Elizabeth continuing the conversation, putting into action things learned

This past weekend we went to an Olive Orchard for a Human Rights Training Workshop. Immediately when we arrived, I was in awe of how beautiful the venue was. It was set in the mountains and had such a Zen feel to it. We got there early so most of us went to the dam for some swimming. That night we had our first dinner altogether and the food was amazing. We started to get acquainted with the others in the program that night during our first session for the workshop. We were put in groups and told that the next day we would have to do a presentation on a country of our choice, so we already began preparing. The next morning we had to wake up early and start the day. One of the biggest projects that day was a make believe situation in where earth had blown up and there was this new planet that was habitable but only a third of the planet had resources. Some countries had already gotten there and some were on its way. My country, Nigeria, had not yet made its way and instead we asked permission from all the countries if we could come land on the planet. We spent an hour debating what we would do if the countries say yes or no and so on. When it came time to discuss with the other countries on their decision, all of the countries accepted our request to come to the planet, so we didn’t have much of a debate!

Later that night we had to start working on our presentations on our country, which had to be creative and include the history, culture, and human rights issues of that nation. Unfortunately my group was not very into working as a team to get this task done, so only a few of us did much of the research and it was quite frustrating trying to get input from the others. I was not very satisfied with our performance because it was more just presenting information and did not have any creative twist to it. Oh well.

The last day we did some activities involving what it is like to seek asylum in another country. I did not know much about the process and it was very interesting to learn about it and the struggles refugees face. I definitely feel as though I learned a lot more about refugees in other countries and how it feels to be in that situation.

The best part of the weekend was the people we met. Some of the people were from Botswana, Malawi, and some from Cape Town. I did not know much about the beliefs and values of the other countries on this continent and it was very interesting to listen to them speak and learn about those things. Everyone was so nice and open to speaking and listening to each other and thus we all got to learn a bit more about our different cultures.

Since the weekend, I have actually been conversing with Moses from Malawi, and we want to get together to further discuss the issues of Malawi and how we can fundraise to help things such as the food crisis especially in the refugee camps. This is something I would love to work on because I can see how passionate Moses is about his country and the issues it faces, and if there is some way I can help I will do everything in my power to do so. We plan to meet next week to further discuss and come up with ideas on how to best address the issues. I am glad this is something I can work on with Moses because he knows all about his country and what issues really need to be targeted, whereas I am no expert on Malawi and would feel wrong trying to help in a place I don’t know much about. I do hope to learn more about Malawi through this process.