RIPPLES OF HOPE SOUTH AFRICA: Johannesburg & Cape Town June 21-29, 2011
In June, Ripples of Hope took its inaugural Family Service Journey to Johannesburg and Cape Town, South Africa. Nine families from across the United States joined the Ripples leadership team for an 8-day journey of cultural exploration and service.
The program featured two types of service opportunities: Physical and Human Service. Physical Service included activities such as painting, building gardens, house and building refurbishing. Human Service was perhaps the most meaningful and included creating fun and educational activities for kids, reading and storytelling and spending time with the families and people of the communities we visited.
We are proud to say that over the course of 8-days, Team Ripples consisting of 9 families, staff and interns completed 1063+ hours of people powered service, donated 500+ books to existing and new libraries and impacted 1500+ members of the communities we served.
Although the days were long and sometimes exhausting, when we asked our families what the Most Challenging Part of the Day was, the overwhelming response was Having to say good-bye and leaving our great new friends!
Here is a quote from a letter we received from one of our service partners which reaffirmed our belief that families can make a difference, one family at a time.
"You have ignited hope in me that I thought I had lost a long time ago, my love for reading books and I believe its time to pass it on. In your honor we will start a reading program like you did & and we will always remember you." Thank you so much --- Nomandla Bongoza/ Kuyasa Horizon Empowerment
At South Africa
