Greetings from South Africa!

Sawubona!

This year I've decided to start a blog...(better late than never!) As I'm writing this, I'm sitting in our cottage on Bothas Hill, a suburb situated 30 minutes outside of Durban.

Durban itself lies on the east coast of South Africa, right on the Indian Ocean, and is situated in the province of Kwa-Zulu Natal. KZN is home to more than 7 million Zulu people, whose history, culture, and way of life I'm surrounded by (and assimilating to) daily. Bothas Hill is also known as "The Gateway to the Valley of A Thousand Hills", or the so called entrance to "The Kingdom of The Zulu".



As most people know, I'm working for the Augustinian Volunteers. The Augustinians are an order of priests and nuns who live according to the rule of St. Augustine. Villanova, the college I attended, is an Augustinian run university...hence the connection. Here in South Africa, we live on the same property with Augustinian Friars and Augustinian sisters. Father Frank, Father Benji and Father Jack are the three friars currently living here. Frank and Jack are both from the Philadelphia area and Benji hails from the Philippines. We're constantly in and out of their house to say hi, or to steal cookies and diet cokes. We eat dinner with them every Wednesday, and throughout my time here, they have been a source of fun and friendship for us volunteers.

Our Cottage in Bothas Hill

This year, I'm serving with two other girls, Katie Porter and Jenn DePoy. Both have served domestically for the Augustinians before, Katie in the Bronx, and Jenn out in San Diego. Just like the Augustinian friars do, Augustinian volunteers are meant to live in community with one another. This means that we cook and share meals together, have weekly discussions about our work so that we can better understand and digest the work we undertake and the problems we encounter. We're more than simply roommates, we're meant to help guide each other through the experiences of being a volunteer in South Africa.