I just spent an amazing day at ARESTA working as part of my volunteer placement while I’m here. These are the same people who took us to the Home Affairs office I described a few days back. Today was a little more laid back- all office work. First off, as a sign from the powers that be, there was the most magnificent full, shiny rainbow- so clear that I knew for certain that this rainbow ended at the ARESTA building. A bit dramatic, right? We began the morning talking about a survey for a study we will be conducting at Home Affairs next week in order to learn about people’s awareness of citizenship rights and assistance available to mothers. There’s a real concern here that children are not being given the access to service providers that they are entitled to. Then, my new mentor, Fred, invited me to sit at his desk. On the desktop, there was a word document open with questions and a title that vaguely referenced the UNHCR (United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees). He told me to sit, and before I knew it, he was escorting someone in. “This is your interviewee,” he said. This poor Somali guy was so intimidated by the site of me, and begged for a translator, but Fred pushed on and told the man (in English) that he could do it! I struggled through the questions, not really knowing what I was getting at, until the question “has the client been tortured” came up. How do you look someone in the face and ask that? It really makes you think about how, in order to good for others, you really have to be able to ask the tough questions, listen carefully to the stories, asking questions all the while to piece together some semblance of truth (or coherence, for that matter) and then make the recommendation. In the end, it turns out I was filing paperwork to refer these people to the UNHCR for resettlement in third countries. These people cannot return home for fear of threat on their lives, but they cannot stay here because xenophobic attacks threaten their daily safety in Cape Town. The tragedy they’ve endured on both ends of their forced displacement, though often transmitted through a translator, were unimaginable to me. I’ve never felt so awkward, and yet so purposeful, at any moment of my life up until now. At the end of the questionnaire, I asked Fred if he wanted to finish the last question (“why are you recommending this person to the UNHCR”) – I hadn’t realized I was making decisions that affected their future so directly. Honestly, I thought I was just conducting some kind of routine survey for their records, but in the end, I found out that I was facilitating their possible (second) escape to a safer environment.
Later in the day, we sorted through applications to one of four skills training programs that ARESTA offers to help resettled refugees (and now local South Africans as well) start their own businesses and move on with their lives. Those clients will arrive on Thursday for their interview to determine if they are suitable for the skills training programs- I’m sure another big adventure (emotionally) is in store for that day.
I can’t say enough that I feel so privileged for these amazing people to have invited me into their world and embraced my interest in learning about the refugee picture here. Though they can’t see this, I am forever grateful for the way they have changed my view of the world and my passion for the things I study so distantly removed from the everyday tragedies happening by the hundreds of thousands here every day.