Rachel
Mariannhill
KwaZulu Natal
South Africa

January 14, 2008

Greetings to you all back home,

I hope this letter finds you healthy in the beginning of this New Year.  I have now been in South Africa for 3 months, volunteering in Mariannhill, which is on the outskirts of Durban, with the Missionary Sisters of the Precious Blood (CPS) and the Mariannhill Fathers (CMM).  My formal responsibilities have been in the library of St. Francis’ College, an independent co-ed high school.  The students come from all throughout the province; some from financially secure homes and others from very poor townships that need to be sponsored by people from overseas.  St. Francis’ College is highly thought of as a leading mission institution in education.  There have been several great figures that have attended this school, most well known is Steve Biko who became the father of the Black Consciousness Movement during the apartheid regime.  There are approximately 500 students at the school, the majority being girls.

When I first arrived the students were in the midst of writing exams and finishing up their school year.  I had a chance to speak with some of them, learn their Zulu names and listen to their stories of home life, school life and social life.  I will be teaching a girls Grade 8 English class this coming year and will be helping in the library with research projects.  As the year progresses I will be helping with extra-curricular activities and hopefully with piano lessons for a couple of the students as well.

Over the holidays I was working at St. Vincent’s Children’s Home-an orphanage that can hold up to 150 children from the ages or 2-18.  Some of these children do have homes to go to for holidays, and so visit their families but come back for a new school year.  These families are not able to care for their children on a regular basis due to lack of finances or an insecure home/family life.  Other children are indeed orphans who have lost their parents due to AIDS, Tuberculosis or other unfortunate incidents.  Over Christmas there was a record number of 60 children left in the orphanage.  I helped entertain them by playing games, sports, reading, colouring or giving computer lessons.  There are several of these children who are extremely bright.  One in particular is a 12-year-old girl named Mandisa.  Her eyes shine with intensity and intelligence.  She speaks English fluently, loves attending school and does very well in all of her classes.  She has big dreams and a lot of determination to achieve them.  It’s amazing to see some of these children rising above their situation.  Other children unfortunately have a harder time coping and have many emotional problems.

Traveling to sister mission stations has also been such an awesome experience.  Most are in very rural areas and are the center of small towns; usually with a church, hospital or school.  Being in the mission stations you can feel the immense difference of not being surrounded by walls with barbed wire, security alarms, gates with padlocks and security guards like we are in Mariannhill.  The crime rate is high and is very violent. 

Despite all the poverty and suffering the people are generally so warm and compassionate, although of course, hesitant to open up fully to strangers.  It has taken me some time to establish relationships but people are beginning to let me see into their personal lives a little bit at a time.  There is a depth to them that I can not begin to describe and I am blessed to be here sharing in their lives and experiences, even if only for a short time.

There is still much to see and experience.  I am looking forward to it all and hope to write you again in the coming months.  I wish you all the best in the New Year and God’s many blessings on all the work you do for our Diocese.

Please keep South Africa in your prayers.

Yours in Christ,

Rachel