As student-athletes immersed in the daily stressors of university life, we are accustomed to shedding tears of worry, grief, sadness, and more. Prior to this trip, I doubt I could have pointed to the last time I cried because of something positive. But when thinking about the most impactful and memorable moments of our three-weeks in South Africa, I realized that they were in fact the moments where I felt tears in my eyes.
Throughout our time there, we worked on a variety of community projects. Primarily, we were teaching English to 4-6-year-old children and running sports camps with 9-14-year-old children in Langa Township. Other projects we spent time on included working with Bluemoon to paint a library and an ECD (Early Childhood Development Center), and working with Ladles of Love to make sandwiches and work in the gardens.
The first tearful moment was when we met a woman named Hillary, a politician who previously worked with Nelson Mandela. Humble, kind, and down to earth, she was one of the most inspirational people I’ve ever met. What I wasn’t expecting to hear was that she had actually played tennis growing up and aspired to be a professional tennis player, but was not able to pursue such a career due to the Apartheid regime and lack of opportunity for South African tennis players at the time. After hearing all she had been through and all she had done, knowing that she had shared the same passion for the sport that I had but did not have the opportunity to pursue it brought to my eyes both tears of compassion and empathy for her and tears of gratitude for my own opportunity.
…knowing that she had shared the same passion for the sport that I had but did not have the opportunity to pursue it brought to my eyes both tears of compassion and empathy for her and tears of gratitude for my own opportunity.
– Valencia Xu, Stanford Women’s Tennis
Second was during one of our mornings teaching the 4-6-year old children in Langa, a teacher informed us that one of the little girls had just recently gotten diagnosed with autism. They were hoping that she could soon get transferred to another school that was better equipped to address her needs, but for the moment she was still in the class at the ECD where we were teaching. I remember one day she was upset and the teachers were keeping her inside their room, but they eventually let her come out and play a game of freeze dance with us. The joy on her face was unmistakable as she jumped around with us, just for a small amount of time. The amount of happiness she felt dancing brought tears to my eyes, both of joy and also hope that she might have more joyful opportunities in the future.
Last was the many teary instances of both sadness and joy we felt when leaving the groups of kids on our last day of teaching, and also leaving each other at the end of the trip. The fact that we were so emotional upon leaving showed me that the work we had done and the relationships we had built were truly genuine and impactful. And as a whole, my time in South Africa pushed me to realize that tears are not at all always negative; true tears can reveal so much more, and we should cherish and remember the moments where authenticity brings us to shed tears of joy.