As a student-led immersion program that has been implemented into the heart of service related programs within the American University in Washington D.C, Alt. Breaks (for short), strives to make a difference by including community-based learning into its mission. The program promotes leadership, equality, and social justice issues within a particular state or nation. It builds upon students who are passionate or interested in learning more about a particular topic and are willing to put in the time and effort for pre-trip orientation learning sessions to on-the-ground activities, to post-trip activism upon arrival home.
The following Winter Alternative Break Program: "Race, Gender, and Health beyond Borders" is a collective topic on three big social justice issues within the nation. The theme aligns with the past two-years worth of social justice topics of race (December 2014 Alt. Break) and gender (December 2015 Alt. Break), and introduces a larger emphasis on health.
We seek to learn about about how race and gender identities affect communities in Cape Town and Johannesburg in regards to health, with sub-conversations on the intersectionality of these issues with environmental sustainability, economic opportunity, housing, education and family structure. We will compare conditions before and during apartheid to present-day conditions, and analyze how the effects of apartheid continue to manifest themselves across South African communities today.
We will uncover the many layers of intersection between community issues by going on local excursion (active-learning museum trips, tours of historical sites), and engaging with various women-led community organizations (like GAPA and SADSAWU) and organizations that deal with health-related topics including HIV/AIDS, sanitation and environment. We will reflect on the progress that can be seen and what remains to be done in our partner communities, and draw parallels between the issues we see in these communities and those we face in our own D.C./AU communities.
The Ubuntu experience is connecting with others through compassion and humanity - "I am what I am because of who we all are" and THAT is what makes this program and this nation so unique in that solidarity and soul can always be found in South Africa's cultural roots.
- To learn more, check out our Alternative Breaks page and past trips here -
The following Winter Alternative Break Program: "Race, Gender, and Health beyond Borders" is a collective topic on three big social justice issues within the nation. The theme aligns with the past two-years worth of social justice topics of race (December 2014 Alt. Break) and gender (December 2015 Alt. Break), and introduces a larger emphasis on health.
We seek to learn about about how race and gender identities affect communities in Cape Town and Johannesburg in regards to health, with sub-conversations on the intersectionality of these issues with environmental sustainability, economic opportunity, housing, education and family structure. We will compare conditions before and during apartheid to present-day conditions, and analyze how the effects of apartheid continue to manifest themselves across South African communities today.
We will uncover the many layers of intersection between community issues by going on local excursion (active-learning museum trips, tours of historical sites), and engaging with various women-led community organizations (like GAPA and SADSAWU) and organizations that deal with health-related topics including HIV/AIDS, sanitation and environment. We will reflect on the progress that can be seen and what remains to be done in our partner communities, and draw parallels between the issues we see in these communities and those we face in our own D.C./AU communities.
The Ubuntu experience is connecting with others through compassion and humanity - "I am what I am because of who we all are" and THAT is what makes this program and this nation so unique in that solidarity and soul can always be found in South Africa's cultural roots.
- To learn more, check out our Alternative Breaks page and past trips here -