Throughout my experience in Cape Town with ACE, there have been so many key ideas reinforced. When I originally went into the interviews for ACE, I understood why service work was important, but I didn’t completely understand how to approach it. While we were in South Africa, it became especially important to understand the community members we were working with and what they needed from us vs. what we wanted to do for ourselves. We spent the first few days immersing ourselves in the culture of the communities and getting to know the coaches to better understand the children we were working with and how to approach service-learning. For most of our projects, our progress became immeasurable. We were told to encourage self-confidence and skills in the children, which became difficult to measure. But being able to see the smiles and the change in interactions with the children we were working with allowed us to better understand the significance of what we were doing. Through our conversations as a group in Cape Town, we discussed the long-term effects of what we were doing. We understood that by working with the communities and their programs, we were encouraging the ongoing efforts within the community. Danny, from Ladles of Love, once told us a story with the theme of doing good things with no expectation of getting anything in return. Though we all felt like we got a lot out of the experience, when we finally went in with no expectation for ourselves, we truly made the biggest impact.
As a Duke student-athlete, my perspectives on my role and identity have shifted tremendously. I feel I have learned to view my identity beyond achievement from my team and more as a person beyond the court and as a teammate. Student-athletes carry a large amount of responsibility beyond our sports, and my identity as an athlete allowed me to demonstrate the tools of a teammate to the local communities. As well, I am not just a student-athlete, but after starting my journey as a volunteer, I believe I now have a continued responsibility to contribute positively no matter where I am, including to my team, academics, and my overall career. This experience highlighted the privilege it is to be able to have an athletic opportunity at Duke and the importance of sharing such resources and knowledge. Looking back, I now view service as something beyond what I am doing, but now as who I am as a person and the values I embody.
Through the interview process for ACE, I had an understanding of the importance of service, but now, I have learned how to be selfless with my service and focus on the importance of who I am helping and how I am doing so. After seeing the changes in the children’s faces as we built connections, the acceptance of the communities, coaches, and parents, and the shared drive from my fellow ACE teammates allowed me to see how such simple actions can make such an incredible difference in an individual’s life. I have since gained a need to continue with service and make it a constant part of my life. This service has taught me the fulfillment from giving wholeheartedly without expectation, and that these big rewards are those that come from unexpected connections and quiet satisfaction of making a difference, however small it may seem.