“My husband left me and I cannot
support my children.”
I hear this line everyday working at
the Cape Town Refugee Center (CTRC). There have been a countless number of refugee
women coming into the center carrying their newborn children, claiming their
husbands have left their family to fend for themselves.
Sitting in on the consultation
meetings is tough—often times the center has no other choice but to decline in
offering aid to refugees due to the lack of resources and because the clients may form a dependency on the organization. If that were to happen, instead of becoming self-reliant,
refugees who are able bodied might not empower themselves to look for employment
in an effort to make a better living and generate income for their families.
Because of this, social workers at the center need to make tough decisions.
They have to judge each refugee’s case for assistance by probing and asking the
right questions, such as “how may the center assist you today?” and “what are
you doing to become self-reliant?”
Last week I actually had the
opportunity to interview new asylum seekers and refugees coming to the center.
I was so nervous to interview them myself but it turned out to be a great
experience. By my third interview, I was getting the hang of running the
assessment procedure. After interviewing several of the clients, I cannot
express how badly I wish I could speak French or at least understand a little
of the beautiful language. The majority of the refugees seeking assistance at
the center arrived from the Democratic Republic of Congo where the official
language is French. It would be a huge asset to speak French fluently in order
to interact with the clients without the hassle of finding an interpreter to
sit with me on the consultations.
I am learning that many refugees and
even those who are employed at the CTRC speak multiple languages. Fwamba, who
is the social worker that I work with, can speak at least ten! Furthermore, I
find that the majority of the local people of South Africa are at least
bilingual, often times knowledgeable in English and Xhosa or Afrikaans. Thus,
I find myself comparing the linguistic abilities of South Africans to the
people living in the United States and I feel inept. Although I am bilingual in
English and Korean, I wish I made more effort in learning Spanish throughout
high school. This experience has allowed me to see how much of an asset it is
to speak multiple languages and motivated me to teach myself French when I get
back to the States.
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| Arriving in Ocean View |
On Friday, Janiel and I helped out at
a local crèche, called Scorpio. We literally played with kids (ages 2-4) all
day and it was absolutely wonderful because I wanted to spend time with younger
children when I got to South Africa but I never had an opportunity to interact
with that particular age group. All the children were so full of energy and so
eager to get to know us. They were particularly interested in playing
with my long hair. By the time I went home at the end of the day, my hair was
full of knots, but it was worth hearing their laughter and seeing the huge
smiles on their faces.
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| Uncle Russell preparing the braai |
On Saturday morning, our host family
took us to the local mall where they bought us a delicious breakfast. On our
way walking to the restaurant, Uncle Russell lagged behind to stop every other
minute in order to greet his friends and family. It was crazy to see how many
people he knew and it was a testament to how small and tightknit the community
was, as well as how many people were fond of my host father. The afternoon weather
was dreary and we were scared the weather would not permit a braai but
thankfully, the rain clouds cleared up. Uncle Russell and Auntie Sylvia
prepared a delicious braai for the family. We ate barbequed chicken, lamb, wors
(spicy beef sausage) and vegetable and lamb stew called potiekos. Potiekos is
by far, the best South African dish EVER. It is slowly cooked in an iron pot
over a fire and it tastes so heavenly.
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| Potiekos |
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| A delicious braai meal |
On Sunday, we attended a small church
service, which was led by a cousin of the family. It was very inspirational and
deeply moving to hear the speaker who was 21 years old, address his
congregational. The sermon was a mix of Afrikaans and English, which I greatly
appreciated. I was able to understand the basic message of the sermon and it
did apply to my life. The praise, which was led by another cousin of our host
family, was also very moving.
The weekend flew by. I did not want
to leave Ocean View. When it came time to depart, Janiel and I were passed
around the family given hugs and kisses but we knew it was not goodbye. We
already made plans to come visit our host family again and I cannot wait!
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