Highlights: The highlight of my volunteer experience was gaining the feeling that you actually can do something good for people. I think the work that the Human Rights Office does is really important, since it offers a chance for people who cannot afford a lawyer. The mock trial project was also nice, since it keeps the children off the streets after school. In addition to the work that I have done, I have also enjoyed traveling around Cape Town and seeing some of this beautiful country. The highpoint was definitely my visit to Robben Island.
Morning: During the week I started working at 9am at the Human Rights Office and since my host family was living in another area of Cape Town, I had to travel by train for 15 minutes each morning, usually together with some other volunteers. This is an experience in itself, with somewhat overcrowded trains. During the mornings I sometimes had appointments with clients and sometimes I worked on writing my legal opinions on cases that were handed over to me. In addition to this, once a week I went with my ISV supervisor to Lavender Hill, a really poor area of Cape Town, where we had meetings with clients who were not able to come to our office. Here you sometimes come across difficulties with language barriers. For example, since not all people speak English, some only speak Afrikaans.
Afternoon: During the afternoons we had lunch together with the volunteers, which sometimes meant going to a nice bar across the street and sometimes just eating the lunch you brought from home. After this I continued working on my legal opinions and contacting clients. Two afternoons in the week I went to Athlone, a rather poor area of Cape Town, where I worked on a mock trial project with 7 children between the ages of 12 to 14. This Mock Trial started off with a discussion project and learning the techniques to participate in a debate. After this we had the mock trial sessions in which we prepared the children to act like lawyers in a small case, which they would eventually have to do in a real court in front of a real judge. During the week ISV gave us a lot of social projects such as going to a prison for young boys or going to a shelter for women.
Evening: I think a typical evening did not exist for me, since we always did different things. Sometimes I was just staying at home and renting a movie with some of the other volunteers at the same house, but sometimes we always went out for dinner to a nice restaurant and we had drinks afterwards. However, there also are loads of opportunities to go to a nice party in Cape Town. In addition to this, barbecues are really popular in Cape Town! If you really like barbecue you should definitely go to Mzoli’s on Sunday, which is a huge barbecue in the township.