SOUTH AFRICA

CIEE Cape Town Service-Learning

This program provides students with an integrated approach to learning and community involvement. The program enables students to be active in service while providing opportunities to reflect upon the complexities and challenges facing Cape Town and South Africa. The program is intended to meet the needs of local communities while engaging students in a rigorous academic program of language study, research methodology, African studies, and research. The academic program is supplemented by field trips and excursions to various points of interest with relevance to service-learning and the cultural milieu of Cape town and the Western Cape province. Field trips and excursions may take place in and around the Cape Peninsula, the Cape Flats, and Robben Island. Events and activities are chosen to provide students with a good overview of the diversity in South Africa. A weekend homestay with a local family is also included in the cultural program.

In Cape Town, students live in small single rooms in an apartment-style residence near campus and share the facilities with fellow CIEE program participants. Students prepare their own meals in the residence or eat at establishments on or off campus.

CIEE has entered into a partnership with Habital for Humanity which allows students to participate in building a CIEE-sponsored house in a previously disadvantaged community on the Cape Peninsula.

SOLmates (Student Orientation Leaders) are a dedicated group of UCT students who assist CIEE students during orientation and throughout the semester. Through on-going interaction with these local students, CIEE participants are able to meet local South African and international students and learn first-hand about student life.