Volunteer Stories » Elise Mcwey

We started off our long awaited journey on the Friday afternoon of the 15th of February. Our first segment of our flight begun as we flew from Shannon airport to heatrow airport. Excitement began to flutter within the group as we landed in London. We knew the next flight ahead of us was going to be a long one, but we didn’t mind as we were too overwhelmed to even think about it.
As we arrived on the Saturday afternoon we had the evening and the next day to spend getting used to our surroundings. I never realized how beautiful South Africa really was.
With an early rise ahead that Monday morning to start helping at the missionvale center, we decided to have an early night that Sunday.
Throughout the week we learned multiple new tasks and met such loving and caring people. These tasks involved helping at Father Christmas, helping at the nutrition centre and many more useful skills.
The highlight of my week was meeting all the people that lived inside and outside the Missionvale Care centre. With toddlers ranging from age 2 to adults ranging from 80 years of age, I couldn’t say a bad word about anybody. Taking into consideration the conditions they are living in, what shocked me most was how happy every single person was.
Even though sometimes we saw shocking situations, I believe this made me even more ambitious to help out.
Overall my experience In Missionvale was sometimes heartbreaking but life changing. I will defiantly be returning either sooner or later. I have made friends I will never forget and hopefully one day I will see them again.
For you and all the people who made this dream come true, I thank you from the bottom of my heart.