June 29, 2016 – The last day of free time at Green Pop was the most enjoyable day in my opinion because we first had a smooth day of relaxing while the other kids from Cape Town were on a trip to Victoria Falls. In the afternoon, we went on a hike to the Baobab Tree which was more than 800-1,000 years old where we had our reflection and watched the sunset. Later on in the day, volunteers from Learn Serve gave five minute TED talks, like Aaliyah shared her experience with her project on teen pregnancy, while Harris expressed his opinion on after life. Chris and Lawrence, another two of my peers from my group, did a duo which was never done before and talked about their project on mental intuitions and African American history. Brittany, one of my trip advisors, spoke about her knowledge of etymology, which was interesting because she was able to explain the true meaning of words like “nice” which really means “not knowing” or the word “villain” which meant “a person who worked on a farm”. I learned a lot from my peers who spoke. This caused me to be motivated to doing different things and not being afraid to take risks because my peers were able to go up and talk in front of people from South Africa even though we only knew them for a very short amount of time. The risk that I will now take when I arrive back home is being more open to different topics and other people’s opinions.
At the end of the night we spent our time talking with students from Cape Town which was interesting because we were able to learn the similarities and differences between South Africa and America. What shocked me the most about the students from Cape Town was how friendly and polite they were, also their accent. Their friendliness shocked me because the environment I grew up in didn’t have that many friendly people. As the day came to an end, everyone went to rest in their tent to prepare for the following day. When I return to America, I look forward to seeing how my experience has impacted me in the long run.
Malcom T., E L Haynes Public Charter School