Hello! My name is Huw McDonald and I have recently joined the Care Force team as a project manager, all the way from South Africa. It has been a long process navigating the roads of US immigration, but I am here at last and absolutely thrilled to be a part of the team. I am a proud alum of the first City Year corps from 2005 in Johannesburg, South Africa - City Year’s first international site.
I spent a life-changing year serving in an extremely underprivileged community called Kliptown (Stonetown), in Soweto - the stage for some of the worst political violence in South Africa during the 1980’s and early 90’s. Residents live in poorly constructed shacks, have no electricity, one tap per 300-500 people and one toilet to share between an average of 50-100 people. There is no school in Kliptown, so our after-school program drew children from schools in the surrounding communities. Despite the shocking levels of poverty and unbelievably difficult living circumstances, I have yet to meet such generous, warm and kind people as those I encountered during my year there.
In 2006, I led a team as a program manager in downtown Johannesburg. Although the living conditions of the children we served were significantly better than those of the children living in Kliptown, they still faced the same social and family problems that we had seen the year before.
In 2008, following a brief stint back at school and a job in the corporate world, I received an offer to join the City Year family in the States, which I gladly accepted. I love traveling, experiencing new places and meeting new people, so I’m super excited about being a part of Care Force. It will give me the opportunity to travel and meet new people, plus spread a bit of love around the communities that really need a hand.
When I’m not working I spend as much time as I can immersed in music of some kind or another. I play guitar and have been in different forms of the same band for the past five years. We were famous in some parts of northern Johannesburg and often played to sold out shows of 20+ people. Pirated copies of our EP have been found in some parts of Asia and South America. When I’m not playing or listening to music I’m often out taking photographs, running (although this happens rarely, it does happen) and watching films.
When I’m not working I spend as much time as I can immersed in music of some kind or another. I play guitar and have been in different forms of the same band for the past five years. We were famous in some parts of northern Johannesburg and often played to sold out shows of 20+ people. Pirated copies of our EP have been found in some parts of Asia and South America. When I’m not playing or listening to music I’m often out taking photographs, running (although this happens rarely, it does happen) and watching films.
1 comment:
Well done Huw!! You doing your Alumni City year colleagues proud.
All the best
Ranvir Mahadew
ranvirsingh.mahadew@absa.co.za
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