:Service:

It's crazy how things can just feel so right.  Since leaving home with the feeling of unsureness and discomfort, God has shown me so many reasons why I need to be here in Africa this semester.  This place feels like home. I have only been in Africa for two weeks today, yet I feel like I have been here so much longer.  I have been blessed with an amazing group of 50 who have walked the same path with me, and I know we were all placed in this country for a semester together for a reason.  I am growing and changing. I am asking questions that I have never asked before and I am discovering so much more than what my world at home consisted of.

This Tuesday was an amazing day for me.  We have been visiting one ministry site a week before deciding which one we want to work at for the remaining time here.  Tuesday we were able to visit a township with this amazing family life and child center called Ethembeni.  The center serves mostly children who have lost either one or two parents to AIDS.  These children are left with family members, friends, or on their own.  When we got to the center it was pretty much empty because most children were at school, however it was so easy to see life that occurred there.  The center offers children a safe place to play, learn and form relationships.  The young woman who was the head of the center was not much older than me.  She had moved from England three years ago and never went back home.  Her motivation and love for this place was so admirable.  She began to tell us all of the things we would be able to do and help with at the center, and everything she said sounded perfect.  

After making my decision to pursue social work as a profession, I have been somewhat struggling.  It is difficult for me to answer the question, "What are you studying?"  The reactions I normally get are not very encouraging.  The response either sounds something like "Oh hmm, that is interesting" or "Oh wow, you have a good heart to be willing to do that job".  Very rarely do I get someone who is actually impressed which is why I am always hesitant to even bring it up.  After taking two social work classes I felt so confident in the major because it fit who I am so well.  But as I get more and more into it and people give me those type of reactions, I second guess myself.  

Tuesday that changed for me.  The center screams Social Work.  EVery task that was described and every opportunity we were able to get involved in was what I have been learning in classes. I stopped to think and realized