Amelia missing Cape Town everyday but treasuring the lessons learned

This program does something to people that is particularly unique and special for a study abroad program; it truly changes lives. There’s no doubt in my mind that I was a very different person last year than I am today. I don’t think I was as confident in my capabilities or myself or as focused. Not to say that I’m extremely focused now, but I’m more focused in pointing my life in the direction I want it to be in with the confidence that where ever I end up after graduation I will be successful and that’s definitely something I didn’t feel last year. I was very nervous about where I’ll end up, what my career would be, and that I would have to settle for a job I don’t like because it’s all I could get. But after focusing my studies in human rights in both America and abroad in South Africa I realized where my passions lie and that my career options are anything but limited. But it’s more than that, after living in Cape Town for 4 months and working in communities that welcomed me with open arms, I have grown as a person. I’m more compassionate, understanding, and can find more value in the relationships I have. I have learned to accept people with different opinions as me and search for the commonalities that bring us together. I miss Cape Town every day, but the memories, friends, and lessons I learned there I wouldn’t trade it for the world. 

Bryan believes his time in Cape Town helped him explore himself.

Now that I have been home for almost 4 months I can’t help, but to think of Cape Town as a closed chapter in my life (at the moment). Since I returned to the states I have not had many opportunities to share what Cape Town is like or even look back at the pictures from my time there, but I feel that its due to me getting right back into the groove of things as a recent grad I feel like there wasn’t enough time to really self-reflect when dealing with more pressing matters. The faint memories that I have of the trip are less to do with the extracurricular aspects like seeing exotic animals like lions, or trying new foods, but are all of the people that I was able to interact with and the moments that I spent self-reflecting in Cape Town. One thing that I still find amazing is my memory of the Environment if you will, for example I can remember how to get to my old internship and I remember how the house we stayed at was set up and the address. I can even perfectly describe the Rondebosch Commons and the Mountains further out as if these images have been engrained.

I believe that Cape Town provided me with the ability to really visualize what I want the world around me to represent personally and professionally. Unlike most people I can’t say that I feel that I have changed from the person who I was prior, but I believe that Cape Town gave me the confidence and the ability to show traits of myself that I didn’t have an outlet to reveal or was too afraid to show. I believe that this program did a great job helping me explore myself whether it be a deeper understanding of my personality with the Myers-Briggs Indicator and learning how to expand and improve less developed areas for INTJs. Alternatively it could be the internship that I had which showed me an outsider perspective of my career field and showed me the amount of work required to be successful at grassroots organizing and tackling social issues. It could even be the day to day conversations with my co-educators and random citizens of Cape Town, who through discussion of the world helped me to solidify my goals that I had prior to leaving the U.S.

If I could rate the program I believe I would give it a solid 8/10 as a minimum the program really does try to take students out of their comfort zones and forces them to adapt to situations whether that be understanding how the transportation system works, understanding the various languages, or even understanding the social and economic factors that have made South Africa into the country that you see today. If there was anything that I could change I would have loved to stay in the townships, rather than the suburbs of Rondebosch where students can complain about bad Wi-Fi, appliances, insects, and many more insignificant “problems”. I say this only, because I believe that most students leaving the U.S. to travel abroad to South Africa understand the well-off side of the spectrum of economic disparity, but they don’t necessarily get to see the extreme poverty and how living in areas like townships will affect every aspect of your life. But when we only have to interact with coworkers who live in townships or go to work in townships for a part of the day in some cases. I feel as though we are using our privilege of wealth to escape the harsh reality that most people face which rubs me as exploiting the people who live there for personal gain.

Charity looking forward to further exploring possibilities

It’s very surprising to realize I’ve been back from Cape Town almost six months. I got back in time to walk at graduation and have since received my physical degree (which is supposedly symbolic as a compilation of all my work from undergrad) in the mail (WOOOHOO!!!!). It feels good to have closed that chapter. I’m not one to hold onto things once they’re done so I was ready to take on the challenge of finding my first post graduate adventure. Following a summer of traveling to some new spots in the U.S. and reconnecting with family and friends, that turned out to be interning in the Senate.

My experiences in the Senate have been interesting and informative and I’ve appreciated being able to get an up close and in person look into how U.S. politics really functions. I’ve had the opportunity to attend some incredible hearings and briefings on topics around foreign affairs, housing, and high maternal mortality in the U.S. It’s particularly interesting to be here during an election year, especially with such a contentious presidential election happening. I’m still committed to being involved with politics and social justice issues within the U.S. but following Cape Town, I also realized that I wanted to explore opportunities in the international development field, with a regional focus on Sub-Saharan Africa.

Being in Cape Town opened the door for me to consider a completely different career path from what I originally envisioned. I really like the idea of being able to use the knowledge base I’ve gained as an Africana Studies major as a more central part of my career rather than a supplement. I also like the opportunity that this particular field presents to be engaged in more on the ground/in the field type work. Once my internship wraps up, I’m planning to transition into a position focused more within the international development field, so that I can gain that experience and discern if this is the right career move for me.

Time is seriously flying by. The holiday season is upon us and a new year is in sight. I’m hopeful that I’ll continue to utilize and grow from the knowledge I’ve learned and that my passion to make a difference in the world will be tested, empowered and realized in this upcoming year especially with so many potential opportunities and adventures on the horizon. As always, I look forward to moving forward and seeing what lies ahead.

Josh reflects on the past year as he prepares for the future

It’s pretty surreal to think that this time last year I was accepted into the UConn abroad in Cape Town program and would soon be leaving for a life-changing journey.  In reflecting on all that has happened and how I have changed in the last year, I truly am grateful that God gave me the opportunity to spend time in South Africa.  The experience I had in Cape Town was everything and so much more than I anticipated when leaving the US.  I expected the trip to be exploratory in nature to help me determine whether a career in development was what I wanted to pursue.  The trip ended up providing that answer and so much more.  I currently am applying to graduate programs to further study results-based development.  In the long run, I would love to mobilize the Christian community to lead change overseas.  I recognize that many view and will view this as controversial, but I believe the opportunity is immense.  Recently, I have been drawing up ideas seeking to create a sustainable business model that would utilize short-term programs to generate long-term solutions to some of the challenges I observed while overseas.  The model will seek to further develop entrepreneurs across developing countries, a skillset I found in abundance in both South Africa and in Ecuador over the summer.  No matter where I end up or what I end up doing, the key for me in life has always been about the why.  The trip to South Africa helped solidify that the “why” in my life in the past and in the future must be rooted in my faith in Jesus.  I’m grateful for what I learned and the many ways in which I was challenged.  I wish my co-educators and the future program participants all the best in their own life’s journey.  And to my friends from South Africa, I am confident that I will be back in Cape Town one day soon!