Deborah finding more than her passion . . .

Deborah on Signal Hill with Lion's Head in the background

Destiny is the hidden power that is believed to control what will happen in the future, also known as fate. Have you ever wondered or asked yourself what is your destiny. As a child growing up, I was always taught that everyone has a purpose in life. In church the preacher would always state that “God has a special plan to you!”. Yet, many may ask themself, what is their purpose in life? What will one be doing for the remainder of their lifetime to make a difference in the world and making it a better place? I started to ask this question during my second semester in college. I came to the realization that I needed to discover my passion? To conquer this quest, I decided to take part in the Public Health South Africa Trip in Cape Town. However, through this trip I have found more than my passion. The South Africans history, culture and people helped me appreciate my own life and has demonstrated the important attributes that I need in order to be fit for the purpose that I am now obligated to fulfill. This far, I have learned about compassion, hope, perseverance and inspiration.

Zuleika's realizations

While in Cape Town one of the greatest things I have been able to experience is being taught by the people who experienced and were impacted by these tragedies. In almost every tour or museum I have had the pleasure of hearing the history with personal experiences. In a way this makes the history we have been taught by our history teachers and professors real and the ability to connect on a different level than just reading from a textbook. One of the things that people including myself have often said is that these tragedies happened in the past and will never happen again but it can not be too much of a past if these people are standing here able to tell their stories. This is important to understand that this did not happen because of the past but because people continue to let the past repeat itself.

The history that I learned from the people such as Joe Schaffer, Lucy Campbell and even Vernon is on the apartheid and the slavery that happened in Cape Town. I learned in greater detail about these things. Before coming here I did know about the apartheid and slavery but not in detail. I was taught what the United States want us to know. For example, the slavery that happened in South Africa is taught to be much less than in the states and less brutal. In my opinion both places were equally as important; slavery in South Africa was not in a small scaled as was made to seem. I learned this through Lucy Campbell she made it a point to show us that South Africa’s slavery was just the same. She even taught me that not only were Blacks being enslaved but people from all over were being brought here for slavery. That had answered my question on why South Africa is so diverse; it is as if we are at home but they are just speaking another language. When walking through South Africa you can see Indians, Chinese, black and white Africans and many people of Muslim religion. This made me realize the importance of this study abroad and seeing that not everything you hear or are taught is true.

Cynthia's introduction to Cape Town

Cynthia atop Signal Hill with Lion's Head in the background.

Greetings from Cape Town! A week has gone by and I’ve learned so much about South African culture. When I first arrived in Cape Town at the airport I was very surprised at how diverse the atmosphere is here. I saw many different kinds of people and I quickly thought to myself “well airports are always full of people from different places.” To my surprise after we left the airport I still continued to see a variety of people here in Cape Town. This first week has been filled with so many memorable moments but one that stuck out to me in particular was a tour of the Slave Lodge by Lucy Campbell.  During the tour I learned many things about the Trans-Indian slave trade which involved South Africa and many countries along the Indian Ocean. I discovered that “blacks” were not the only people that endured slavery. In addition, for a number of years after slavery was abolished people were then separated by skin color in South Africa under Apartheid. Some similarities that I noticed with slavery in America and slavery in South Africa is that the people with the lighter skin tone were treated better than the people with the darker skin. Below is a picture overlooking only a portion of Cape Town, but I must add there is more to this picture than meets the eye. 

Cape Town as viewed from Signal Hill

Chivelle's Pre-Jitter Nerves About Cape Town

This is actually my first time flying alone to a completely different country. I am pretty nervous about being alone for an entire month without my parents.  I can’t help but be nervous about this trip because I don’t know what to expect. Will I get along with the other students on the trip? Will I adjust to the culture? Am I going to get lost while going around town? Are the people welcoming? All these questions just keep going through my head and it’s just causing me to be anxious. Even though I have all this anxiety and worries, I think that I’m going to be just fine studying abroad. I realized that it’s perfectly normal to have this pre-trip anxiety. I am really excited about going to Cape Town and I look forward to all the new experiences I will have when I get there. I feel like this trip will broaden my horizons and give me new perspectives on life. It’s going to be good to get away from home and be in a completely new environment.