Entries by Serve

The prevalence of HIV in the informal communities in South Africa

July 28, 2015 in /by

By Sarah Hennessey Dumela (Hi), Leina la me ke Sarah (my name is Sarah). These are a few Setswana words which ‘broke the ice’ on so many occasions with the South African people. I have learned and achieved so much. The SERVE team did a great job selecting the group of volunteers. Each leader and […]

2nd week thoughts

July 28, 2015 in /by

By Fiona Henry It’s Friday 7.00 p.m. preparing for work at the end of our second week here.   We arrived keen to get stuck in and help.   We have worked hard and are proud of what we have done so far.   The sites we have worked on have been transformed and will provide much better […]

A letter to Ireland!

July 28, 2015 in /by

By Bridie Denning Dumela to everyone from South Africa! The past three weeks have gone by so fast and just one more to go.   It only seems like yesterday since we arrived here but I have actually got a year older since I left Ireland.   We have done a lot of work in Freedom Park […]

Jyothi Seva School for the Blind

July 28, 2015 /1 Comment/in /by

By Áine McBride and Caroline McKenna We can’t believe first week has gone already and we are heading into our second week at Jyothi Seva. Upon arrival we were greeted by Sister Catherine and given our timetable for the next few weeks. It’s a busy day and heavy timetable working with children of all ages and abilities. […]

Challenging Perspectives

July 24, 2015 in /by

To encourage SERVE 2015 volunteers to think critically about common perceptions and misconceptions related to developing countries, they were given the task of taking photos that we think will challenge the perspectives of people in Ireland – keeping in mind the Dochas Code of Conduct on Images and Messages. While so much has changed, developing countries […]

Young Africa Sports day

July 23, 2015 in /by

On Saturday the 18th of July, the SERVE volunteers alongside Young Africa staff and students hosted the largest and most successful sports festival to date at the Dondo Agri-tech campus. With a total number of 350 children, instead of the anticipated 200, the day proved to be even more action packed than expected. We ended […]

Meeting Angelique

July 23, 2015 in /by

By Sinéad McNeela On arriving at Dichibidu, on our first day we met with Angelique the crèche owner who appeared happy to see us, but also quite inquisitive as to what we had planned for her new crèche. We walked into the old shack, it was quite grubby and we noticed that the concrete under […]

Workmanship and Community

July 23, 2015 in /by

By Chris Stranney From working on the site in Dichibidu I noticed it is different from working back home in Ireland. I am working with the guys from the local ‘Step up and Serve’ team and I was surprised at all the work they are able to do by hand. At home we might have […]