South Africa as a "Lesson Plan"

My Global Volunteers Service Program in South Africa was a surprise 50th birthday gift to me by my family and friends. They knew that service to others is something that I value and that for many years I also had yearned to travel to Africa.
Six years ago, I embarked on the journey of returning to college while raising four incredible children. It was during this time I discovered a deep desire to learn more about Africa, a place and history of which I previously had known very little. The opportunity to delve more deeply into the intellectual study of Africa, its people, history, diverse cultures, religions, economic challenges, etc. presented itself and I became an African Studies minor while majoring in Religious Studies at Agnes Scott College in Atlanta. The one piece missing from my studies had been the experience of actually going to the continent. My senior thesis had been on South African feminist theology from a post apartheid indigenous perspective so when I received the Global Volunteers gift I at once knew that South Africa would be my first choice of where I wanted to go. Lucky for me, the organization was preparing to send their first team to Malungeni -- a rural village in South Africa. I signed up immediately and anticipated with great joy the July 2008 departure.

Many of my friends asked me what I hoped to accomplish by taking this trip. I replied that my desire was to learn what I was meant to learn from this whole experience. While this might sound a bit New Age it was intended to mean that I wanted to stay open to the people I would meet, places I would visit, and work I would be asked to do. Volunteering has been the primary way I have experienced being within a community during my life. From my earliest memories I can recall accompanying my parents as we helped in our schools, church, neighborhood, and larger community. To go to Africa was only expanding my scope of where my volunteer experience could take me

As the first team to go to Malungeni, I knew there would be some unique opportunities to help form initial relationships and discover a bit more about this place and its people than later teams might encounter. I found this an exciting prospect. What I discovered from my initial encounter with Michele Gran, our team leader, was that she had our backs covered during the entire experience. I have worked in many volunteer settings in the past, some with international components to them, but I have never before experienced the consistency of vision and commitment to both the volunteer and the host community in the way that that Global Volunteers does. Michele never once promised something that she could not deliver, either to us as volunteers or to the community that had asked us to come work with them. This provided the volunteers as well as the community with sense of safety all the while being embraced by a high degree of true integrity.

The community of Malungeni extended one of the most hospitable and gracious welcomes I have ever experienced. The entire village from the elders, their chief, to the teenagers and young children embraced us and quickly formed friendships that made our time one of great joy and real hope. Many meaningful projects were begun by the community and our team during our two week trip. I can confidently say that future teams will find this community to be one where good things will happen.

The part of the Global Volunteers experience that I was pleasantly surprised by was how our team quickly bonded and formed friendships that I know will extend far into the future. The ten of us were from all parts of North America with an age range from the late teens to the seventies but we found so much common ground that friendships were easily formed and the team quickly found ways to use everyone’s unique gifts and talents. I will never forget the laughter that my roommate and I often fell asleep to. While although I was far away from my family I had found wonderful people to share this journey with. The work and team time made the whole experience one that I will hold in my heart forever.

The community school was my primary work site. I assisted the grade 4 through 9 Social Science teacher. It was exciting to be teaching their curriculum of social science from a human rights perspective. I found the teacher and students to be engaged learners with the classroom being a place of respect. The kids were great students and have high hopes for their futures. I learned a great deal from them and have a new respect for how difficult it can be to live and educate children within a remote village when technology and access can at times seem very far away.

As I reflect upon the two short weeks we spent with the community. I find myself wanting to return. I found a strength and character in the people of Malungeni that I admire. The women are working so diligently to bring change and opportunity to their village. They have the same concerns and hopes for their children as my friends and I have here at home. The miles might separate us but our hearts hold the same desires for healthy, educated children who will have good opportunities for their success filled futures.

My college studies enabled me to understand some of the history of the enormous continent and more specifically South Africa while my Global Volunteers service gave me the opportunity to begin relationships which moved beyond the pages of books and into our big world where we are called to be global citizens. Waging peace is such a noble goal, one that Global Volunteers embraces, but it is only through the forming of human relationships that we can discover who each other really is. I am grateful for the gift my family and friends gave me to travel and serve in Malungeni and look forward to serving with Global Volunteers again in the future.