answering questions a boy raised his
hand and asked in America do you feel
safe going to school this past summer I
had the opportunity to go to the Cape
Town in the Republic of South Africa
through the CI EEE program ciee is a
study abroad program for students of all
ages to travel around the world and
gained global experiences my group about
19 teenagers dove into the South African
culture we eat mopani worms which with
mine the custom taste buds taste like
dirt we took a class on Afrikaans one of
the 11 official languages spoken in the
country we went to local schools
teaching English and playing one and we
here’s a key tourist locations most
importantly we learned about South
Africa’s history and how this very
recent country only formed the democracy
20 years ago South Africa used to be
governed by the part ID system
established in 1795 it was the
equivalent of the Jim Crow laws in
America scared segregating the whites
from the non-whites causing inequalities
and services especially education we
visited Museum about the sweater
uprising where high school students
protested against the unfair educational
system leading to the death of 13 year
old Hector Pearson death was the Simmons
to brutality at apartment as well as his
commitment to human right of Education
during our stay in South Africa
eyewitness and heard the cops and
difficulties of achieving this level of
education for example many students who
rural areas are afraid to go to school
when the boy asked in a do feel safe
when he go to school I stared at him
wondering why an eight-year-old was
asking this kind of question the place
where he lived was filled with drugs and
gang activity although I had read about
these types of problems in school I was
shocked to hear those words come from
this boy’s mouth witnessing this
firsthand I thought you might
no child should ever have to say that a
child should be scared to walk to school
because of violence and no child should
ever be denied education but that is the
reality of the world we live in and has
been demoralizing as a situation is for
this boy and many other children I saw
hoping this these children still go to
school they want to have an education
regardless of the dangers involved in
attending school according to the UN the
right to education establishes the
access to quality education and to a
learning that developed the human
personality there must be an equitable
distribution of educational resources
according to needs regardless of race
gender and religion education empowers
individual promoting freedom necessary
for the exercising of all basic human
rights education is the foundation for
growth in a society on the third day of
the program we went to a local Township
panas Berg the capital south africa it
was a talent of 40,000 people an
unemployment rate of seventy two percent
and southern public water fountains
their only source of water to supply the
entire community known as kliptown this
is one of the poor areas surrounding the
capital right away I deemed the place
hopeless as poverty crippled the entire
community that day I saw something very
different I learned that poverty can
deprive humans or their basic human
rights they cannot take away the fact
that these rights these rights aren’t
inalienable I went to a community center
in clipped where I saw an amazing
program put together by local educators
all children could play sports and learn
to read and write in the safe
environment with limited resources and
in one of the most impoverished
communities this Center has managed to
give education to its local children for
the past eight years education is not
just school-related but is the
acquisition of knowledge in all fields
of life going on this trip I realized
not only how important the ciee program
was for the children South Africa so big
learning experience for me when I spent
time with the children kliptown I played
soccer with them and within minutes my
phone is out and
I was already taking pictures of them on
the drive home my group was halfway
exchanging the many photos we took them
honestly I was excited to post a picture
I’ll maybe Facebook understandably
because I wanted to share them with my
friends and families back home however I
forgot that I didn’t go there to receive
recognition but to make the children
feel recognized instead I learned that
by taking pictures first if I getting to
know the kids we fall prey to viewing
these children as props for a picture to
post on social media reflecting on this
trip I knew I was not an NGO wing into a
develop developing country discovering
solutions defy every problem in South
Africa has I understand the limits what
i could do with my abilities in my
position in society but South Africa
showed me money is incomparable to the
human desire for change driven by the
belief that all humans are equal and can
possess the knowledge of their basic
human rights a small impact as
insignificant as it may be is still one
piece of the puzzle to the overall
picture little by little service a group
after service group I knew I was a part
of a bigger scheme to bring education
into the lives of the South African
children just like the boy asking me if
it was safe to go to school just like
Hector Pieterson and the many other
students were killed in movement for
equality and education I think it’s time
we see a world where students are set
free from the chains of poverty
discrimination and society standards and
i believe i believe it starts with
[Applause] you