you build that, the power will come from there, because people will want to know what all the commotion is about or learn that if they don’t join us in the fight for equality then they will sink.

I only realized this afterwards when I had the opportunity to continue speaking to these amazing individuals who shared the atrocities they face in their home countries and communities and how they combat them whether its through youth engagement, policy revision, or working with NGO’s to intervene in HR violations. I believe I’m finally learning the path I want my life to be on and one of the first steps is to create those communities who could help me and inspire me to achieve the goals I now believe is possible.