A Lekker Life in Cape Town: Working with Refugees in South Africa

I did my placement at the Cape Town Refugee Centre (CTRC), an implementing partner to the UNHCR
providing assistance to the 35,000 refugees in Cape Town. The Centre is a South African non-profit
organisation that works with vulnerable refugees and asylum seekers in the Western Cape. Their mission
statement is; ‘we strive to improve the quality of life of refugees and asylum seekers by meeting their
basic needs on a short-term basis, and enabling them to become self-reliant and self -sufficient through
various empowerment opportunities’. They offer a range of support mechanisms, taking in educational,
psychological and emotional needs, and work with a number of key organisations to facilitate the
integration of refugees and asylum seekers into South African society as quickly and easily as possible.
I had lived in South Africa for almost two years in my gap years and so was keen to find a placement back there.
When I found this placement and was offered the internship, I was ecstatic! Within a few weeks I was completely
at home and having an amazing time!! I lived in an area called Observatory, full of students and artists, a mix of
people and a crazy, vibrant place to be.  

The refugee centre has many facets to its work and assists refugees according to particular needs. This might
mean assistance with rent and food or be about providing funding to start a business or payment of tuition
fees for vocational college courses such as nursing or welding. The centre also pays medical fees, gives trauma
counselling and is the referral point for those needing a bed in a shelter. Inevitably, some know how to work the
system and so home visits to assess living conditions have to be undertaken before decisions on assistance can be
made. The work was hectic. They see mainly refugees from Somalia, Zimbabwe and the DRC but also have people
from Burundi, Mozambique, Rwanda, Ethiopia, Malawi and other African nations. I resurrected my French for the
Somalis, the Swahili I learnt living in Swaziland for the Zimbabweans, and picked up more Afrikaans and Xhosa
from my office colleagues. The day I started I was thrown in the deep end and had to interview a family who were
living 10 in one room and had had to flee the DRC as they had been attacked, the children had seen their mother
murdered. It was a difficult job as you have to make a call on how to assist that person, and to make sure that
assistance helps them become self-sufficient rather than dependent. It could be emotionally draining but it was so
rewarding to see people take control of the potential in their lives.

A month in, I was moved into a research project which saw me making a database of every business funded
over the last 4 years and visiting them to see how those businesses were doing now. At the end, I wrote a report
and made a proposal on how the UNHCR business grants can be better distributed to have a greater impact on
the families and communities. I am interested anyway in understanding the impact on people of international
humanitarian assistance in the form of aid and grants so this project was ideal for me. It showed me that the
money coming in from the UN does have a real impact on people’s lives.

The people I worked with were some the best people I have ever known, the office was full of laughter, we had
Afrikaners, English, international interns, Xhosas, and a few former refugees. I loved the mix of humour and
culture. There was so much enthusiastic for life here and we enjoyed experiencing each other’s cultures. We
cooked lunch together in the office a few times a week, went to African Rap slams in the townships and had many
braais all over Cape Town. We became family!

If I lived in Cape Town 10 years, I would still have more to see and do, the city hums with activity and brings you
to life. I was so busy outside of work - wine tours, climbing Table Mountain, hiking Lion’s Head in the full moon,
sundowners on Camps Bay, surfing at Muizenburg, picnics in Kistenbosch gardens, eating fish straight off the
boats, rock climbing and rowing as well as visiting local markets, concerts, nightspots, restaurants, beaches and
much more! It was wonderful to get immersed in Cape Town life, even catching the trains and taxis was eventful
(we were sung to, preached at and heard the jazz keyboard - the trains are crazy for busking!).

I relished the challenges and adventures my placement brought. This job and time in Cape Town taught me so
much about the practical realities of politics and how the international theory we learn about in lectures plays out
in reality. I would highly recommend doing a placement. I gained so much from stepping outside of the academic
environment into a real-life politicised experience, in Africa.