Community Service “Daring to give back to society.”

When we were informed of the 60 hours of community services that we would have to fulfill for SAWIP my initial thought was; this will in some way or another be done, nevertheless, will there be any meaningful fruition to it?

I have always advocated for community services and perpetually encourage people to give back to society, as I believe that every community service experience gives birth to a new lesson to be learnt. However, with my entire extra mural activities revolving around community services, I couldn’t help but wonder if I would have a profound experience. As I set to decide on how I would spend my 30hrs, I recalled how when growing up my mother would always encourage my siblings and me to do our chores by chanting “charity begins at home”.

It is then that I decided to plough back to the community of Aliwal North. The most shocking reality from my community service experiences was on the perceptions we have about poorer communities and how those perceptions limit us from expanding our knowledge of those particular communities. Contrary to popular belief, young children in these communities yearn for the very things which we yearn for; respect, love, kindness, care and compassion. In one of the community visits, a young girl invited us to their home to meet her parents. Upon our arrival at their home, her parents came out to greet us and thanked us for the work which we have been doing, they then invited us to have dinner with them -we gladly agreed.

In African tradition, being invited into one’s home and offered food is a symbol of acceptance and acknowledgement into a community. What was interesting to note about this family was the unconditional love; they didn’t have much but they had each other and they valued that. The father of the house offered to slaughter one of his only 2 remaining chickens for the meal. He slaughtered the chicken of which his wife then cooked it. Later on, the father brought us a bowl with water for us to wash our hands before dinner was served.

As I sat there in observation of the effort and consideration put towards ensuring that we were most comfortable I was in awe of this family; they didn’t have much but they were willing to share the little bit that they had with us. This for me was a paramount lesson on what leadership is about; putting others before yourself. We would go back to our comfortable homes and take for granted the food we had and they would remain in their community without complain about how little they had.

For them, inviting us to their home was a token of their appreciation for having made an effort to visit their community and encourage their young to never stop dreaming and to educate them of programs like SAWIP that care, that there is hope.

My community service experience made me realize the value of servitude and emphasized my belief: “That serving and being served are reciprocal and that one cannot really be one without the other.” -Robert Greenleaf Giving back to communities gives life purpose; it gives life meaning it makes life worthwhile. Try it, I DARE YOU.