Emily's homestay reinforced the commonality of humanity

This weekend was our homestay in Ocean View. The family that I had the privilege of staying with was incredibly welcoming and kind. My host mother and father were both Afrikaans teachers on the opposite side of the mountain. Their children were nine years old and fourteen and were equally welcoming. While Megan H and I were visiting they took us to Kalk Bay, Bird World, and some of the local peaks and beaches. They also invited us into their church for a beautiful Sunday service and a food fair on Saturday where we got to meet members of their congregation and eat some of the best food I have had to date in South Africa. All of the drives and views they brought us on/to were stunning since Ocean View is not too far from the shore. At Bird World we had the rare opportunity to have small monkey's crawl all over us, which was a great time. Before we left we got to see the cyclists from the Cape Town Cycle Tour pass through which was not a sight I will soon forget.

The most incredible part of the weekend was getting to spend time with my host family. They were all very interested in hearing our opinions on politics, our history, and our experiences and were kind enough to share their views with us as well. I learned a lot in staying with them; particularly just how similar families are despite cultural differences. Perhaps it was naive of me to think that family life would be different in the average South African family than it is at home, but somehow going into the homestay I thought I would be experiencing a day-to-day foreign to me. On the contrary, I found that their daily schedule and conversation was not so different from that of my family. This further reinforced to me the commonality of humanity. Despite having different life experiences, colors of skin, and homes I felt like a regular part of their family and that was such a gift.  

 

Ocean View

Work with Prevention in Action continues to be challenging but worthwhile. Listening to the stories of women who live in oppressive environments on top of having to deal with violence at the hands of their partners puts into perspective the reality of gender based violence in South Africa. This week Kayla and I are focusing on organizing a workshop on human rights and women's rights to present to interested women in Kuyasa. I am excited to engage with these women and get their take on the issues I have studied, since they are often the people whose rights are actually being violated. I hope that this workshop will be of value to all of the women in this community, considering how valuable the things I have learned from them have been to me already.