The act of giving back inspired Ed and Val Noworacki of Fergus to travel with a purpose to South Africa.
The couple spent a month in January volunteering with African Impact before spending time with friends and family during their three month stay in the African country.
Ed and Val, originally from England, lived in South Africa for 10 years before coming to Canada. They said they frequently visit friends who still live in South Africa, but this time around they wanted to do something a little different.
While researching ways to give back to the country they once called home, Ed stumbled upon African Impact, a volunteer and internship project that works in many African countries.
“We wanted to do this for a long time,” said Val.
Ed volunteers at the New to You store in Fergus, the Maplehurst Correctional Complex and the Torchlight distress line in Guelph.
He said both he and Val wanted to continue to volunteer, even while travelling. The program they found led the couple to Cape Town, where Ed and Val volunteered with Fikelela Emergency Foster Home, Home from Home, Grandmothers Against Poverty and AIDS (GAPA), and Ntwasahlobo Primary School in Khayeltisha, an informal township in Cape Town.
The pair also volunteered at Makone Primary School in Langa and Luntu Educare in Philippi.
“I wanted to volunteer because of all the volunteer work I do here … and Val had never been to Cape Town,” Ed said.
The couple stayed in a communal house in Observatory with the other volunteers for the program. They would work Monday through Friday and have the weekends to explore the city.
“It was a busy month, but it was worth it,” said Val. “It was just to see the smile on the kids’ faces; it was just amazing and going through the townships and seeing the way that they live.”
“There’s still a lot of work to be done,” added Ed.
Word of Ed and Val’s trip spread and they were overwhelmed with donations from neighbours and friends.
The couple filled two extra suitcases with donations, for which British Airways waived the fee, including colouring books, toys, writing utensils, glue sticks and other items for children.
Ed and Val also received a donation of four boxes of toothpaste and a bag of toothbrushes from Dr. Robert Beer of Bridge Street Family Dentistry in Fergus. The toothbrushes were handed out to Luntu Educare in Philippi.
Ed said the group took the toothbrushes to the school to “show the kids how to brush their teeth properly and then they handed them out to the kids.”
“You thought you’d have given them a $1,000 bill … (not) a little tube of toothpaste and a toothbrush,” added Val.
Beer said he wanted to support the couple.
“They’re longtime patients of ours, and they are lovely people and they were going to do something really good, and we wanted to do a little bit to support,” he said.
Giving back was important to Val and Ed.
“I lived there for 10 years. I thought … ‘what better place to go back and give something back to the country that I lived in,’” said Ed.
The couple made strong connections to the other volunteers as well as to the people they helped.
“Words can’t explain it; it is so fulfilling,” said Val.
“Knowing that you are just putting a smile on their face, more than anything,” added Ed.
Val said while visiting friends and family after the month-long volunteering opportunity, her heart was still in Cape Town.
Ed and Val insist they will return for another volunteer trip and encourage others to consider volunteering abroad too.
