Hello! I am Laura, a former Marist student from Mindelheim, a small city in southern Germany. After finishing school in 2020, I wanted to go abroad and volunteer for the year. Covid, unfortunately, had other plans. I proceeded to volunteer in our local hospital instead and got, in this very busy time, a good insight into nursing, and so I got to study paediatric nursing in Munich. But the dream of living and volunteering abroad never really left me.
After finishing my training I decided to postpone my entry to work and use this gap to travel to South Africa to help the Sisters of Mercy – Sister Breda and Sister Martha – with the amazing work they do in Addo, a rural Township in the Eastern Cape, an hour’s drive away from Port Elizabeth.
Due to my working and volunteering experience in various areas, I came to Addo believing that I’d already seen and done it all. But I soon realized that that was as far from true as it could be. The very present poverty and the unbelievable inequality left me shocked. ‘‘What have I got myself into? I cannot change anything anyway. I am just a young woman with no great experience, no equipment, no nothing, and I will go back home in a few months, leaving everything as it was.’’ These were my thoughts while driving by the shacks, avoiding potholes and street dogs.
Luckily, after the initial shock passed and I got in touch with the staff – especially the community health carers – and with some talks with the Sisters, I began to make a plan for my stay. I made nutrition and dental health my top priorities and started by assessing all the children who were attending the baby care and the creches run by the Sisters. If there was a concern, I handed out leaflets to the parents to educate them about these topics and referred the child to the dietitian in the local clinic, with whom I got in touch. I then trained the Health Carers in how to do the assessments so that the project would continue after I had left. At the graduation party I got the opportunity from the Sisters to speak to all the parents for further education.
Living with the Sisters showed me what it means to be lifted and carried by faith, what leads to believing in the best of everyone and not being afraid to reach out a helping and loving hand, even if you have been rejected or bitten before. You are never ‘‘off the clock” and need to be fully prepared to give it your all, over and over again. It often reminded me of facing a bushfire with a water gun, but you never know what seedling you may save.
Thinking back on my time, it really made me realize how much happened over the past few months and how happy I am about leaving my comfort zone and opening myself up to new experiences. I will now travel the country and return to work in a NICU when I am back in Munich in January 2025.
Thank you, South Africa, for showing me your beautiful as well as your terrible side, making this a very humbling and remarkable time for me, and a huge thank you to the Sisters for making me feel at home and supporting me in every way along the journey.
