Growing up on the other side of the world: my experience in South Africa with Civil Service
by Margherita Di Lelio
When I chose to leave for South Africa with Universal Civil Service, I did so because I have been passionate about the history of this country for years and wanted to see with my own eyes what I had studied in books. but I felt that studying was no longer enough for me: I wanted to see with my own eyes, to really understand, to get involved in first person, to make myself useful and to live a real, concrete experience, made up of relationships and shared everyday life.
Today I can say that this experience is changing me much more than I imagined.
Much of my service takes place at St. Patrick Church and Mother Theresa Charity Group. Every Tuesday at Mother Theresa, we help prepare and distribute meals for the most vulnerable people in the community. Seeing the long lines of people waiting, touching such obvious poverty, is something that gets under your skin. Yet it was there that I discovered the incredible power of teamwork and sense of community. During the Christmas party, in particular, I felt strongly the beauty of sharing not just a meal, but a moment of dignity, celebration and humanity. Even a simple gesture, such as offering a bowl of soup or giving a smile, can have immense value.
Alongside this, a key part of my experience is the children. With them we organized after-school activities, prepared a Christmas show, coordinated ballets for the Festival of Nations, and conducted four days of summer camp. Summer camp was intense, full of energy, sometimes tiring, but incredibly alive. There are children who have stayed in my heart: when they call my name, when they take my hand, when they dance mindlessly, even though I know that outside that courtyard their lives are not always easy. In those moments I realize how important it is to be there.
Another special memory is the trip to Pretoria together with the children and the Fathers. Seeing them in front of the statue of Nelson Mandela, explaining to them who he was and what he represents, was a moment that combined my passion for history with the concrete reality that I am living here.
It was not all immediate. At first adapting to a different culture, to new rhythms, to ways of communicating that were far from my own, was challenging. But this very thing taught me to be more open, more patient, more flexible. I learned to welcome what is different without judging it, to find my space with respect, to turn difficulties into opportunities for growth.
Now, when I am faced with something new, I can stop, breathe and take from that situation whatever it can teach me.
This experience is making me more aware, stronger, more able to adapt. It is teaching me that Universal Civil Service is not just a project: it is an encounter. With a country, with a community, but above all with a new part of oneself.
If I had to describe it in one word, I would say: reality. A reality made up of faces, hands, stories, smiles. And the deep feeling that I am, in my own small way, in the right place.
