migration insights internship coordinator prashana 27 11 19

Three insights on migration: Prashana, our BASP internship coordinator

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The Scalabrini team works with migrants and refugees everyday. With such deep expertise at hand, we take the opportunity to reflect on migration with them. This month we speak to Prashana, the internship coordinator at Scalabrini, who is passionate about empowering marginalised communities through education. 

  1. Integration is the process of mutual adaptation

“When someone migrates and changes their environment, they become open to integration.” In South Africa, when refugees and migrants arrive, they create a space for change as they must adapt. The host society must also adapt- which is not always an easy process.  

“Integration involves mutual respect and I think with regards to South Africa, we need to do a lot more work with South African people in respecting refugees and migrants, and respecting the change. Refugees and asylum seekers don’t choose to leave their homes, these people are fleeing horrific human rights violations and unspeakable circumstances to find opportunities for a better life.” 

Prashana speaks of the core values that unite people and the need to develop a sense of respect for these values. “There are many barriers in our country when it comes to integration. Those barriers are language, prejudices, stereotypes and conflict, which is caused by prejudices and stereotypes. Most South Africans experience these barriers, but non-South Africans have the added barrier of being from a different country and all that comes with that.”

South Africa is proud to enter its 25th year of democracy, and proud to hinge much of its success around celebrating the country’s diversity. Prashana sees migration as a key element of this diversity, and sees it tying directly into the future success of South Africa itself.

  1. Education is an important tool to be used in the upliftment of people

For Prashana, education is the key tool that lifts people out of marginalised positions in society.  She works for BASP, focusing on networking with businesses, organisations and social development organisations. 

Education is not only important for the upliftment of migrants, but for employers and South African citizens too. “Employers frequently struggle to understand asylum seekers and refugees’ documents and their right to work…It’s very difficult for nurses, doctors, dentists, who are coming from these African countries especially, to practise their work here. A lot of the time you are seeing your gardeners, bricklayers, waiters and waitresses, very entry level jobs, that are being done by non-South Africans who are extremely educated.”

  1. It is important to offer the same help that was offered to us during our fight for liberation. 

“South Africa and its people tend to lack empathy and knowledge with regards to who their allies were during the Apartheid era. Most of the victims of xenophobia right now are from those ally countries. During the South African fight for liberation, foreign countries assisted our political leaders, so why is it that we are not assisting those who were assisting us in those desperate times?”

One of the most challenging aspects of Prashana’s job is clients coming in with documentation that is not valid, often to no fault of their own, but the fault of South African policies, procedures and Home Affairs in general. They get stuck in the system. “We are here trying to help the most vulnerable, when we are unable to help them because of something like that is becomes very difficult.”

“I think it is important to remember where we came from, remember the struggles that we went through during Apartheid. Remember those that helped us, now it’s our turn to give that help in return. If we want to have a world where everyone is helping each other and is supportive of each other, then we need to give that help. That would be the mindset shift that I would like to put forward. Remember who helped us.”

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Judy Park – All Rounder Volunteer

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Judy wants to work in human rights, focusing on people being able to come into the United States. This is the reason she is specialising in American politics at university and why she came to Scalabrini for a few weeks where she was an All Rounder. Read more about Judy’s experience below. 

“I’m in a programme with my school right now, which is an internship plus a class. There’s a partnership between my school and Connect123, an organisation that helps you find NGOs that you can volunteer at. I said that I want to work with human rights and Connect123 knew just the place for me. 

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“Instead of staying in one programme, I was able to have that diversity, which I think is important for me now.”

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As an All Rounder, I never know what to expect. Sometimes I fill in for EAP (Employment Access Programme) or I work a lot with Women’s Platform and Convo Club. I also work with operations and so I did data capturing and administration work, which is pretty time consuming and operations is super busy, so I was able to do that and take care of that, which I think was helpful for them.

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I also work reception. It was really hard at first and I didn’t know anything. People would ask “what’s this?” and I was like, “ I don’t know, what is this?”. So I’d call Asha and she would explain it to me. I got to know Scalabrini so much better because of reception and have a new profound respect for receptionists.

I have learnt that going on to my career, I need to find a position where I’m not stuck in one spot, I want to be able to work in different areas. I don’t know what that would look like, but if there’s a full time All Rounder position somewhere, that would be perfect for me. I also learnt that I love making it easier for other people to do their jobs, so operations was a really good fit for me. I know my skills are data capturing, facilitating stuff and making sure all administrative stuff is done, I really figured that out at Scalabrini. Instead of staying in one programme, I was able to have that diversity, which I think is important for me now. 

My only low would be taking over reception for the first time when I had no idea what I was doing. I was lost, I couldn’t work the phones or transfer calls. It was embarrassing. Going off that, my high would be being able to take over from Asha for a full day. That’s a real testament to how I’ve been able to learn here and that I can really do something here, not just for Asha, but for everyone else. My favourite time here has been at reception. It’s been a lot of fun. 

If everything goes well, I would like to work for an NGO and I also want to spend time working with the UN. My experiences here have solidified  what I was planning on doing before. A lot of my friends who have been interning at NGOs and have realised that it’s not what they want to do, but I’m the exact opposite. This is exactly what I want to do. If there’s a Scalabrini back in America, I definitely want to work there, or come back here. The environment here is great, my coworkers are great and I think the work they do here is really important.”

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volunteer cape town employment access programme

Jessie Bowers – EAP Volunteer

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Jessie very quickly realised that her internship here at Scalabrini was going to be different to any of her previous internships. Read more about her time below.

