A New Perspective: Falere Fagoroye '09

This year Falere Fagoroye traveled to South Africa on a service-learning trip with classmates from St. Andrew’s School. On the two-week trip, her first out of the US, Falere marveled at Cape Town—a “city literally surrounded by mountains”—and was fascinated to learn more about “how the country [has] evolved since apartheid.”

In addition to hiking in the mountains around Cape Town with students from the Ned Doman School and going on safari in Pilanesburg, Falere and the other students toured historic sites and communities in Cape Town and Johannesburg, including Robben Island, Constitution Hill, and Soweto. They also partnered with the Bokamoso Youth Centre in Winterveldt to do some community service, as well as sing, dance, and play soccer and four square.

The Bokamoso Youth Centre offers life- and work-skills training, counseling, and scholarships to young people from Winterveldt. An annual exchange program brings twelve students to the US each year to perform and raise money for scholarships.

When Falere and her classmates arrived at the Youth Centre, it was pouring rain, but the Bokamoso students “were still outside singing and greeting us,” Falere recounted. Each day at the Centre started with a singing meeting—something that reminded Falere of her time at Lowell!

Reflecting on her trip, Falere said, “I’ve learned about a lot of countries and cultures (again, thanks to Lowell), but I’ve never been to any of these places. Going to [South Africa] put everything I knew into perspective—since, after all, to truly learn about a country or culture one must visit it.”