My South AfricaN Adventure by roshni mistry, tameside
On Thursday 4th February 2016, my journey to South Africa began, spending three months away from home living with a host family. I was a volunteer on an International Citizenship Service( ICS) Programme led by the UK Government to help with some of the poorest countries in Africa, Asia and Latin America alongside the organisation, Restless Development working with 18 other volunteers aged 18-24.
“ My schooling experience was something I will never forget and one of the most rewarding aspects of the visit”
Rondavale, a triangular round hut
I found out I was chosen to go to a new community; Mabetshe a rural village in a town called Ngqeleni in Eastern Cape of SA. I couldn’ t even describe how nervously excited I was knowing we would be the first people to leave an impression on behalf of Restless Development.
In Mabetshe there were six volunteers in total and I lived with a host family, who had a very big family with lots of children, parents and grandparents. I lived in a Rondavale, a triangular round hut that was huge inside and of course, just my luck it wasn’ t a mud hut and opposite with a whole bunch of farm animals and a child-hating cockerel, which was eventually sacrificed for my dinner on the last day in community! The living lifestyle was very basic, sharing one toilet known as the long drop; gosh did everyone have some horrendously funny experiences in them and a small wash basin to bathe in not to mention the constant buzz of a horseflies and mosquitos which I sprayed daily with doom!
Volunteering in Mabetshe was definitely an unbelievably phenomenal experience. I am proud that I was the first to enter my chosen community, leaving them with a lasting impression of the charity’ s services and doing so much for the community.
Whilst I was there we facilitated sessions on Sexual Health Rights and Livelihoods in a junior school, high school and health clinics.
My schooling experience was something I will never forget and one of the most rewarding aspects of the visit. Walking into a class with over 80 students was a shock to the system and at first it was very overwhelming. However, I quickly built my confidence and the students were always keen to learn in the sessions we taught, as many of the topics weren’ t as emphasised as they are in the UK. At first many children were quite shy to learn but the more we interacted with them, they eventually felt comfortable with what we were teaching, especially the topics on sexual health.
Some subjects were extremely sensitive; we delivered sessions on gender-based violence( GBV), which for some was a very fragile subject as there are young people who are going through this. Restless Development provided support to anyone who was suffering, which was confidentially handled with support officers from their local town. Whilst we were there, over 30 cases of GBV were reported to the police, and this is more than ever before! I felt both elated and upset at the same time: for the first time in this local community, people
34 vol. 41 | Prajapati Sandesh 2016