We were lucky
enough to be able to take a trip to Goedgedacht Farm for our Human Rights
weekend workshop. Our group plus the
members of Africa Unite, an organization in South Africa which helps to bring
together both local South Africans and foreign nationals to achieve both social cohesion in the country as well as the entire continent of Africa, came together for the
weekend to discuss human rights, both our rights in general and issues with
human rights, primarily in South Africa.
I particularly enjoyed the
hypothetical situation of the new planet.
I thought that our group stirred up an interesting conversation, and it
was very interesting to see how the opinions on the situation differed between
the South Africans and the Americans.
One point that was brought up by one of the women in our group was that
in order for the country to join, they must lay out what they can do to help
us, an opinion that was almost entirely dismissed by the American opinions in
our group. But when her point was
brought up later in the questioning of another country, it was met with a
resounding sound of approval from others in the room, validating her point, at
least for me, as I was one of the people who didn’t quite necessarily agree
with that opinion.
It also ties into the other point
that, while everyone did speak English on the trip, some better than others,
there was a definite language barrier present in our discussions. And most of the times it was the usage of
words, someone whose original language isn’t English reaching for a word that
may not necessarily be the best word to get one’s point across to native English speakers. During the same exercise we had come to
somewhat of a stopping point, as there seemed to be something that two separate
factions could not agree on. However,
Jerard was very keen in bringing up the fact that the argument was closer than
what was originally thought, and it was a mere argument of the wording of
issues.
That
brought up the issues that came about while discussing human rights. Language barriers between groups will forever
be a challenge, and particularly with human rights it’s vital to have
everyone’s voice heard on issues. I was
elected President of my country and I felt that I was doing more moderating of conversation
than delegating. However, after a while
the conversation turned cyclical, and something needed to be done. It brought up the issue that at what point,
when discussing these sorts of matters, does somebody step up and say, “Here’s
what we should do after weighing all the points.” It was frustrating because everyone has a
valid opinion, but at the end of the day, decisions have to be made on issues,
and conversation can only last for so long.
I found it frustrating and it made me question the process of solving
human rights issues in general.
I also enjoyed learning more
about the struggles of asylum seekers and refugees in South Africa. Through my internship, I’ve been lucky to
learn about the plight of those seeking asylum is South Africa, and it was interesting
to delve deeper into the process they go though. This exercise and the final thoughts of the
group also helped to put my internship in perspective once again. Early on I had been struggling with the
purpose of Black Sash; what they do and why, and to hear many of those living
in South Africa thanking the seminar for informing them further on their
rights, it helped to put my mind at ease a bit.
Lack of knowledge of ones rights is a very serious issue in South
Africa, and this weekend will hopefully help those in South Africa go back to
be vocal in their communities, and helping other to realize their rights as
well.
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| JR learning the moves in addition to learning about human rights |
Overall the weekend was a great
success, and I left feeling glad I went and having learned some new things
about the status of refugees, human rights, and the process of discussing human
rights and how human rights issues are addressed.
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