Tilting Futures

The program started with a one-month preparation upon our arrival to South Africa. There we learned more about discovering who we were, did we had a purpose or talents. We continued by learning about Cape Town and South African history and drew a basic understanding of how events shaped the citizens of that nation. Take Action Lab (TAL) became my best online program so far because of the knowledge, support, and connection I made virtually with my "Zoom-mates" and our facilitators.

During our travel, we played a game organized by TAL, to take pictures with the highest number of our peers during our transit flies. While we were amazed to meet and see how different we were from our online calls, that was a funny activity like all those we had during the program.

During our first weeks in Cape Town, the TAL staff repeatedly taught us safety measures. By organizing drama, singing, rule-setting meetings, and competitions, the TAL staff repeatedly taught us safety measures. Maybe I should say, they made us learn by ourselves and watch our friends' safety.

We lived in beautifully equipped houses, where we shared the common spaces but each owned a room. This was easy to discuss with housemates around different cuisines or read a book away from any contact.

We were paired with some local NGOs to work on advocating human rights. I taught high schoolers in sciences and mathematics before winning an end-of-year award. I was excited to teach and learn how work unfolds around school administration. Luckily I had a mentor who was in charge of the school's educational planning.

Through the cultural series by TAL and partners, I learned stories, songs, dances, meals, and traditions from South Africa country and that of my peers. We also visited beautiful spaces like Boulders Beach, Cape Point, and Devil's Peak Mountain aside from having the opportunity to further explore the city. The Learning Reconnects were an awesome time to learn about the various intellectuals who struggle for a better community. And the time to say goodbye to Cape Town was the deepest, full of reflections and goodwill.

No doubt that I grew through the TAL program. Before returning from the program, everyone, including home friends and family remarked on the difference in lovely language and the mindset I had developed. Thanks, I still have growth opportunities through alumni series, gatherings and opportunities.

This was an amazing once in a lifetime experience. It was extremely difficult at times, as I had issues with my host family, but those difficulties were extremely well supported by staff in country. And they only provided me with space to grow! I was able to live and navigate in a foreign country, learned to speak a new language, and got to work with an amazing mentor, and teach an amazing group of students

Global Citizen Year is truly excellent at supporting fellows to the best of their ability. There's no uncertainty about where you are and who you are with. In this way, I always felt very safe and sure that if anything happened, they would be able to help me. The team leaders that I worked with were inspiring, hilarious, and incredibly caring. Sometimes the support was smothering, and the strict no alcohol rule was often frustrating. Sometimes non-emergency support was not very timely when fellows needed it. Often times, work placements were quite boring and did not know what to do with fellows. I had a fantastic homestay experience, but the same cannot be said for other fellows. Homestays can be very difficult, and GCY had a hard time finding new ones for fellows in a timely manner sometimes. All the same, every effort to help fellows engage in communities was made, and our bi-monthly "reconnects" were wonderful in their cultural and social immersion. If I could, I would absolutely do it again.

Words can never truly express what India was and is to me, nor can they ever do ultimate justice to all the amazing encounters, journeys, and memories from my life there. For me, going to India was never a question; living in another country was an obvious part of my future. But acknowledging the need for a selfish year was perhaps the ultimate challenge to embrace. I recognised the need for a year to step outside the societal expectations and limitiations to discover unknown elements and boundaries of my identity and being, reality and mentality. Recognising that I knew too little about 'Chantal' to even be there for myself, I decided to travel to India with Global Citizen Year. Not for this romanticised idea of spiritual journey in this unknown country, but because I was intrigued by the beautifully diverse intricacies of its reality, very much like my own psychology. My life in India was much more than 'being a part of a programme'. It was a true test of character, of values that I never had to justify before, a manifestation of the lifestyle I committed myself to when becoming a part of the United World College. It was a commitment to myself, valuing my existence and development, and a commitment to the world as a future resource. I hope and intend to return to India and congratulate my students in their own language, and celebrate their individual accomplishments. Being a super-proud didi. I hope to give back for all the things they gave and taught me.
I am only filled with immense gratitude for India for showing me all its colours, and for Global Citizen Year for making all the memories and learnings a reality.

Every time I sit down to write about my experience in India I find myself at a loss for words. It's funny because many times during my Global Citizen Year, I found myself at a loss for words. India is full of anomalies that left me with my jaw hanging on the ground. It was beautiful - ornate architecture, the serenity, the people. It was a mess - disparity, the chaos, the people. There is a saying in India; "What's said about India is true. But the opposite is equally as true," and I found that to be a recurring theme during my time there. Living in this world of extremes was difficult and even uncomfortable at times but needless to say, that is where personal growth comes from. To grow we must step out of our comfort zones and into our stretch zones and if you're someone who thinks they are ready to push themselves in ways they have not been pushed before, then I would like to quote an incredible writer. "Say YES!" -Tatiana Calonje. Not only was India kind enough to show me her mess of beauty, but she was able to show me the mess of beauty within myself.