Hello, this being our second full day, I thought it would be good to get our students' perspective on our trip for this blog. So today, we start with Kate Harris and she writes:
It's a small world afterall. If I learn nothing else from this trip, I have learned that and to never make assumptions about people or places. It's our second full day in South Africa and I could not be more in love. In the morning, we conducted various landscaping tasks and other tasks at one of Living Hope's new facilities. After a morning of preparing the site externally, we were in for another treat in the afternoon at the Children's Clubs. We spent the afternoon at three Children's Club sites in the Ocean View Community again.
The clubs are an after school program and my favorite part of each day. I knew we would be helping in these clubs, but I assumed that would take on a very different form, a form unimaginable to me. I soon learned, as we all did, that such things are universal. It's just like the kids' club I coordinate in Nashville. Same lessons, same games, and same energy. The children even dress as we do and their affection goes unmatched. These studetns greet us with excitement and many of us have already formed special bonds with them. They teach us Afrikaans, which is their language, and we also learn about their culture's hospitality and values. Most importantly we learn never to make assumptions for those who seem most opposite from us. We are all brothers and sisters and that is one special lesson.
Kate has summarized an important lesson for all of us about making assumptions. South Africa is a wonderful learning environment not only for our students but the Belmont faculty that are here as well. We look forward to sharing more insights about our trip over the coming days.
Until next time.