A Winter in Cape Town : Week Two in Cape Town

You know how people always claim that time goes by faster than you could ever imagine? Well its true. Week two here in Cape Town was just as brilliant and exhilarating as the first one. I can hardly even wrap my head around everything since time is just flying by. I am enamored with the staff at PASSOP, and am thrilled with the disability project that I have been working on.

Cape of Good Hope

I considered censoring the story I am about to tell you all, yet I decided not to because I think it adds all the more to my experience here. Do not worry; it is mainly funny and what I like to call “staff bonding”. Monday, my coworker and I decided it would be a grand idea to tidy and organize the office considering PASSOP recently moved locations and boxes still resided all over the office space. Oddly, my coworker and I share the same love for tidiness and organization so it could not have worked out better when we began opening the boxes and neatly placing the different documents into newly labeled boxes. All was going quite smoothly until an earth-shattering shriek erupted through the office.

“COCKROOOOACCCHHHHHH!!!!!!”

Amongst the newly stacked documents, a tiny cockroach scurried out. My coworker burst out in total panic, and I would be lying if I told you I didn’t as well. After having squished the nasty little bugger, I felt at ease again. That feeling lasted a whole five seconds until I realized our little friend was not alone. Hundreds of cockroaches began emerging from the boxes crawling out in every direction around the office. Sheer chaos filled the office. At this point, everyone was on their feet trying to step on the bugs. We were outnumbered. My coworker and I sprinted to the closest store to by none other than the heaviest duty bug killing spray.

To paint the picture as best as possible, the rest of the afternoon was a mix between an odd looking dance of people bouncing around the office squishing bugs, and all of us frantically flailing our arms around fumigating the entire space in order to rid the place of the creepy crawlers.

On a better note, the rest of my workweek was eventful and cockroach free. Some of the legal advisors in the office have been teaching me how to write appeals and conduct interviews with the refugees.
The first interview that I orchestrated on my own was with a young man from Congo. For privacy reasons, I will not disclose his name, yet he told me he felt confortable with sharing his story. He was born and raised in central Congo, where he was faced with the tragedy of losing his parents to a fatal illness at the age of fifteen. After having lost his parents, he was placed under the care of his elder brother who at the time had just joined the armed forced of the DRC. They were forced to constantly relocate for his brother’s job. Around five years later they were moved to the East Coast and the most violent region of the country. Months after having arrived his brother was killed by the rebels and he was left alone to fend for himself. Shortly after, the rebels came after him and tried to kill him at any chance they got. He was brutally beaten and attacked numerous times. He was able to escape Congo with a group of other young men trying to flee as well. Their mode of transportation was a small pick up truck covered by a tarp. After 17 days of darkness and hunger they arrived in South Africa. As I interviewed him, it pained me to see him wince at every detail he provided regarding his families death.

I was aware that working with refugees would be difficult and I had to remain strong, but some things you cannot prepare for. This mans story is one of thousands. One of thousands who have to deal with the pain of leaving their country to seek refuge in on that is safe. I am thankful that I get to be a part of this mans journey to safety, and most importantly I feel honored to be working with people who with what they do, try to bring the people in this world closer. My second week here in Cape Town has already opened my eyes to so much.

Cape Point

My weekend was another one for the books; Friday we made our way to Cape Point to experience the thrill of being on the the south western most part of Africa. Saturday I helped out with an event our organization was throwing for PASSOP’s LGBTI refugee advocacy team. PASSOP has recognized that there is a large number of ‘sexual refugees’ in this country and are amongst the most marginalized and discriminated social group in South Africa. Not only do they struggle with integrating as refugees or asylum seekers, but they also struggle with discrimination based off of their sexual orientation. So Saturday was a way to empower the LGBTI community by building a support network as well as safe space for them. My coworker did a beautiful job at executing the event and for that we are all grateful.

Sunday, I enjoyed the peace and quiet of the Botanical Gardens in Kirstenbosch with the most wonderful of company.