“I am from Atlanta, Georgia, but I go to university in Florida. I am studying history with a specification in war and terrorism. I want to look at forced migration due to terrorism. 

Cape Town and South Africa has now become a home away from home. My mum used to live here for a long time, so now I know why she used to love it so much. Cape Town and South Africa as a whole is very communal. Everyone looks out for everyone, strangers talk to strangers, versus in the US where everything is very individualistic and you just don’t talk to people you don’t know. 

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“I didn’t expect to be doing anything I’ve been doing the last three months. It’s really helped clear my mind, not feeling like an intern, but an employee. And the relationships I was able to bond.”

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Everyone at Scalabrini was very welcoming. I was nervous because I know from previous internships that you are usually making copies and getting coffee, but from the first day I walked in here I knew it wasn’t going to be like that. I was really excited. 

I work with EAP (Employment Access Programme). Over the past three months I’ve been able to meet a lot of people and build relationships with them. There are some people where I know they are coming in on a Wednesday every week, or a Tuesday every week, so that’s been really cool. 

I’ve learnt that just because I come from the United States, doesn’t mean that I have bigger, better ideas than anyone else. And my job isn’t to come up with the latest and greatest ideas to help people. It’s to use what we’re working with and take ideas and use my position to perpetuate it and make it a reality. 

Professionally, Scalabrini has pushed me to where I know I want to work for an NGO now. I did a corporate internship last year and I was miserable. I was really worried that I just wasn’t going to find what I liked at all. This fits my personality, my type of style and the work that I am wanting to do. I feel like an NGO is more personal and I like the smaller working environment. I know 100% that I want to work for an NGO now. 

One of the most memorable moments was when, Max, who works in job placement and directly sets up interviews for people, the two other girls and I had gotten really close to a client, and one morning he came into Scalabrini at 8:45am, just to tell us that he had gotten an interview. Not even a job, just an interview, he got really emotional and he hadn’t had any interviews or jobs in the last two years. That was one of the best moments. If there was one thing I could do it would be to shake South Africa, let’s be a little bit more efficient, let’s move a bit faster, let’s process things better. 

I think one of the best things is that Scalabrini doesn’t give handouts, they give opportunities. I would tell everyone coming here, take all the opportunities that are offered, do the digital literacy class if you can’t use a computer. Make yourself desirable and don’t give up, don’t get discouraged. It’s worth it in the end. 

Scalabrini has how they handle their volunteers down. I didn’t expect to be doing anything I’ve been doing the last three months. It’s really helped clear my mind, not feeling like an intern, but an employee. And the relationships I was able to bond. My supervisor, Hylton, I love him and I think we are the best pairing ever because we are so similar. I wouldn’t change anything.” 

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Andy Petrochenko – English School Volunteer

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A teacher back in his home country, Andy traveled all the way from Siberia, Russia to volunteer at the Scalabrini English School. He speaks about his time here below. 

“Cape Town is different from and the same as my home city simultaneously. Globalisation has made all big cities look alike, but at the same time, Cape Town has its own mood and pace of life. 

I used to be a lawyer, but then moved into the language sphere as it was much more appealing to me. It was my dream to become a volunteer somewhere overseas, and somewhere in Africa was the perfect destination. I wanted to serve and help people with what I could offer, and it happened that I am an ESL  (English as a Second Language) teacher, so my job at Scalabrini was teaching English.

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“The Scalabrini English School has made me a more sensitive and empathetic teacher. It’s vital not to underestimate the importance of being careful and caring towards your students wherever you teach.”

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Since the first moment of communication, I felt very welcome and cared for. The interview (with Vivienne) went in such a friendly way that my desire to work for Scalabrini grew incredibly. Upon arrival, I got lots of instruction, explanations, orientation days, exciting and educating integration seminars etc.

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All my questions were answered in detail thanks to all the colleagues and especially the manager of the English School, Rhoda. Everyone really helped me with understanding the life and goals of Scalabrini and to align my efforts with them. 

There are so many things that I learnt at Scalabrini, I am still thinking about them. What I can tell is that I saw an incredible example of work discipline and devotion at Scalabrini, from every single person. It was awesome to see how engaged everyone was. I also believe that I learnt a lot about teamwork and atmosphere. Each member of the team tried to contribute his or her share and at the same strives to help their colleagues wherever possible. It was great to be in that kind of environment. Professionally, I definitely feel more experienced now, because I had a chance to see which teaching techniques and strategies worked and did not work in a completely new place. 

The Scalabrini English School has made me a more sensitive and empathetic teacher. It’s vital not to underestimate the importance of being careful and caring towards your students wherever you teach. I also acquired some new ways, tricks and methods to present my material or deal with classroom management, thanks to observing my dear colleagues and the workshops that Rhoda and the University of Cape Town held. 

I think I have two moments that I particularly cherish. The first one was the integration seminar conducted by Diana and Max. We had wonderful conversations about the ethos of Scalabrini as well as on plenty of very important topics. I was really thankful for that chance to be introduced to different ideas and discuss essential issues, to meet the others and to be heard. 

The second moment was the Space Café workshop. I organised it for the learners, basing it on my own experience with my English club back in Russia. Being a conversational event with several open-talk, creative locations, it received a massive response and positive feedback. I really loved how engaged, happy and interested everyone was. 

I have plans for the distant future to volunteer in South America or Asia, but before that I am going to work at a private English school in my home city, Krasnoyarsk for a couple of years. I have a lot of ideas I would like to implement and bring to life, as well as digest everything I learnt and experienced in South Africa.”

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New research on undocumented migrant youth in South Africa

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