Through the eyes of a Global Dev. Ambassador
Posted by Bill Gelfeld, Global Development Ambassador
Having been fortunate enough to receive the opportunity to travel to South Africa with Student Movement for Real Change (SMRC), a DC-based NGO, I was able to witness first-hand the incredible work that they are doing in collaboration with local communities in the province of Manyeleti. SMRC promotes cooperative projects between US undergraduate students interested in development and various villages in rural South Africa.
By employing a thoroughly participative approach and establishing a consistent, long-term presence within the local communities, SMRC has been able to target their most urgent needs to provide those services that are in greatest demand.
We stayed in the community for three days in the homes of the gracious residents of Utah and were able to tour various on-going projects in which SMRC has been involved. We visited several local schools to see if the libraries that had been funded were in fact being used. We went to a health clinic several villages away to observe the facility on which the local clinic, currently under construction, was being modeled. And we were able to meet with several local philanthropists and entrepreneurs who were working in conjunction with SMRC to fund projects, expand infrastructure, and improve the quality of facilities in many of the poorer villages. All of these experiences preceded our two-day visit to a nearby game reserve, where we were able to see and extensively photograph all of the “big five” of Africa (rhino, lion, buffalo, leopard, and elephant), while all the while being reminded of the glaring income inequality from our stint in the village not ten minutes away. In the final summation, it was a sobering but ultimately encouraging glimpse of the complex collage of race relations, inequality, generosity, disease, and joy that is modern South Africa.
