RiTara Williams
2014 - 2015
Cape Town, South Africa
Impacting Communities in Cape Town and Beyond
I recently graduated from Belmont University, where I received a Bachelor of Business in Accounting with a minor in Chinese. I grew up a military child which instilled in me a need travel and explore the world constantly. This need brought me to Cape Town, South Africa last summer on a study abroad trip. I immediately fell in love with the beauty and the culture of the land; so much so, I decided I had to come back for a longer period of time.
During my study abroad trip in Cape Town, South Africa, I worked at a preschool in a township named Red Hill. In this township, through all circumstance, I encountered the most joyful children. My heart completely melted when I met a little girl named Pinky; however, she did not have the same reaction. She was completely terrified of all volunteers that have ever come to their preschool but I sought out to change that.
We only had three days to interact with the children and by the end of the visit, Pinky and I surprised everybody by playing together. She even allowed the other volunteers to play along with us. That moment made the biggest impact on me because it showed me that one person can make a change in somebody’s life. That was also the moment I decided that I had to come back to Cape Town and try to impact even more lives.
After researching a few companies, I decided to work for The Happy Africa Foundation and African Impact. African Impact is a volunteer travel organization that offers interactive volunteer projects in Southern and East Africa. They facilitate meaningful volunteer project in 12 countries for over 10,000 volunteers. They are now the largest on-the-ground African specialist in volunteer tourism. They facilitate internship programs with ethical social enterprises and NGO’s in Africa. The Happy Africa Foundation is one of African Impact’s many partners in placing interns in their many locations. The Happy Africa Foundation operates out of 4 different countries.
What I look forward to most in this new endeavor is the meaningful interactions with new people and unique learning opportunities. There is so much for me to learn in so little time and I am excited to see what Cape Town has in store for me.
More about me....
Major(s): Accounting
My Stories
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Unbelievable Journey
This roller coaster ride of experiences, emotions, and events is shortly coming to an end. This Friday I will be boarding that silver
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Belmont Abroad
I waited a bit to write this blog because I didn’t have much that was blog worthy in the past couple of weeks.
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Free Falling
Last weekend calls for its own blog post! I JUMPED OUT OF A PLANE WILLINGLY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! There is something so freeing about going skydiving!
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Bunny Hop
Trying to find a job from another country is literally the most stressful, anxiety inducing process ever! Actually, trying to find a job
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Beautiful Differences
I am not sure why I am just now being more attentive to the differences between South African Culture and US Culture but
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The Blessings of Friendship
Life has been a bit more real since moving to Fish Hoek. Not living in a volunteer house means that you have to
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Hilarious Encounters
You never really realize how much of a role internet and Wifi play in your life until you are constantly struggling for a
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Changing Views
Another intern interviewed me recently to hear about my time here so far and I thought I would share it on here as
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New adventure
I am finally settled into my new apartment and I am still deciding how I feel about it. Pros I have a new
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Happy days, Holidays!
I know that I have not posted in a while but between not having Wi-Fi long enough to post anything to traveling all
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Blink of the Eye
In an exciting twist, this post is brought to you from Germany! For my birthday on the 2nd, my parents brought me a
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Different Country. Same Questions.
I honestly wasn’t thinking about doing this post a few seconds ago but a lovely friend in Nashville sparked this thought process! As
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Happiness
So not that it matters but this is now my third time writing this. You would think that I would learn my lesson
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Comfort Zone
Life begins at the end of your comfort zone. I thought I knew what that meant but it has come to my realization
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Lifetime Learner
I will start off apologizing for taking so long to post a new blog. Two weeks come way too fast and I simply
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Working Through Circumstances
Y’all two weeks really fly by! I mean it feels like I just wrote on here yesterday! Anywho… Even though these past two
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Existing to Live
Sometimes it is easy to forget just how blessed we are to be on this earth. We get caught up in your complaints
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Lessons Learned
I have learned so much in the short amount of time I have been here so far. For example, I learned that it
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Beauty in the work
Whoa! Where has this week gone? Actually the past two weeks have been a blur to me. When you love what you are
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Constant Change
Let’s begin today with some GREAT news! My Computer is FIXED! I finally got in contact with my brother who informed me that my computer
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Amazed by the amazing
It is just beyond me how time can move so fast! I am in my 6th week already! However, I am still amazed
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Moving Seasons
Now that I am a bit more settled I can tell you all what I have been up to the past couple of
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Arrival
It is so crazy how so much can happen in one week! First things first, the flight here was nothing less than a
