When I decided to volunteer overseas, South Africa was not the first country on my list. In fact it didn’t even cross my mind until I came upon the website while researching other organizations. Immediately WWISA appealed to me with its personal feel (I got to communicate with a real live person instead of receiving form letters that told me little to nothing) and sense of teamwork. I was not disappointed in the least. The three months I spent at Rocky Road were some of the best that I have experienced and I often consider choosing South Africa as the best choice I could have made for me.

I worked with another volunteer, Tiwo, in the village of Kurland, setting up a sustainable gardening project. The work was fabulous, requiring us to meet a lot of the people and encouraging us to get to know them. This was something I enjoyed immensely and indeed, when it came right down to leaving, some of the people it was hardest to say goodbye to were members of our little gardening society.

It presented us with new challenges, as we needed to organize, motivate and fundraise. And we had to DIG! Sometimes we thought that it would never get done (we had to move on African time and that is slow!). But somewhere along the line it did get done. We needed the help of the many municipality officials that we leaned on, the other volunteers and Rocky and Mac who were both essential in the translations we needed to do often, and they always came through for us. Hopefully it is an initiative that will continue to grow and prosper and I look forward to the updates.

My work with the Sustainable Gardening project helped me to learn the importance of baby steps. They may be small, but they still mean you’re moving. This little project of ours was all about the baby steps, but with each new step and each new garden I got to celebrate the fact that there was one more family that would enjoy fresh produce at harvest time. That is very comforting knowledge.

I think the best part about my volunteering experience was the support that I received from all around. The other volunteers were amazing and always helped us brainstorm when we were unsure of how to approach a problem (Roger helped us figure out our pig problem) or needed help in any of our duties. We were a team and after some time a family. I enjoyed the closeness of the Rocky Road crew and the fact that there was always someone that you could unload about a bad day to, explore the fabulous countryside with, run with, travel with, drink with or just be plain silly with. It was only with their help and support I feel that anything got done.

Thanks for the good times and the innumerable life lessons that I picked up along the way. If I have given even half of what I have received in South Africa I am truly blessed.

Cheers and God Bless.
Caroline

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