Reflecting on my ACE experience, a key moment that fed into the rest of the trip’s work was listening to Danny, the founder of Ladles of Love, talk about the inspiration behind his drive to support food security in Cape Town. He mentioned that he had come across the word “seva,” meaning giving of yourself without wanting anything in return. “Seva” is giving without receiving the joy you get from giving. From hearing this, Danny started by offering soup to the homeless outside his restaurant. This quickly grew into an operation that provides nutrient-rich meals to over 6,000 children every day. I found Ladles of Love and the concept of the organisation inspiring, meeting people who dedicate their lives to support a cause greater than themselves.
We met many people over the three weeks that followed these morals in a variety of ways. In particular, I felt a lot of admiration for the sports camp coaches at VUSA. Coach Massi and Coach Lulu work to provide the children of Langa somewhere they can bond over their love of sports. By introducing rugby and other sports to these children, they provide an opportunity for them to aspire towards greatness and teach them important life skills whilst allowing them to be active.
I found Coach Lulu’s story particularly inspiring as well as her life choices. Coach Lulu worked her way up from playing rugby in a similar setting to the kids at VUSA to playing for South Africa’s women’s tag rugby team in the Commonwealth Games. It was obvious the impact that both coaches had on the kids and the love they had for them; however, this also provides a strong role model for young girls to follow, showing them, it is possible to excel in their passions. This is an idea they have not had much exposure to previously.
Within the brief time of three weeks, I was inspired and motivated by the work these people dedicated to a great cause. The work and progress they had put in enabled our input and made our work so rewarding. At the end of the experience, we were reminded of the lasting impact we will have on their children, despite how short the time felt to us. In the long term, our main goal was to show the children how much more there is to life than what they experience growing up inside the Township. I hope the children feel as inspired as I did working with these incredible people.