It’s hard to believe that it’s been 2 ½ years since I’ve been in South Africa. I think that subconsciously I’ve been putting writing this because once I write it will mean that I’m not really there anymore… which I try to deny to this day. When I graduated from the University of Michigan in 2004 I had no idea what I wanted to do with my life… I had a couple of grand ideas, but nothing that I felt that I HAD to do. When I found the WWISA website and after talking to Mac, I knew that this place would change my life… I had no idea!

After an overnight flight to London, 13 hours in Heathrow, an overnight flight to Joburg, a flight to PE, 6 hours of waiting in the bus terminal in PE on Easter Sunday, and a 3 hour bus ride I finally made it to Rocky Road. I still remember all of it like it happened yesterday. My first day in South Africa I rode an elephant at the brand new elephant sanctuary, was awestruck the first time I saw a baboon on the road (8 months later and about 1000 baboons later I understood why Rocky wasn’t as shocked as I was), a few days later I was helping Jane at Nature’s Valley with an Easter Holiday kids program for kids from the Crags Primary School - helping kids who had never been in the ocean that’s less than 10 miles away from the township that they live in learn to swim. The next 8 months that I spent at Rocky Road were the most amazing months of my life.

I spent most of my time at the Crags Primary School helping Jane with the Born in Africa after school programs - doing art projects, sports, music and much more, but mostly just spending time with all the kids, and getting to know them. After building up relationships with the older kids at the school I started HIV/AIDS education programs after school for the grade 5 and 6 students. I also spent one night a week at the Grace House, the safehouse for neglected girls in Kurland, where I would make dinner and sleep at the house with the girls.

Over my 8 months in South Africa I not only bungee-jumped off the Bloukrans Bridge, went skydiving twice, learned to love petanque, become obsessed with Nature’s Valley, traveled to Namibia for 3 weeks, went to Addo twice, Capetown 3 times, but I also met the love of my life! Henry was doing a year-long internship with SANParks and met Rob, Emma, Emily & Mac at an Eco Schools meeting, a few days later Rob invited him to their leaving party and when Emma pointed him out to me at the braai a few nights later- I was smitten. We’ve been together ever since.

But my experience in South Africa doesn’t end with falling in love with a boy; it’s also falling in love with my life and discovering what I want to do with it. After leaving South Africa I went home and decided that I wanted to go back to school - so a few months later I moved to London (with Henry) and got a Master’s in International Politics and Human Rights - my dissertation title was taken directly from my experiences at WWISA - Youth-based HIV/AIDS prevention programmes in South Africa: A case study of loveLife. Today I am living in Washington DC, (where Henry will be starting his own masters program this fall) working for an NGO, and constantly dreaming and planning a move back to South Africa.

I cannot thank Mac and Rocky enough for the experience that I had during my 8 months at Rocky Road, nor can I put into words how much my life has been charged for the better by going there, so I will just encourage anyone who is thinking about going there, to do it! WWISA changed my life, and even if you go for a month, I am certain that you would go home a different person, a better person. Make the most of it, because the more you put into your time at Rocky Road the more you will get out of it… and just make sure that Mac is there to make you a fried egg on toast and a Bloody Mary on Saturday morning when you wake up from another fabulously famous Rocky Road braai!

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