In many of our conversations, the general consensus has been that this dynamic is great. I know things may change as time passes. Perhaps people will start developing closer ties with specific members of the group, but no matter how things develop,\u00a0I know I am in great company and I feel blessed to be with them all.<\/p>\n
In fact, one of my beautiful new friends, Kristen, just came over as I was writing this. We were, again, talking about the great group dynamic and she mentioned this: \u201cit\u2019s impossible to feel homesick here because any room you walk in, you can start having the most wonderful conversation with anyone.\u201d Kristen is entirely correct in that sentiment- this group just clicks. Everyone is passionate, everyone is kind, everyone laughs easily and is genuinely interested in getting to know each other<\/strong>.<\/p>\n Oh, and to top it off- people here read! It\u2019s so comforting to find a group of 20 year olds who are interested in intellectually stimulating activities. This place is magical, I swear.<\/p>\n On Sunday the whole group travelled to Camps Bay<\/strong> to go to the beach. It was so wonderful to feel the sun on my skin again. The beaches here are gorgeous, as so many beaches all over the world are. These beaches are special because they are a place where the stunning landscape of Cape Town\u2019s mountains (specifically Table Mountain and Devil\u2019s Peak) is the backdrop of the\u00a0sparkling sea.<\/p>\n The whole group took pictures and went swimming in the ocean- some of us did get yelled at once for trying to climb on the rocks during\u00a0high tide, but the authorities didn\u2019t seem to mind too much- they probably assumed\u00a0we were tourists who didn\u2019t know better.<\/p>\n Yesterday we watched the 10th anniversary video for the South Africa Service Learning program as a group. We talked about what we are getting ourselves involved with, and our director Melikaya emphasized that no matter what we do here, that we ensure this experience is our own<\/strong> experience<\/strong>, that it cannot and should not fall subject to replicate other\u2019s expectations or previous member\u2019s outcomes. I have included the link for the video here:\u00a0\u00a0<\/strong>http:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=UpOTI-Az3qQ<\/a><\/p>\n I was lucky to able to visit my service site<\/strong> yesterday. I was placed at Yabonga<\/a>, an NGO that serves women, children, and youth either infected \u00a0with or affected by HIV\/AIDS<\/strong>. In preparing for this trip, I was\u00a0hopeful I would be placed in an organization where I could use my interest in sexual health as a platform for my service here. I could not have asked for a better placement. Yabonga first started working with women in 1998 who were infected with HIV\/AIDS. They soon realized the need to support the children<\/strong> who were either infected by HIV or had parents who were. Those children grew up, and Yabonga continued to support them as they became youth<\/strong>.<\/p>\n The staff works to provide accurate health information in clinics, \u00a0community mothers from the specific townships cook and care for the program\u2019s children in their own homes, counselors who are trained in play therapy, engages the youth and follows through on the necessary administrative paperwork . They also have their own garden and bakery so they can create and provide nutritious food to the people in the community they serve. We were able to tour the grounds and the garden and bakery added an enchanting and importantly sustainable<\/strong>\u00a0element to the NGO.<\/p>\n The truly empowering component of \u00a0the Yabonga model is they recruit from the community, and additionally, most of their field staff has been a client in the past.Recruiting from same the townships<\/strong>\u00a0they work within allows the services allows Yabonga to give communities the means to empower themselves. The administrative staff recognizes that it\u2019s a\u00a0completely different experience to hear information about HIV\/AIDS from a person living with a positive status from your own township, than to hear about it solely from someone like me- a white, privileged outsider who has not been exposed to HIV.<\/p>\n I\u00a0worried about the \u201cwhite savior complex\u201d<\/strong> coming into this program. I\u00a0am generally aware of the impact of my own privilege, and I feared that I might have been put in a position where I would have to\u00a0engage in a sort of \u201cVoluntourism<\/a>\u201d where my service would take away from employing the local people who could empower their own communities. The Yabonga model alleviated these fears. There are specific tasks, both administrative and in support of the existing staff I will be able to participate in<\/p>\n Once I begin my service work I will add more details. For now, here\u2019s a photo of the site.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n![\"IMG_6556\"](\"https:\/\/jennaseverson.files.wordpress.com\/2016\/02\/img_6556.jpg?w=450&h=600\")
<\/p>\n![\"IMG_5806\"](\"https:\/\/jennaseverson.files.wordpress.com\/2016\/02\/img_5806.jpg?w=600&h=450\")
\u00a0the quality of the photo is awful- the opposite can be said for quality of the subjects and photographer.<\/p>\n
\nYabunga\u2019s main offices are beautiful. While most of the services they provide happen in 9 surrounding townships in the Cape Town area. They recruit most of their staff from within the communities they are hoping to impact, and receive referrals primarily from the clinics within the townships. \u00a0If I remember\u00a0correctly, they have been around for 18 years,\u00a0\u00a0employ about 100 people, and have teams in the US, Austria, Switzerland, the UK, and Germany to raise their funds.<\/p>\n\n
![\"IMG_6560\"](\"https:\/\/jennaseverson.files.wordpress.com\/2016\/02\/img_6560.jpg?w=226&h=302\")
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