Dreams realised in D.C.

We arrived in Washington on the 12^th of June – my birthday! My SAWIP teammates sang happy birthday for me in the plane when we had stopped over in Dakar. YAY!!!

When we landed in Washington, we had a briefing/orientation session at the airport about meeting our host parents, how to use metro transportation, and how to use our cellphones, etc.

I met my host mom, Catherine, and she is amazing. We went grocery shopping (which was an adventure on its own). My host mom baked me the most delicious red velvet cake and took Cara and I out for a birthday dinner. It’s amazing how this lovely mother who had just met me for the first time treats me with so much love and care. It is such a blessing – honestly!

On the 13^th of June we had a session on DC life – networking, the type of conversations to have, making the most of our work placements, etc. It’s a lot to take in but it’s exciting at the same time.

We went to Capitol Hill and saw some of the latest advances in social media and programs that support journalists. The role of news is so important in our world. News helps us know about the issues in different nations. Once we know about certain issues, we engage in conversation about them and are able to bring those issues to the relevant authorities/entities to help find solutions to those problems. Even in the most impoverished areas today, you are bound to find people with radios, cellphones, and even satellite TV (go to the informal settlements in Cape Town for example and you’ll see what I’m talking about). Using these media to bring news to the people is pivotal.

I could go on and on about social media. People know about social media such as Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, etc which are becoming more accessible to everyone. People are informed about celebrities, fashion, controversial topics, and even gossip through such media. Imagine now if the social media focus shifted to discuss the important issues that we only save for serious panel discussions and conferences.

I was very inspired on this day to see how news and technology can work together not only to bring the news to the people but also enable others to make the real issues prevailing in their countries news to others for the purpose of constructive debate and coming up with solutions.

Later that day we met Mr. Glen Ackerman, managing partner at Ackerman & Brown – one of the 2 largest firms in the US. He told us, “Never let anyone push you in the corner”. He shared his story of being treated differently by others and being undermined and how he overcame so much to get where he is.

On the 14^th of June, Phillip van Niekerk, former editor of Mail & Guardian and award-winning investigative journalist, stressed that education is key to infiltrate into media and other ways of informing people.

Kevin Sullivan, who is the chairman of the Washington International Program (WIP), gave us some very useful tips on speechwriting.

We visited the Washingotn DC Google office which was amazing! Bob Boorstin, who is a director of public policy in DC and works at Google, stated that his team is trying to improve the statistics of women doing software engineering at Google. That’s definitely something we also ought to pay attention to as South Africans – women in technology!

We also visited the United States Institute of Peace, a US conflict management centre. Conflict happens at home, at school, in the community, between cultures and nations and even religious denominations! We learned the importance of managing conflict and using conflict as an opportunity to effect positive change.

We did many more things on our first week. I could describe the week as an INFORMATION OVER-LOAD. We have been exposed to so much already. The awesome thing is that it is the right kind of information that we are exposed to! The thrilling part is when we get to discuss all the things we’ve learnt: More insightful ideas are coming to the fore. Personally for myself, this journey is really building my confidence and I am becoming so much more knowledgeable about the issues that really do matter.

Indeed, dreams do come through with SAWIP!