Appreciation Dinner Speech

Appreciation is a wonderful thing. It makes what is excellent in others belong to us as well. ~Voltaire.

Good evening ladies and gentlemen, SAWIP board members, honoured guests and the SAWIP 2014 team. My name is Ishara Ramkissoon and I will be your MC for the evening.Read more

Immigration Reform for Who?

Immigration reform must be one of the most conscientious issues facing America currently. With opposing views from citizens and government, this a long battle waiting to happen in the near future. As a South African, one can only hope that the situation doesn’t escalate to something similar to the Xenophobic attacks of 2008 throughout South Africa.Read more

Introduction to networking

Washington DC week 1: amazing! (Blog post to follow)

While we thrown into the deep end in someways, rather now than later so as to be able to enjoy the experience fully! One of the opportunities I was most looking forward to in the DC segment of the SAWIP experience was networking.Read more

Remembering Tata Madiba and the Soweto Uprising

June 16th is National Youth Day in South Africa. While the SAWIP 2014 will be in transit to Washington DC, I’ve come to realize how lucky I am to be able to spend this day with a group of young individuals who are going to make a difference in South Africa one day.Read more

South African Culture

This is a beautiful and accurate video depicting the culture of South Africa. Filmed by an 18yr old, this video highlights some of the well-known places and people as well as a brief history of our complex past.

{video:”http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_0uUD2vPuPk”,width:”400″,height:”300″}Read more

My Last Day in South Africa

Tomorrow the SAWIP 2014 Team departs for DC - YAY! Finally! We’ve all had our own ways of counting down the days till departure, and now it has finally arrived.

Most of my day was filled with driving around to buy the last few things -Read more

Free Healthcare

As someone who lives in South Africa, there are a lot of things I like about America:
ÔÇó The American accent
ÔÇó Walt Disney World
ÔÇó Hershey’s Chocolate

There are also things I don’t get, predominately because of the culture I was raised in:
ÔÇó American football
ÔÇó The number of commercial breaks on television
ÔÇó Why the US won’t embrace soccer
ÔÇó How people such as the Kardashians are on television
ÔÇó How people continue to be gun crazy in 2014
Either way,Read more

Warm Welcome from DC

We can’t wait to meet you!Welcome Sihle and Ishara! SAWIP 2014

Growing up in a home with only sisters and female cousins has always left me wondering what it would be like to have a brother. When filling in the host family and work placement request form,Read more

Being the first medical student in SAWIP

I’d be lying if I said I am not thrilled being the first medical student on SAWIP, ecstatic to say the least. I’d also be lying if I said it was a walk in the park.

Attending a session on a Saturday morning,Read more