Is Love Enough?

I woke up this morning and opened the curtains in our living room. We’re always so rushed in the morning that sometimes we forget to do this. The view is more beautiful today than ever. The sun is shining and I can hear the waves folding along the beach. I guess being moved from the first floor to the bottom floor wasn’t such a bad thing after all! It’s nice being able to just walk right out to the water front. Its little things such as this that I will miss once I am back in Athens.

Service week has seemingly gone by faster than adventure week did! It’s hard to believe that we only have one week left here in Cape Town... where has the time gone? As I sit here and reflect on what this last week has had to offer, I must admit I’m a little overwhelmed. I knew going into service week that we were there to give love, to show interest in the community, and to just give hope to those who didn’t seem to have any. Although I am confident through the relationships that I built there that I did indeed do what was intended, I can’t help but wonder… did I really even make that much of a difference?

I met a girl named Michelle, she was 14 years old. I learned in just the first conversation with her that her mother had died 4 years ago and that her father was never really around. She lived with her grandmother and 3 siblings, all of which, she looks after. She loves school, and was very honest with me in admitting that some days she goes and barely learns anything. Of course I ventured into the “whys” of the situation and she shared that many kids in the community don’t see the value in going to school. In classrooms of around 40 students, teachers get frustrated and sometimes “give up” on the lesson for the day. It was hard knowing that someone as level-headed and motivated as she was couldn’t get the education she wanted, although she assured me she was going to keep on keepin’ on and even continue into the 8^th grade; students here aren’t required to continue school after the 7^th grade. Although it’s hard knowing that many children in the community have little to no motivation, mostly because of their lack of parental support, there is some comfort in that fact that there are students like Michelle that strive for a hopeful future.

As we prepared to get back on the bus Friday afternoon, Michelle said to me, “goodbye my sister, I will see you Wednesday.” Sister? Even though I wasn’t giving this community concrete things such as fresh water, new clothes, or money… I guess I was making a bigger difference than I had thought.

Sometimes you can help by just giving a hug…

I am only one, but I am one. I cannot do everything, but I can do something. And I will not let what I cannot do interfere with what I can do. -Edward Everett Hale

Katie Hudson