To say that my experience with Connect 123 changed my life would be an understatement.  Not only did it change my life but it changed the lives of so many around me.  I was able to show so many friends and family members how truly amazing this program is and how much it bettered me as a person.  I came to South Africa to work with the Child Life team because it is what I am studying at school and is what I aspire to be when I graduate.  Even though I was not as experienced as my fellow volunteers, I was able to learn so much from all of them.  Just by watching them do what they love so much made me even more eager to become better at being a Child Life Specialist.

Learning about the child life program in a classroom setting does not nearly give it enough justice as it does from seeing it first hand.  The way the children at the Red Cross hospital would light up each time one of our child life specialists walked into a room was something I’ll remember for the rest of my life.  The impact that this program and these volunteers make is indescribable and I’m so proud to say I could be a part of this incredible team of people.

Not only did this trip make me fall even more in love with children and helping others but it also opened my eyes to a whole other world.  South Africa is one of the most amazing countries, not only for its beauty but also for the people and the culture that it reveals to you.  From the people that I met along this trip, I will take pieces of them with me wherever I go and am so thankful to have learned so much from each one of them.  Traveling to South Africa also gave me the ambition to move to Maui where I plan to attend the University of Hawaii Maui College for next semester and continue to study Child Life and work with children.

While I’m still young and have these wonderful opportunities I want to see as much of the world as I can and help as many people as I can along the way.  Because what I’ve learned from being a volunteer, even though you are taking time to help others, in the end the people you help are really helping you.  These children have helped me understand so much more about life and made me appreciate and value the life I have.  I plan to return to South Africa some day and experience even more than I did on my first trip there.  Even though I was only there a short while, South Africa will always be a place in my heart that I can feel at home.