Those of you who know me well, know that I was baptized and raised Catholic however I've never been particularly religious. Most of the principles that I live by stem by from Catholic teachings but right now I consider myself Agnostic. Even though there are many beliefs of different religions I don't agree with, I will support anyone's religious views provided they are not violating human rights.
One thing that I have struggled with in South Africa is dealing with the stranglehold that religion seems to have on the people. My purpose of coming here was not to try and drag people away from church or convince them to stop believing in God. I came here with the intention of helping them improve their lives in a way that they agree with. So despite not agreeing with it, there's no sense in trying to swim upstream; I must adapt and work with the system and use it to my advantage.
One of my most recent projects is to start a center that helps people in my community get jobs; get better jobs through job training; provides job counseling to 11th and 12th grade learners to help them determine what they want to do after matriculation; and exposes younger children to professionals (doctors, lawyers, engineers, businesspeople) who can be positive role models. This is a tall order to start from scratch so my counterpart and I decided it would be best to engage existing organizations to help us.
The Mukhanyo Community Development Centre (MCDC) operates several Orphans and Vulnerable Children (OVC) drop-in centers in my area. These centers provide two meals a day to orphans and vulnerable children along with providing them with after-school and weekend activities that also include Christian teachings. The service that they are providing to the community is invaluable. Since they have an OVC in my village, I decided that they would probably be a good partner in this project since they already have established themselves. Religious development organizations seem to be well resourced since there are so many Christians who want to help in world development; for reasons that include it being their duty to serve others, to spreading the word of the Lord, or various other reasons.
Ebio is another organization based out of Pretoria that has a comprehensive approach to career guidance. They provided many services on a grassroots level that include assistance in bringing technology and business training to communities; guiding students in finding the career that fits them through counseling and internships even before having college training. They set up what they call Enterprise Cafes in the village which provide support for these activities.
My counterpart and I want to bring the two of these organizations together to meet our goals. MCDC is willing to provide us with high-speed internet from a satellite dish they are having installed within the next couple of months. They also have the network of people within the community to provide the on-the-ground support for the initiative. Ebio has the resources, information, technical support, and knowledge that can be contributed. My counterpart has been granted a piece of land by the Chief of my village so we can use that to build a building to house the center on.
I have quite a bit of experience in resume writing, interviewing, and other parts of professional work. Applying these skills to a South African context (Resumes are called CVs and have an extremely different information) will be beneficial in the on-the-ground teaching.
Now I just have to bring these three parties together and introduce my version of the center to them. Then we can revise it so that the vision of each of the organizations is being reached and come up with a more suitable plan. After that we can start exploring how to make it happen.
I am excited about this new project as it will be my first time working with other organizations. Ebio offers a strong program with knowledge and support. My first impressions of the MCDC is that it is a progressive development organization that includes Christianity in its message but serves all people regardless of their beliefs. This is challenging my preconceived notions that religious organizations' main focus is to spread religion; this probably stems from the American religious organizations such as Focus on Family and Campus Crusade for Christ. Those notions are starting to change and I think we will be able to synergize and provide a great service to the community.
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