SOUTH AFRICA PROGRAM - 2020 PROJECTS


Building Bridges by Cody Stephens 

At Building Bridges, the group commissioned a carpenter to build a library section in the office space that houses the program in Bellville then sorted and catalogued over 1000 books from the U.S. collected through campus book drives by the 2020 team prior to the trip and brought them to Cape Town on the trip. The group also traveled with five boxes of school and art supplies and updated the program’s iPads donated to them by Education without Borders to get them ready for educational apps for the more than 1000 kids Building Bridges serves.Students spent time with kids the program serves and key community members on each of the 4 work days in Bellville. Building Bridges provides psychosocial, educational, and skills-based support to youth facing extreme poverty and a lack of community programming in Bellville South, South Africa and were the recipients of most of the books for the 2020 program.


Cape Town Study Abroad Highlights from Mass Communication - WTAMU on Vimeo.

South Africa program activities create opportunities for students to build strong ties with South Africans. The program also helps students develop strong leadership and civic engagement skills whiles building strong relationships with South Africa youth, women and children and serving as advocates and mentors with the potential for lifelong friendships and support  for one another.


iKhaya Le Langa "Value Lives Here" by Chase Brady and Frank Naverrette

At iKhaya Le Langa, students worked with 20 Langa Youth Ambassadors for six days in the township identifying stories for a docu-series, a community tourism app, and conducted video interviews with community members, entrepreneurs and youth leaders. Students, in collaboration with Langa Youth Ambassadors and community leaders created content and media products celebrating the value in townships, specifically Langa. One of the final products developed was a community tourism app for Langa themed “Value Lives Here”. Students had the opportunity to present their work to the director of iKhaya Le Langa, the Langa Youth Ambassadors and two U.S. Cape Town Consul officers. iKhaya le Langa non-profit organization unlocks the potential in townships by creating sustainable black spaces, the organisation is situated in the Langa Quarter, Langa, South Africa’s first planned township.

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