Reflections of Havergal: 1994-2019

Appendices

In the Spirit of Ubuntu: a Global Experience Story Torch , Fall 2010 By Alex Medline

My Name Is Alex Medline, and over the summer I travelled with the Havergal Global Experience Program to South Africa to volunteer with Nurturing Orphans of AIDS for Humanity (NOH). In the spirit of “ubuntu” (which means caring for one another in Zulu), the mission of NOAH is to support communities that support children orphaned by AIDS so they can mature into emotionally and psychologically stable adults, to help them become capable of forming lasting and loving relationships and to help them become nurturing parents to their own children. NOAH was co-founded by Havergal Old Girl Nicky Potter 1991 and Dr. Greg Ash. Ms. Potter now runs Friends of NOAH Canada. While in South Africa, our group travelled every day to one of the 101 Arks: Siyajabula (which means “we are happy” in Zulu). We played, painted and held hands with some of the 161 kids. I’m going to try and paint a picture for you. Imagine that you are in a van driving slowly down a steep hill to get to a valley at the bottom. You are surrounded by hills. There are goats blocking the road and clothes on clotheslines blowing in the wind. You pull up in your little van to a whitewalled home and immediately children run up to the bus and stick their noses up against the window. You open the door and a little girl you’ve never met before holds your hand and brushes the dirt off your leg. Another girl wraps herself around your back and tells you everything you need to know with the sparkle of her eyes. The child takes your hand and walks you up a hill to a patch of grass where you sit. Her name is Molie. She takes your hand and runs her fingers through yours.

You sit there for hours, just holding her hands, not realizing that any time has gone by. More kids come, and you can feel the energy radiating from each child and you feel peaceful. Nothing matters except for that very moment in time. Nothing has to be said. You and Molie just know that you are sharing something very special, something beautiful. You walk over to the wall of the Ark and are met by a group of older kids. You spend time body-mapping on the walls of the Ark, outlining figures and drawing symbols of yourself, your accomplishments, aspirations, fears and scars and painting the people who support you. The walls are no longer white. You watch your new friends open up to you. You have never felt so loved. A walk through their village of Molweni shows the huge sense of community and love that runs through the village. The Chief of the village greets you and gives you a hug. The children are proud to show you their homes. Although they are limited, you can sense the unlimited openness. You return back to the Ark where music from the van plays. They break out into dance. It is some of the best dancing you’ve ever seen. More kids come and a dance-off starts. Dozens of kids watch as one brave kid steps onto a huge rock and starts to dance like no one’s watching. You cheer and, as the sun comes down, realize it’s time to say goodbye. We learn at Havergal that personal connections are the basis for our shared humanity with others and are at the root of our ability to work in partnership to solve problems. In South Africa, I understood.

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