Home Away from Home

June 9, 2013

One week down and many more to go! I think I have gotten over the initial shock of when I am living and the conditions. Now, I can write about all of the positive and wonderful experiences I am having here because there are many and they definitely outweigh the negatives that I spoke about in earlier posts.

Today we went to a local church and attended Mass. There are at least three local Catholic Churches around my town and close by. People here love their religion and they love their Lord. The church was a little brick building. They bring in the pews and kneelers every Sunday for mass. Every other day the church is like an empty space. But when it is filled with pews and kneelers and people and children and priest the little brick church comes alive to be the most spectacular mass I have ever been to. The priest, who is a Salesian and who works with me at my school and youth group, said mass in their African language called Zulu. Everyone sang and responded in Zulu. The COOLEST part was that I could follow along without skipping a beat! I knew what prayers and responses were being said and what songs were being sung and I could receive communion. To be a complete outsider, 9000 miles away from my own church and speaking a totally different language, I have never felt more a part of the mass before. The mass took 2 hours because of their songs. It was the most beautiful soul/gospel music I have ever heard. I could sing along with them in English. Then they would start dancing in the isles and waving their hands in the air. It was awesome! The children sat together in the front 2 rows and followed along, sang and danced with everyone. They didn’t need a “cry room” or to be taken out for being distracting. Mass and church is a special and important place to them and they were just as a part of it as the rest of the congregation.

 UNIVERSAL: My new favorite part of being part of the Catholic Church. There are so many things that I love about it, but being here in Africa and participating in today’s mass, I have a great appreciation for the beautiful thing that is the Catholic Church’s universality. It is what sets us apart from so many others…no matter where you go in the world; the mass is always the same. You go into Mass and instantly become one with everyone there. It’s like home (and here come the tears). You feel safe knowing that you are just as close to God and your church and your beliefs as you were back at home, half way around the world. 

After mass we have Sunday lunch at the sister’s house. It is our one hot meal of the day (like every other day, we usually get one hot meal a day, at their house). The new volunteers from Ireland finally arrived and joined us for lunch. They two girls are living with us and the boy is living with the Salesian priests and brothers in their house down the road. Now, its 6 girls living in our house representing 4 different countries. We can all speak English but with different accents. It’s really fascinating speaking with them and learning about where they come from and their cultures and life at home.

After we had taken long afternoon naps (which is vital for me because I have not gotten used to the time difference yet so I’m wide awake most nights) my roommate Chrissy and I sat at our kitchen table and had a great convo. I learned from this convo exactly how different I am from these other girls, besides the fact that we are from different countries. I am speaking more about our life journeys and what brought us to South Africa. I am the only one out of the 6 of us, who never dreamed of visiting, much less living, in Africa. Like I had mentioned in my very first post back in April (see April post if you haven’t read it), Africa chose me. I did not choose Africa. The other girls here and mostly Chrissy, have dreamed about visiting, seeing or living in Africa. Chrissy majors in international social work because she wants to be a social worker in Africa someday. She spent a semester in Ghana living and working with the people there. She has a love and deep fascination for all things African. It’s very inspiring how passionate she is about her work an about Africa. I, on the other hand, had no initial interest of visiting, seeing or living in Africa. Chrissy and I were discussing those differences we had and I started to feel bad for not having the deep desire to come here. So I began to doubt myself for a minute. Am I in the right place? Should I have gone somewhere that I really desired and hoped to be living or visiting? Am I just being overly ambitious or being cliché for coming to serve in a poor town in South Africa? Isn’t it too soon to be doubting things? I still have 7 months to go!! All I can do really to keep my own peace about my presence here is to keep reassuring myself (and thanks to the help from all of my supportive family and friends) that this is where God placed me and I am simply answering His call to serve here. It was never in my plan or my dreams and that’s ok. If anything it was part of God’s plan to take me out of my life in the States where I planned and micromanaged every aspect of my life. I think He is trying to show me how wonderful a life can be when you let go of control and simply just live and enagage in the moment you are in and appreiciate the NOW, instead of worrying about the future.

I am not any less than the other volunteers here. It just makes my circumstances and journey a little different. Right?

When I leave here, though, I hope to travel to a few places where I would like to visit while I’m out of the States. Sr. Giovanna who is a Salesain sister, who I work with, is from Italy and tells me about how wonderful it is and that Noto and Sicily are spectacular places to visit. The Salesian sisters have a community there where I could stay and work while visiting. Only time will tell what I will be doing, though. I just continue to pray for guidance and peace. I know that God will lead me on the path I am supposed to be on whether that is more traveling and volunteering or a life teaching in the States OR anything else?!!!  I just know I’m in the right place at the right time and it feels good (minus the cold weather and the lack of heat in any building in my town, that doesn’t feel too good!).

I came across a beautiful quote the other day and it relates to my life here in SA and my April blog post about my “journey to get to this journey”. I read this at night. Its comforting.

“Your journey has molded you for your greater good, and it’s exactly what you needed it to be. Don’t think that you have lost time. It took each and every situation you have encountered to bring you to the now. And the now is right on time” –Asha Tyson