Wylie's first South African rugby experience and more . . .

On Monday, I had the opportunity to go to a UCT nighttime rugby match against the University of the Witwatersrand, a college in Johannesburg.  Excited for my first South African rugby experience, Aimee, Lindsay, and I hopped on the jammie at the end of our road to go to the UCT campus, where the match was being held.  As the campus is set at an incline at the base of Table Mountain, the rugby pitch was nestled between the “grand” steps for lower and upper campus.  Therefore, the pitch is situated right in front of a huge ivy-covered wall, in which steps for upper campus are laid.  Spectator rows of spectator seats are lined against the wall.  It was really cool to get the “college-y” school-sprit feel at the game—although we go to UCT once a week for classes, I have never really had an opportunity to participate in community activities with UCT students.  It actually reminded me a lot of UConn— enthusiastic, rowdy fans and school colors everywhere.  Of course, the one thing UConn doesn’t have on our campus is a beer tent!  UCT ended up winning, which was fun, but my favorite memory of the night actually has nothing to do with the rugby match.

 

It was late when the game ended, and we took one of the last jammies home.  As the jammie pulled away from the stop, we noticed that a young woman (definitely a UCT student) was desperately running after us.  Instead of shaking his head and continuing to drive, the jammie driver promptly stopped the bus to let her on.  When realizing that our jammie line didn’t go to her destination, he radioed to a different jammie ahead of us, asking them to stop and wait for her.  He then drove the young lady to the appropriate jammie, and we continued on our way.  This experience really affected me because there have been many, many times when I’ve ran to catch a UConn bus without any sympathy from the driver.  I doubted very much that any of the UConn drivers would have approached the woman’s situation with the same genuine empathy and kindness.  It showed me that simple acts of kindness really do make a difference, even if it’s saving someone from a long, lonely walk home.