Rina on visiting placement sites

Ryan, Rina, and Kristin upon their arrival in Cape Town

Today we visited the various internship placements where our peers will be working.  We started at the State Attorney's office, Brittany's placement.  Everyone introduced himself or herself, briefly stated what they were studying and where they would be interning during our three month stay here.  (This became a monotonous task, as we had to repeat this information at every internship site that we visited.)  The woman that Brittany will be working with explained what type of tasks she would be responsible for, such as filing and reading some cases which can be based on sensitive matters, so confidentiality is important.  She also told her what form of dress would be appropriate, and what time she is expected.  This placement requires a person with a strong personality, someone who will take charge and won't get walked all over; and the one person who I thought was best fit for it was Brittany.

The rest of the day followed the same routine; we visited the other internship placement sites, introduced ourselves and the person who was going to be working there, and learned a bit about each one.  We were able to ask questions and it was a good way to understand what our peers would be doing and even gain a perspective on different NGO's.  Many were not very well resourced, and especially so in funding.  Regardless, the people that worked there were very passionate about the driving factor, the cause behind each organization, which was the people.  It wasn't about the pay, which was a great thing to see, as money seems to be the only factor of concern in the US.

We went to the

•  Network on Violence Against Women (Theresa's placement) which was a welcoming place, that I hope to visit when they host events. 
• Black Sash, (Meika's) is an NGO that offers paralegal advice, mainly concerning labor issues.  It was sad to see that due to low funds, they had to close down three of their other locations from seven to four offices. 
• Thandokhulu High School (Becky, Maria, Kelsey) is a public secondary school, where many children travel great distances from their homes in the townships; some have to leave as early as five in the morning, just to make it to school by eight.  Although it is a public school, they still have to pay fees, not to mention transportation costs.  Because the school is not well funded, they only focus on academic subjects like math, life sciences, geography, history, and English.  Fine arts, music and other subjects of the like are not offered. 
• City Mission Educational Services (Erica, Dan) is another school in Bridgetown, another township, but this school is special because they take students that have fallen behind in their classes, or are not up to par with other students in their age group, so they can have a second chance at receiving an education.  The students may have dropped out or fallen behind for a number of reasons, maybe family issues, or transportation troubles, but this school is designed to help the children move forward regardless of their age.  The students range in age, and they have only grades eight, nine and ten.  The school also provides the learners with a hot meal because many do not have this luxury at home.  I really liked this about the school, because it is important that the children are not going hungry at school, as it can be a major distraction from learning.  Another thing about this school which was great was that they did provide dramatic arts and music as classes.
• Maitland Cottage Hospital (Kristin) is a hospital that specializes in orthopedic and pediatric services.  This was the last stop and a very difficult one for myself and a few others.  As soon as we entered the boys ward, my eyes flooded with tears upon seeing the rows and rows of beds, all filled with broken boys.  Many of them had broken femurs because they had been hit by a car on the street.  It was sad to see how many there were.  The nurse told us that many of their parents did not have the funds to come visit them regularly, which was hard to hear.  She also assured us that the children settle in quickly, and they did seem especially happy to have any kind of visitors.  I approached the cribs of two young boys, about three or four years old, but when I tried to speak to them , they would only speak in Afrikaans or Xhosa.  All I could do was reach my hand in between the bars, to hold their hand. The boys immediately grabbed my hands and were so excited to talk to me, pulling me in both directions.  They would not let go, even when I had to say goodbye; one refused, and pulled my arm further into the crib.  In the girl's ward, many were also bedridden, with their legs either elevated, or probed with metal bars and other devices.    I felt so bad I couldn't approach any of the girls' beds because I didn't want to choose one girl over another.  I'm sure they would have loved to talk to anyone, but I couldn't decide, and I also didn't one girl to feel left out if no one approached their bed.  It was a tough situation, and I felt bad that we had such little time to spend there. 

I hope to revisit many of the internship sites, because I liked each one that we visited.  I wish I could help out at all of them, but it's easier said than done.  I hope I love my internship placement as much as I loved everyone else's.  As each person found out more about their internship, I grew more nervous and excited about mine, at the Children's Resource Center, which I will be visiting tomorrow.  I hope that I won't feel completely clueless when I get there, as I expect to be teaching a class on environmental conservation.  The best part about the placements though, is that each person is well suited for their own internship; so although I am nervous, I assume it will be a perfect match for me.