Inspirational & major strides to take
By Iswarya
Sitting in the airport, getting ready to get on my flight back to Boston, it’s hard not feel a sense of longing for South Africa and all the amazing experiences that I have had here. Before leaving to come to this country, I knew very little of what to expect and found that knowing less about the country made all the experiences more exciting and interesting when actually learning about the people and culture.
Visiting with various companies that focused in different areas of social impact was inspirational, but also telling of how deep-rooted apartheid was a part of the community, and how until today, the country is still trying to make reparations for their past.
When first taking in Johannesburg, it was interesting to see how different each section of city is. There were very stark differences in the new portions compared to the old sections. When I look back at specific social impact organizations that we visited, like Mandate Molefi a diversity and inclusion consulting group, I realized how important black empowerment and inclusion is to the community. When listening to the CEO speak I thought it was inspiring to hear about her background and how she has seen all different parts of South Africa, and then made it her mission to create a more inclusive society. This presentation coupled with our visit to the Apartheid Museum really shed light on how the whole of South Africa is trying to make amends for their difficult past. When going through the museum it was hard to understand how a whole country could allow such racial segregation to exist. But, the exhibits made me contemplate how history seems to repeat itself in different parts of the world, and how even in the United States, communities are working to empower people of all different colors to create an equitable community.
Before visiting South Africa, I had imagined it be industrialized and accessible to many companies, but when visiting Eaton Electric, it was interesting to earn that the availability of electricity is actually a big problem in communities, especially in lower-income neighborhoods. This was very much evident when we visited in Capetown, and load-shedding was in its most critical stage. The power was scheduled to go out three times a day, and it was clear that companies, especially those in the service industry were suffering to the inconsistent supply of electricity. It was surprising that accessibility of basic resources are still issues for industrialized and main tourist attractions.
The most interesting part of the trip was our visit to WITS RHI, a HIV and AIDS clinic located in the heart of Hillsborough, a low SES neighborhood in Johannesburg. When asked why they chose that specific location for their office space, the company representative explained how this community is most affected by HIV, and it is also the community that is most unlikely to get tested. This organization prides itself on understanding the community needs and implementing effective measures to provide accessible healthcare resources.
As someone who wants to enter the field of global health consulting, it was really interesting to learn about how they were able to overcome their obstacles to actually provide effective HIV testing methods to communities who would often go untested.
Each organization that we visited had a positive outlook on all the South Africa could achieve and its inspiring to hear about the all the change that is taking place today, but even with all these new initiatives, it is obvious that there are still major strides that need to be taken to create equality among all the people in the different communities. Hopefully I will get the chance to travel back and explore more of what South Africa has to offer!