Tag Archives: Durban

Serve Thee with a Quiet Mind: Heritage & Hardships in KwaZulu-Natal

Serve Thee with a Quiet Mind: Heritage & Hardships in KwaZulu-Natal

Two days after our swearing-in ceremony, it was time to say our final good-byes and load into our principals’ cars for the drive to our new homes. Along the way we stopped at a mall for household essentials – sheets, towels, pantry staples – doing our best to divine what we would need when we moved in sight unseen.

The day was waning by the time I presented myself to my new family. There was just time for a round of hello’s before I wrapped myself in my comfy new blanket and closed my eyes against the fears and doubts of what awaited me at school on Friday morning.

As it turned out, without the kindness of everyone at S. Primary School, I might not have made it through my first week, because on that very morning, the misfortune I had dreaded most befell me: losing my phone.

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To the Haven Where We Would Be: Swearing-In Ceremony in Durban

To the Haven Where We Would Be: Swearing-In Ceremony in Durban

The road was long, but the destination was worth it.

That’s the best way to sum up our training to become Peace Corps Volunteers, and the very same phrase applies to our week in Durban.

Durban: the beach-side city where we would take our oaths to uphold the U.S. Constitution and swear in as the 38th class of South Africa’s Peace Corps Volunteers. We had been anticipating this day since we arrived in South Africa, some of my fellow volunteers for years before that–but first we had to get there.

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