Singing and dancing greeted DePaul College of Law student Allison Barberena on her first visit to Siyakhathala, a nonprofit in the Khayelitsha township of Cape Town, South Africa. The organization provides support to children who have lost one or both parents, often due to violence or HIV/AIDS. Its founder, Nontsasa Nyovane, is one of three finalists for the $1 million Opus Prize, a global faith-based humanitarian award hosted by DePaul this year.

“From the moment we arrived, the joy was evident. Everyone was so welcoming, and I think that has to do with how Nontsasa runs her program,” says Barberena, who was part of delegation from DePaul visiting the Opus Prize finalists. “She’s very aware of the circumstances that brought these children to her, but she really values joy and it permeates throughout the organization day in and day out.”

Nyovane is the founder, executive director and program manager of Siyakhathala, which means “We Care” in English. Founded in 2009, Siyakhathala supports around 550 children in six primary schools with after-school care and meals. They also support other programming, such as community gardens, employment and skill building, and parenting and support workshops for survivors of trauma and abuse.

Barberena is a third-year law student and works in the college’s International Human Rights Law and Asylum & Immigration Law clinics. While visiting Siyakhathala, the DePaul group assisted in serving lunches, playing games and dancing with the children, while learning about some of the issues facing the organization and the families in the neighborhood.

Building a lasting collaboration

Elisabeth Ward, a professor of legal practice and founder and executive director of the International Human Rights Law Institute in DePaul’s College of Law, serves as a member of this year’s Opus Prize steering committee and was also part of the South Africa delegation.

“From the beginning, I was really inspired by Nontsasa’s work,” Ward says. “The way she approaches it from a holistic standpoint is something that really stuck with me. In my international work, the organizations who have that approach tend to be the most successful.”

The relationship between DePaul and Siyakhathala is just getting started, Wards says. Since the site visit, Ward has returned to South Africa with DePaul students participating in the post-conflict justice immersion program, a College of Law study abroad program. Ward sees opportunities for the International Human Rights Law Institute to support the organization in a variety of ways, most notably through legal support.

“While we aren’t South African attorneys, we can help connect the grassroots legal work happening within the organization to international systems like the United Nations. We can also focus on long-term legal reform and policy work,” Ward says.

For Barberena, the trip was transformational, particularly for the practical ways Nyovane and her colleagues approached tackling issues in their neighborhoods.

“It’s easy to look at everything going on in the world and wonder what you can do to make a difference, but their work shows that you can find one thing in Chicago or your hometown or even at your school and work to create change. This experience reshaped my outlook and motivated me to look for ways to make a difference now,” Barberena says.

Ward adds that this sort of trip is rare for law school students across the country.

“The ability to show that you can engage in cross-cultural collaboration, particularly surrounding extremely sensitive issues where professionalism and sincerity is needed, will serve Allison well no matter what she wants to do,” Ward says.

DePaul will host a week of events Oct. 26-29 celebrating the Opus Prize finalists, including class visits, a prayer service and the final awards ceremony Oct.  29. Find the full schedule and register for events on the Opus Prize Events website.

Learn more about the student ambassadors’ trips and the finalists’ work on YouTube.