Kayley's First Post

Pamela & Kayley at Boulders Beach

Before I left for Cape Town I wrote down a few quotes in my journal that would be inspiring in case I ever needed a pep talk.  When I looked back over them I was amazed at how helpful they were. One in particular hit home, “ The first thing is to be honest with yourself. You can never have an impact on society if you have not changed yourself…Great peace makers are all people of integrity, of honesty, but humility.” ~Nelson Mandela What Nelson Mandela said is completely true, as much as I want to help South Africa there are things inside of me that need to grow and change in order for me to have any impact at all. That is why people come here with the idea of “helping” and “changing South Africa” but go home feeling transformed by South Africa.

My changing process started the moment I stepped off the plane but the event that had the most impact on me was the Baptist church. Our second day, Sunday in Cape Town we went to Guguletu (one of the townships) and attended Church. I felt so out of place. First, I am not religious at all and second I just couldn’t even begin to imagine what these people have been through. I felt like I didn’t have a right to be there. I accidently bumped into the mama next to me she turned, grabbed my arms and smiled at me then continued to sing and dance. I started to cry.  I don’t even know why I was crying. Later as I reviewed the day I realized why I was so hysterical, not only did I feel the love and community of the people around me but also everything clicked. These people had everything taken from them, their homes, their family, and their freedom.  Although their government took everything from them and forced them to live in segregated townships, they didn’t take their pride and their strong love for the community and each other. At home the government never took away my rights or made me relocate my home but I have yet to feel the love and compassion in my community. That Sunday I can truly say I felt ubuntu.

At the beginning of our orientation we were taken to all of the beautiful places in Cape Town. We relaxed and viewed Cape Town from a tourists perspective. As the week went on and we became more comfortable Vernon, Parks and Marita began to show us the history and realities these people faced and continue to face. At the end of the orientation week I no longer wanted to be a tourist, it was time to start helping. I think we all could see that although South Africa is absolutely gorgeous there is still so much pain and suffering here that needs healing.

The start of my internship was a bit rough but as it went on everything sort of worked out. I am really impressed with the Professor Rodes or “Prof” as we are told to call him. While shadowing him in the burn unit he was talking about the problems with modern medicine. He mentioned that it is too revolved around money, that technology is becoming too advanced for people to handle and how doctors are becoming too far disconnected from their patients. He said the most important part of medicine is compassion. He asked one med student “How many mitochondria do you cut through during surgery?” The med student replied “millions?” Prof said “BILLIONS, but who cares”. At then end of the day if you don’t know or are not compassionate for your patient you’re screwed. His honesty is also really refreshing, while doing the rounds he told his med students not to pat themselves on the back because you may keep a child alive or heal their burn but you don’t heal their heart or self-esteem. The matter of fact is that even after the hospital these kids will still suffer, especially when their skin is discolored or scarred or if they can’t walk again. The first way to help and heal someone is to be completely honest about the situation they are in and about to face.

One thing that continues to amaze me is the people I am living with. Living in a house and sharing our experiences, the good and bad, bring us so close. Putting aside everything I have learned from Cape Town itself, I have learned so much from the people in this house. Listening to everyone’s views on the world and life in general are amazing. I’ve never really been confronted about my opinions so hearing the other side to many of the things I was so sure about is completely refreshing. We are a team. With all of our internships we have the basic fields covered; education, media, gender equity, refugees, human rights and healthcare. It scares me to think that if we all never decided to study abroad our paths may have never been crossed, and if they did we may not have even known it. To think that I would never have gotten to know these people seems unreal. I would not replace anyone in this house.

It’s amazing to me how two weeks feels like a years worth of experiences. I came here with strong opinions of the world and myself. Right now I can say that there are so many things that I never knew, so many things that I thought I knew, and so many things to learn.  The things I worried about and thought excessively about in the states are so trivial compared to the realities here.