Avery's final day

On the last full day in Cape Town, I was a wreck. All around me was still unexplored beauty- a cityscape with stores un-shopped, a bay left un-laid out on, a mountain left un-revisited. I woke up and realizing the predicament of time running out began to cry. I needed to do something with the day that would somehow wrap up everything- tie up this trip with a beautiful bow so that I could get on the plane and look over my shoulder with peaceful content rather than heart strangled anguish in leaving. So, without too much thought involved I followed Patrick, Anna, Allie, Kelsey and Sharon to Nyanga to go officially open the Library that they have taken all semester to build.

Maria, Avery, Lindsay, Wylie, & Kelsey share in the joy of the dedication
of the library at Sithembele Matiso High in Nyanga

 When we arrived it was with the expectation that the walls would be painted, and the shelves would be built but empty, as the shipment of donated books from the USA supposedly wouldn’t arrive until after we had left. What the group found as the doors were pushed open was a library stocked with books- a donation from the Cape Town Library. Anna’s tears of joy permeated my very soul. It was like living in an episode of Extreme Make-Over Home Edition. The group of people who helped to build this beautiful place was all teary eyed and running their hands along the mystical spines of books that appeared in their library. I couldn’t help but weep. In life, we have many opportunities to empathize with someone’s pain- but the moments where we may experience another persons pure joy are much rarer- more sacred, and particularly poignant.

Joseph (the inspiration for the library project with other grade 8-12 learners

The school children from grades 8-12 began to filter into the library for the opening ceremony. The principal came to give an opening speech where he declared his initial skepticism of the project. He explained how it is often that touring groups of students may come through the area- point their fingers at an old standing issue, and then leave never getting their hands dirty in actually solving the problem. He commended then Anna, Patrick and Allie’s group for plunging their hands deep into paint and pulling out a library for the underfunded school. Truly their work is more than just a gift to the community, more than an investment in the future of those students- it is an inspiration to us all.

Kelsey, Patrick, Anna, Liz, and Allie receive thanks for all their hard work.

 Patrick said during the end of the ceremony, “having the idea isn’t hard, the work is hard.” If everyone could in their lifetime focus in on just one social issue- focus on it, hold it dear to their hearts and then go one step further just to think of a valid way to attempt to dispel that issue from the earth- I believe we would find that many more people would then be inclined to act on their ideas. Isn’t that the scariest step after all? That very first one- that one where in taking it you assign your name to a cause, you take up the responsibility because you have now paid attention to it- you are now accountable for working to make a change under this new enlightenment. Damn straight that’s scary-which is why many people allow these wonderful ideas to come into mind and then never fully seek out a way to make their musings take shape. I hope that this sort of story serves as an inspiration to those who come across it. I know that within our group we have each taken up the struggle of something, we are leaving this trip knowing that individually we each have a cause, and that as a group we can call upon any one within us to help make a change. 

Sharon, Anna, KelseyMs Maloka (teacher) Patrick, Allie, and Liz in the beautiful library.
They imagined it and then worked hard to make their dream a reality!