As we once again bid farewell to some volunteers and welcome others with new ideas and different skills and knowledge to add to our growing database it is interesting to take a look at the impact that this constant change has on our projects.
Some would say instinctively that it must be negative with faces changing constantly at the school and new recruits needing basic training from Mzu up at Sicambeni . The reality is different though as each individual leaves a footprint and a definite impact on children, community members, other volunteers as well as the permanent and semi permanent people involved here.
The whole keeps growing bigger and those that move on leave something permanent. We are also experiencing that deeper need in some volunteers to return, after earning more cash back home, and add more to what they see as unfinished business.
This characteristic of leaving than returning that is creeping in with all the volunteers to some degree or another is a direct result of becoming a member of a large, global family that connects than moves on, changes and reconnects.
The personal identity that each member of the crew has gained is something that they can build on further in their personal lives and future endeavours.
In regular conversation with volunteers on the final lap of their Amapondo stint a curious pride has been revealed in having been involved in a work in progress. The point about our projects is that it really is all about the journey and not the destination.
Having a destination and reaching it means a certain period of stagnation whereas a continuous movement onwards and upwards means being ever vigilant for new opportunities and new areas to apply older and well perfected tricks of the sustainability trade.
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