Volunteering...Finally

I wrote earlier in the semester about how I would be volunteering with LEAP, a school in Langa (one of the townships) dedicated to improving the quality of black education, particularly in the areas of math and science. However, due to my schedule, I wasn't able to volunteer at LEAP. I went to talk to the CIEE volunteer coordinator and told her my scheduling problem, and she suggested that I either "not volunteer or change my class schedule" so I could volunteer - both seemed like ridiculous suggestions. (As an aside, the volunteer coordinator is a complete bitch and treated me like shit, and I sent an email to our program director telling him about my experiences with her and how it had made me not want to volunteer, and then about a week later got an email from the volunteer coordinator that simply said "I'm sorry if you felt like I acted disrespectfully towards you" - what a fucking clown.) In the end, I decided not to volunteer with LEAP, and to try volunteering with an organization called PASSOP (People Against Suffering, Suppression, Oppression, and Poverty; an organization devoted to improving refugee rights).

I went to PASSOP a few times, and though I agreed with it's objectives and practices, they did most of their cool stuff at night. I could only make it during the mornings, and the dude there (Braam) was having me edit his papers and reports and to help with fundraising. I wanted my volunteering experience to be one where I could see a direct impact - I wanted to work with the affected people and see their faces. I didn't want to be an intern for this dude, which is what it seemed like I was doing. To top it off, he's a complete socialist and told me that a. Israel is 100% in the wrong for its conflict with Palestine and doesn't deserve to have a homeland, and b. Fidel Castro is one of the greatest modern leaders and that Americans are idiots for not recognizing it. Alas, after a few visits to PASSOP, I decided that it wasn't worth my time, and decided that I wouldn't be returning. I thought my chances for volunteering were totally blown, and I knew that my biggest regret about this semester would be not being able to volunteer.

Last week, though, I got a call from my friend Laura (we bonded over the fact that we're both Mets fans - a bond unlike any other) who asked me if I wanted to help coach some youth baseball team on Saturday. My first thought was "I thought they don't have baseball in this country", but my second thought was "Hell yes!" I wound up going with her to Philippi, another one of the townships, and spent the day with kids aged 4 - 17 playing baseball. The youngest kids had never played before; the oldest had been playing for a few years and were definitely better than I was. I finally had my chance to volunteer - we weren't really coaching these kids, we were more hanging out with them and throwing around a ball and having batting practice and just talking. The youngest kids didn't even know how to catch a ball using a mitt, something which seems completely natural to almost every single American. But as they learn to squeeze the ball when it hits their mitt, and as they succesfully catch four or five balls in a row, you can see their little faces light up. It's really special. This is the volunteering experience I was looking for.

We spent the morning with the younger kids and the afternoon with the older kids. The older kids have a full team of their own (their season starts this coming weekend), and we didn't so much teach them to play as we did a. hang out with them and b. play with them. We played the field while they batted against one of their pitchers, and then had the chance to face their live pitching. This was the first live pitching I had faced since I was 13 - I stopped playing baseball after Majors, and the point of Beer League pitching is to put the ball in a place where you can hit it. Needless to say, I was a bit rusty, and got put in my place immediately: down on strikes in 4 pitches. All the South African kids laughed at me, since they thought I was some great baseball player, but I got over it pretty quickly and they accepted that I was just trying to play some ball like they were. I was accepted as one of them.

I'm hoping to be able to go back a few more times to play with these kids. Though it was fun to actually play with the older kids, I want to work more with the little kidlings. They are hilarious, and watching them learn the game is really special. This has got to be the chillest volunteering opportunity that CIEE could have given us (even though they didn't), and I am looking forward to going back to Philippi.