My name is Beth Peterson and I’m a sophomore Strategic Communications major with minors in Political Science and Spanish. I have been looking forward to the opportunity to travel to South Africa over winter term for over a year. I really enjoy traveling to new places to learn about the history and culture of diverse groups of people in order to gain another perspective of the world around me. However, it was the service-learning component to this trip that really influenced my decision to go as well as the chance to learn about the unique political history of the country. I’ve traveled abroad several times and in my last trip to Nicaragua, worked with a community and its elementary-aged children in a run down section on Managua. It opened my eyes to the immense amounts of poverty in the world but also furthered my passion for working with others in a service-learning style environment. In the future, ideally, I would like to combine the joy of helping others with studying and discussing politics as well as my ability to speak two, hopefully three in the next year or two, languages. I love reading about the history and politics of countries around the world and I believe that seeing instead of merely reading about South Africa will be a great experience.
With these aspirations and interests in mind, I chose South Africa as my destination for winter term. The programs we are going to be involved with sounded intriguing and seemed like organizations I would enjoy working with while in the country. The adopt-a-student program seemed like a great opportunity, as did many of the internship opportunities available to the group. As a member of Amnesty International, I have learned a lot about the long lasting impact of cruelty and oppression in a society as well as the ways citizens are able to overcome such barriers. I can’t wait to meet the South African people who, despite a history of racism and violence, manage to move toward a brighter future. I’m looking forward to each stop in South Africa and everything I will learn as we make our way through the country.