Learning Through Service in South Africa
What is service? Gandhi said that the best way to find yourself is to lose yourself in the service of others. Muhammad Ali said that service to others is the rent you pay for your room here on Earth. Crescent School boys who travelled to South Africa in March 2018 experienced firsthand how powerful service learning can be.
Instead of relaxing on a beautiful Indian Ocean beach on their last weekend in the country, the Crescent Upper School students trekked to a soup kitchen where they prepped and cooked a meal that they then served to children of the Chintsa East community. Lounging on a beach would have been relaxing, but interacting with locals and learning from a local entrepreneur was unforgettable. Service learning happens when you least expect it, when you put yourself out there, when you give of yourself when you might least feel like it.
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For the bulk of our time in South Africa, we learned alongside students at the Vela School in the Eastern Cape city of Mthatha, near to where Nelson Mandela was born. We shadowed Upper School Vela boys in their classes, visited museums and landmarks together, and got to know one another over a couple of delicious South African braai, barbecues prepared over a wood fire.
The rest of our time at Vela School was spent delivering a literacy program for Grade 2 students. Our chosen book this year was Ada Twist, Scientist, a story of a young girl who is as curious and clever as the kids we worked with. Crescent boys prepared activities and lessons to engage the children in reading, writing, crafts and conversation. We also visited a local orphanage, the Bethany Home, where we spent time with babies and toddlers in need of some playmates.
The rest of our time at Vela School was spent delivering a literacy program for Grade 2 students. Our chosen book this year was Ada Twist, Scientist, a story of a young girl who is as curious and clever as the kids we worked with. Crescent boys prepared activities and lessons to engage the children in reading, writing, crafts and conversation. We also visited a local orphanage, the Bethany Home, where we spent time with babies and toddlers in need of some playmates.
Not every day was spent doing service work. We also found some time to explore the magnificent city of Cape Town, where we visited Robben Island, the location of Nelson Mandela’s 18-year imprisonment during the Apartheid Era. We observed the city from above from the majestic peak of Table Mountain, and travelled to the southwestern most point of the African continent, the Cape of Good Hope.
Many thanks to Ms. Sheryl Murray, Director of Outreach at Crescent, for organizing the trip, and to the boys for putting in the effort, for going with the flow, for being resilient and for putting on a darn good dance show at the final Vela School assembly.
