Savitri excited about this privileged opportunity

Hello! My name is Savitri Horrigan and I am a senior at the University of Connecticut. I am majoring in Molecular and Cellular Biology and minoring in Human Rights. I found out about this program a year ago when I had just decided to switch the topic of my thesis from MCB to Human Rights, and figured I would try to do something related to women's health and public health. I met Marita, who enthusiastically told me about South Africa, and because I had such a good time talking with her I decided to check it out. Needless to say, I was hooked :)

I am most excited about this trip because it will give me a chance, a rather privileged chance, to learn about a country and the issues it faces in a way that will hopefully facilitate interaction and change on my behalf. In the past, my education of the U.S. and other cultures has been segmented and in some cases totally ignorant of current problems. When I studied abroad in Tokyo, for example, I had never considered that the "red light district" so close to my school was central not only to legal institutions of sex work but also to institutions that depended on thousands of women trafficked for the commodity of sex. Human trafficking is something that I care deeply about, and to realize that I had been ignorant of it in a country that I treasured makes me disappointed. I want to open my eyes to these injustices in every place that I am, because this feeling of safety that I feel, these feelings of detachment and independence from human rights violations is just an illusion that needs to end.

I am excited to learn about the history of South Africa and to talk with its people. I am excited to learn more about local and global health, as well as the progress of other human rights issues in South Africa. I am excited to make new friends and see things I never imagined. I am excited, and yet sad that the people I will see there have much fewer chances of being a tourist, learning new things, and making friends in another country than I do. That many may be in a condition too impoverished to even meet basic health and wellness needs, let alone to experience the luxury of travel. I still only know a few things about South Africa, but I do know that I will make the most of my time there.