South Africa Leadership Program

What I appreciated the most about this program was the immersion into South African culture rather than deeming ourselves the white saviours of poverty ridden Africa. We never bought a goat or installed a well. We watched and listened to the sounds of South Africa and its people rather than our own. I fell in love with everyone we met, everyone was so incredibly smart and funny, eager to share their worldview to such clueless North Americans. Because of this program my perception of the world has expanded beyond my Canadian and American experience. I'd never seen a mountain before and suddenly I was standing at the peak of Table Mountain overlooking the beautiful city of Capetown! Although I was an obvious tourist, with my pale skin, red hair, and Canadian accent, I never felt like one. Tourists are comfortable, viewing the attractions and landscape from a narrow lense. We were thrown into South Africa -- I was never fully comfortable and that's a good thing. We toured through Langa, a township a little outside of Capetown, where we saw inadequate housing like never before. We were warmly welcomed into a small room where clothes and furniture were stacked upon each other, a woman sat there and invited us to take pictures of her poverty as she explained that 5-10 people lived in this small room. We stood there boggled, our privilege glowing and becoming ever apparent. We hopped from museum to museum consuming all of the information about apartheid and South Africa's history as we could get. We lived with host families and soon became a part of a community in Plettenberg bay. I connected with people who speak a different language and live a hemisphere away, but it makes no difference.

In the end I felt very at home in South Africa. Because of my partaking in this program I have an experience that the majority of people will never have. I go to a high school where people take long vacations in France and Italy, living in the comfort of their hotel room. They could never imagine a life without heat or wifi. They've never woken because of the rooster's call, and they definitely have never walked down a paved street next to a wild cow. My world has changed because of this program. I highly recommend it to everyone and anyone! Especially if you want to experience a world outside of yourself.