0 Back Home

I think today I really owe you an apology! I promised to write this post more than two months ago…but somehow I just couldn’t make myself write anything because on the one hand there wasn’t a lot to report about and on the other hand it would have been so terminatory for my year in South Africa. But now I am settled in Germany again and ready to tell you everything about it – except that there still isn’t too much to tell you.

Before our group of nine remaining volunteers – some had to leave earlier for internships – left our “home country for a year” we still had an End of Stay Camp at a lodge near the airport of Johannesburg. We all met there for one night and had some group sessions where we talked about leaving South Africa, our personal feelings and plans and the theory of the reverse culture shock. The sessions were quite short, so there was a lot of time to compare notes with the others and to enjoy some last beams of the generous South African sun!

On the first of August we all left for the airport. Most of us were quite happy and excited to see the family and friends so soon, some had to fight back the tears and were quite sad to leave the new country and friends and some already made plans to come back for university. We all definitely had very mixed feelings, but for me actually the positive feelings prevailed. I had a great year in South Africa, but there also were so many things that I was looking forward to in Germany, beginning with being able to walk outside on my own and even in the dark without having to be overcautious, riding a bike again, drinking sparkling water, jogging outside in the forest  and many other little things.

After enjoying a last beautiful African sunset above the skyline of Joburg through the big glass windows of our terminal  we could finally enter the big plain and only then we really realized that we were about to leave for good.

The flight itself was quite nice. We were flying overnight so that I could sleep a bit and for the rest of the time I explored the movie selection. After disembarking in Frankfurt the four of us that went on to Hamburg almost missed our connecting flight, but luckily we made it in the last seconds before the gate was closed. When we finally arrived in Hamburg at 8am our families were all waiting, we quickly said goodbye and then set out for our homes.

Since the very first second that I set foot on German ground for me it seemed like I had never been away, but in a positive way. I still have all those great memories but now it seems a little bit like a dream. Only when I meet the other volunteers this dream becomes true again and then it’s definitely a great dream! At home and everything with my family and friends is exactly like it was before and I didn’t have any trouble to settle at all. In the beginning I always had to remind myself that I don’t have to check the streets for possible dangers when walking outside anymore, but even these habits I gave up very quickly.

Two weeks ago we had our first of two post processing seminars together with the volunteers from Ghana, that we already knew from the preparing seminars, and some others from different countries. It was really cool to see the others again and to exchange everything that had happened and I think we all had a really good weekend. Of course we also had some group sessions where we reflected on our experiences – it was also nice to compare experiences with those from other countries such as Columbia, Mexico or Australia – talked about possibilities to stay involved here in Germany and also had the chance to share our criticism and suggestions for AFS’s future.

I definitely plan to stay involved with AFS, by joining the local AFS committee and by becoming instructor for seminars. For our second post processing seminar we have the choice between seminars treating various parts of development politics or a seminar that’s the first part of our training to become instructor. I chose the second option and so I am going to have my next seminar in three weeks in Rottweil. Then I will write another short report on the seminar for you and this time I will really keep my promise!!

In the meantime I just moved to Heidelberg for studying medicine from tomorrow. So now I am quite excited what is expecting me in the next few days and weeks, but nevertheless already looking forward to the next seminar!

0 Ngamukelekile – Welcome to South Africa!

It took me some time, but here it is: my first post from South Africa! So far I had some problems with the internet but now I have got my South African SIM card and the code for the Wifi so that nothing can stop me from writing my next entries. But in the last few days since my departure happened a lot, so I should better start with the very beginning.

On Wednesday evening our big adventure was starting with our flight to Johannesburg. Stella and I were flying from Hamburg to Frankfurt where we should meet two other AFS volunteers that are going to South Africa with us. Even though we both were a little bit sad after saying goodbye to our families and friends, in the plane we were just happy that we were really sitting in this plane after all the trouble with our visas. But arriving in Frankfurt our mood was dampened again because we already had the next problem: the airplane to Johannesburg was overbooked and there were no seats left for two of the four of us. But after half an hour of worried waiting we fortunately somehow got our seats and nothing could stop us anymore.

The flight went by very fast and Thursday morning at 9 o’clock we arrived in Johannesburg. Some South African AFS volunteers picked us up at the airport, warmly welcomed us and brought us to a lodge where we should stay for our on arrival camp until Saturday. We all didn’t really expect to have a real three-day camp because we thought that no one would make such an effort for only four people, but AFS did and we were quite happy to have this “period of grace” (furthermore we had already heard that the lodge’s food should be really good!). Moreover the weather already was much warmer than we expected - it’s still South African winter – and we had a swimming pool, but as it wasn’t heated the water was still very cold. Anyway we did not only have fun, we also learned a lot about South African culture, the country in general, dos and don’ts and a lot more of helpful things. We also went to a small mall to get new SIM cards, but except that we weren’t allowed to leave the property.

On Saturday the time had come to go to our host families or projects, in my case the organisation Cotlands. We were picked up by a woman from our project and she brought us there, showed us our rooms and everything that was important during the weekend. The volunteer area, where we live, is quite big for the two of us because there usually were more volunteers at Cotlands in the last years, but now it’s only us, so that we first felt a little bit lost in the big rooms. But for now we already arranged with that. Something that I still have to get used to is not being able to go out any time I want, because so far we can only go out in someone’s company.

During the weekend there aren’t too many people at Cotlands because normally only the Baby Unit is manned. That’s why we spent most of our weekend helping with the Babys – even though so far we probably weren’t such a big help because we couldn’t do much more than playing with the Babys. In any case it was fun and they are super cute, but now we are truly curious to get to know what will be our duties for the next months - because Cotlands is much more than just a baby station - and how everything is working here. We will hopefully get to know about all of that tomorrow! 

 Now I have to go to bed so that I won’t be too tired for my first working day at Cotlands! 

 Frederike