Page 14 - Salesian Bulletin 2014 [01] January-March

Our Time in CIity of Joy Áine, Katie and Rebecca share their story
14 SDB
The next day was spent taking everything in, and there was a lot to take in! We experienced an overpowering culture shock. Everything was different to home, what we were familiar with, the food, the people, and the weather. It didn’t take too long for us Muzungus (what they call white people) to fit right in and get in the swing of things.
n one of our VIDES meetings we decided the best way to define volunteering is ‘’giving to others
When we arrived in COJ there were 28 girls. Each of the girls are brought to the orphanage for different reasons - be it that they simply cannot afford schooling or right down to the most tragic of stories where the child has no other home. Each has a unique and compelling story and background about which we learnt over time.
without the expectation of receiving anything in return’’. In February 2013 the three of us, Áine Bullman, Katie Troy and Rebecca Ward, three Early Childhood Care and Education students, decided to try it out. We left a snow-covered Ireland in pursuit of our 18-hour journey across the world.
7am at Lusaka Airport we were greeted by the two Zambian Salesian Sisters from City of Joy (COJ). Our journey to Mazabuka was long and not by distance. It took us from dawn
The layout of COJ is: three different houses for the girls, the fields where they grow their crops, the convent with the sisters, an oratory area, a function hall and volunteer house.
to dusk and unfortunately , to luck, a flat tyre was to blame. However, we were overwhelmed by the amount of cars that pulled over and the kind nature of the Zambian people.
our
In each house there are ten girls and one Mami to make this as family-like as possible. The girls’ rooms are generally four per room with two bunk beds and a locker each for their belongings and clothes; basic but enough.
When we arrived in COJ that night the jeep was immediately swarmed by the 29 orphans excited for our arrival. We greeted the girls briefly as they had to continue with their schedule and we were escorted to our very spacious volunteer house by two American volunteers Annie and Virginia. We contacted home to let
Our daily routine consisted of taking some of the girls in the morning for ‘Studies’. If the girls had any homework we helped them with it but generally we had lessons to teach the girls. We mainly focused on English and Maths. This gave them an opportunity to get one-to-one help and focus on the areas in which they were struggling.
them know we’d arrived
some unpacking, went to bed as breakfast was at 7am.
safely , did