While some TCNJ students were spending their summers at the shore, others were snapping selfies at a South African game reserve and meeting Gandhi’s granddaughter.
Hope Peraria and Isabelle Tan traveled abroad to South Africa to intern this summer with communications studies professor John Pollock. During their four-week immersion the students traveled throughout the cities of Cape Town and Durban.
“I anticipated to be blown away and humbled by the experience at the same time,” said Hope, a junior communications studies major and marketing minor. “I did not expect to experience as much personal growth as I did.”
With no set routine, the students both said each day was truly an adventure.
“The fact that I woke up every morning, not knowing what to expect, made me fully appreciate my time abroad,” said Isabelle, a junior with a self-designed major in public health and minor in women’s and gender studies.
“Traveling to South Africa allowed me to examine public health issues from a personal level. I witnessed how oppression of women in South Africa left them more vulnerable to HIV/AIDS and other diseases,” said Isabelle.
In Durban, the TCNJ students researched entertainment education in the fight against HIV and AIDS. Collaborating with professors and students at the University of Kwazulu-Natal and a program called DramAidE, Isabelle and Hope specifically focused on women empowerment in intergenerational relationships.
“Apartheid only ended about 20 years ago. There are still huge differences between gender inequality in the U.S. and South Africa today,” Isabelle said.
One of the biggest culture shocks she described was being asked if she could be purchased by a man for 500,000 Rand, or $50,000.
“It’s shocking to see how much progress needs to be made, but the end of apartheid is definitely a start!”
Hope was struck by something called “squatters camps,” places where people use any resources they can to build shelter. “There were vast areas filled with hundreds of people and their shelters. It put into perspective how many people are scraping together everything they have to live.”
Both students quickly learned however that the people living in the squatters camps are progressing and finding opportunities.
“The people in these camps are proud, hardworking people,” said Hope. “Everyone we met spoke to us about how they are working to make their country a better place. That was inspiring.”
Visiting Esizibeni Sivananda Vaswani Comprehensive High School, TCNJ students facilitated discussion on safe sex and ways to avoid HIV and AIDS.
“On the last day at the high school, the students told us how honored they felt for having us visit,” said Isabelle, who is still in contact with one of the girls from the high school today.
Studying and interning abroad went beyond expectations for both students. “The people in South Africa have shown me a kindness and hopefulness that is rarely seen. Because of that, this experience will always have a meaningful impact on me,” said Isabelle.