By Caitlyn Gerarci, an Augustinian Volunteer in South Africa   One major thing that has surprised me about South Africa is the extreme division that is apparent in most elements of life here. Before arriving in January, I had heard that South Africa was the land of extremes, but I never could have anticipated what that would mean and how it would shake me. Visibly, it means luxurious homesteads and impoverished stone shacks, separated only by a road or a barbed wire fence. A line is drawn... [More]

By Brian Manning, Augustinian Volunteer in South Africa   0 false 18 pt 18 pt 0 0 false false false /* Style Definitions */ table.MsoNormalTable {mso-style-name:"Table Normal"; mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0; mso-tstyle-colband-size:0; mso-style-noshow:yes; mso-style-parent:""; mso-padding-alt:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; mso-para-margin:0in; mso-para-margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:12.0pt; font-family:"Time... [More]

By Janine Morett, An Augustinian Volunteer in South Africa For the last 11 months, I have experienced the word “community” in several different ways but every time I experience it, I think of the words “love” and “ubuntu”. Ubuntu is an African word (and way of life) that means a person is a person through another person. Everyone is interconnected and therefore, forms one massive community that is full of love, acceptance, and solidarity. Every individua... [More]

The Augustinian Order is a worldwide Order that is demonstrated when we share the gift of our friars in various parts of the world. Our Province of Cebu in the Philippines has been a support to our missions by allowing friars from that nation to minister in our parishes in Japan and South Africa. South Africa has been blessed by the presence of many friars from the Philippines since our beginning on that continent. One of the longest serving friars has been Father Benji Gamos, OSA (“Ba... [More]

One day when I was in the fifth grade, we were all asked to draw a picture of what we wanted to be when we grew up. There were doctors, lawyers, and athletes. I drew a picture of a priest celebrating mass. All of these pictures represented our dreams. While I first came upon that dream of mine many years ago, it was, and still is, my dream. As we were reflecting one night at Jacob’s Well, one of the Malvern Prep juniors said that he met a student at St. Leo’s who wanted to be a doc... [More]

Jimmy White is a graduate of Malvern Preparatory School, an Augustinian school. During his senior year he traveled to South Africa as part of the school's service project. He is presently a student at Notre Dame University, but has taken time to return to Africa with present Malvern Prep students. When I was a child, I never liked moving. I remember when my family and I moved into our second house. I was just a few years old. The first night in the new house, I packed up my blanket and bottle... [More]

By Kellie Kozel (An Augustinian Volunter in South Africa) A couple of weeks ago we admitted a woman to the AIDS Respite Unit where I work who recently dropped a pot of boiling hot porridge onto her foot, severely burning and bruising her whole right foot. As a result she has a huge bandage wrapped around the third-degree burns and walks very slowly with a walker and a limp. Also since winter has arrived here, she has taken to wearing an array of multi-colored wool knit hats to keep warm. Now on... [More]

By Janine Moretti – An Augustinian Volunteer in South Africa When I was growing up, my mom was a preschool teacher and had a million of creative ideas for teaching and interacting with children.  So when she heard that I was going to be working with toddlers, she was thrilled and ready to send me materials and great ideas.  One of the things she sent me was 8 little containers of Play Dough in all different colors.  The first time I brought them to 1000 Hills was quite th... [More]

Janine Moretti – An Augustinian Volunteer in South AfricaAs I pull onto the street where 1000 Hills Community Helpers is and then down the driveway, I am welcomed by people of all ages walking towards the Center.  There are kids who will attend the school, adults who will be going to the clinic and others who are there for a meal or just to be there.  The center itself does a lot of different things from a baby clinic on Tuesdays, an open clinic on Thursdays, a day... [More]

By Kellie Kozel (Augustinian Volunteer presently in South Africa) So far South Africa seems to be a place of extremes. All of last week there were thunderstorms and high-speed winds and this week it has been sweat-til-you-drop hot. In the first month our car was stalled more than it was running, and now we could take on Mario Andretti in a race down Inanda Road (or at least we like to think so). One day you can spend the whole morning laughing hysterically with a patient as you muddle through... [More]