Ending a Beautiful Week in Malungeni

“And none of us need feel any shame at all at using help, since we all help each other.”

The reality of time passing is in full force for us all. We’re starting to say our good-bye’s and plan our thank you celebrations. The Community Center bleachers are complete, we’ve practiced our songs for the thank you ceremony and Chan and Erin are getting the drama club ready for tomorrow’s performance. In the middle of the commotion we received another resident to the guest house -- "Happy" -- a flea invested, scruffy, starving puppy.

As the majority of the team headed off to school, Erin and I were on our way to the Community Center when we were summoned by two local ladies – the real Joyce – asked if we were going to go with them to the river to carry water...how could we say no? The women filled the buckets in the pond and set us up with head gear, then placed the buckets on our heads. I had to make an adjustment, placing the bucket closer to the front of my head then set off with both hands on the bucket - there would be no hands free moments from this amateur. With concentration and determination, we made it to the road without drenching ourselves in the valuable resource and happily handed the buckets back to the ladies at the road. Joyce had a baby strapped to her back as she hoisted the bucket on her head and used her hands to carry scraps of sheet metal she had found in the field. The weight and placement of the bucket wrecked my neck, a constant and painful reminder of one of the many hardships the women of Malungeni encounter on a daily basis. Even our hauling in of water for drinking and washing from the storage tanks at the guest house this week pales in comparison to the realities of local life.

This afternoon Global Volunteers hosted a thank you celebration for Malungeni. Wendy opened with a lovely invocation and we led local people in a rendition of “Morning Has Broken”. Not possessing a harmonious voice, I was thankful for the iPod accompaniment. Michele gave a very heartfelt speech to the local community as Solomsi translated in Xhosa, which included reference to Nelson Mandela’s inaugural speech where he quoted Marianne Williamson’s poem of “Our Greatest Fear.” “Our greatest fear is not that we are not strong enough, it’s that we’re powerful beyond measure.” The people of Malungeni are just that…powerful beyond measure. As their partners in development, I hope we have, in some small way, reignited that belief and desire in them - we’ve certainly been witness to it time and again during our stay.

After we all took a moment to express our gratitude to the community and heard a touching thank you from a community leader, we closed with South Africa’s National Anthem, the same song Malungeni used to greet us two short weeks ago. The local women then got up and started singing, dancing, and hugging us, telling us the most important thing is love. For the fourth or fifth time today, I was moved to tears.

Dinner was scrumptious once again thanks to Danice. Perhaps Global Volunteers should consider marketing these fine dining experiences for its South African teams. We were “treated” to a drop-in by Nyaniso Magokolo after dinner, who wanted an update on what we did while we were here, and to offer us a safe journey home. He was open and gracious with suggestions on how to get children to read and the importance of childhood development through daycare programs. He left us with the challenge to continue what we started and continue to help Malungeni. From the conversations we’ve all had, I know we’ve all come up with our own ways in meeting that challenge.

In the spirit of being in the moment (a personal goal on this journey), the day was filled with flashes I will carry back with me in my heart…Vuyo, Rebecca, Nkuli and Gwen singing “Oh Happy Day” in the kitchen, the livestock rush hour, the magnificent sunset, walking the village with Chan to create a map, the kind well wishes followed by the extra yummy birthday cake, the dishwashing jam session, and Olga and Gwen bringing us our good-as -new laundry. In one day alone, these images captured so much of the complete experience in Malungeni.

We are all now faced with the inevitable farewell. Our Malungeni friends will carry on in the same environment as we head back home to our modern day conveniences. They will continue to be challenged…and hopefully uplifted with possibility. As for us, the volunteers, may we take with us another line from the Greatest Fear poem, “Your playing small does not serve the world.” Just as we’re hoping for big dreams for our new friends, may we continue ourselves to grandly dream, serve on a large scale, and remember we, too, are powerful beyond measure.

- Michael Kithcart