What Starts Here Changes The World

            Egoli first sparked my interest because I wanted to work with a project that dealt with a public health issue. I have always been passionate about volunteer work, but unsurprisingly this project was different from others that we have done before. We built a model to help them with their electricity problem and saw the joy on their faces when we installed a simple light into their home. I always tried to remember that I was not coming to South Africa to save anyone, but rather to work with leaders to help improve their community. After talking to other American students who have also worked with Egoli, it seems like our work made a significant impact. It is amazing how a simple model can implement a resource that a community truly needs.

Before coming to South Africa, I chose to work on the Lego’s Daycare project. I had no idea what to expect or what we would be in for, as not too much information was provided for us, and our goal wasn’t too specific. Nevertheless, I was still excited to work with children and make a positive impact among their community. When we finally went to Lego’s and began our project, we found out we would be creating interventions, icebreakers, and social work influenced group activities to meet their psychosocial needs. I loved the experience, it truly felt like we were industrial psychologists. What I loved most however, was getting to know the women of Lego’s daycare and helping them let go of past burdens, as well as creating and strengthening their sisterhood. I know we made an impact because they would tell us daily how blessed they were to have us in their lives at a most crucial time. I think that our university’s motto is very fitting for all of us: What starts here changes the world, because we all became “agents of change.” I have learned so much about myself on this journey and have experienced a season of positive change and growth within myself. I will forever be grateful for being a part of this amazing opportunity.

Being part of the social and community development maymester has been an incredible journey. We know that we have to be out of our comfort zone in order to see change within us and out of us. In this case our comfort zone can literally be our homes in America since we traveled across the world to South Africa. We were able to grow as individuals through this process, even when we did not know what to expect and when we felt inadequate at times. The egoli team did have any engineering background and the Lego’s group members were not counselors. However, we learned how to serve our community partners and even each other as we implemented our projects. Even though we were not experts the projects made a great impact on the communities and when we make an impact in others we can say that we have helped create change in the world. This class has helped and encouraged the communities in Cape Town to grow, learn to be better and sustain that. We can truly say that our hearts are filled with warmth from our service learning projects.