My Love Life

“Here's something for your love life,” Nelly, my colleague, passed a piece of paper into my hands. Sandra, my supervisor, gave me a weird what-can-nelly-share-with-me-about-my-love-life look.

“It's the invoice for the Lovelife group,” I clarified.

A few weeks ago, I have been given the task to coordinate the Lovelife group. Lovelife seek to help the youth of SA, especially to provide opportunities for youth from disadvantaged background and to encourage them to lead a meaningful and fruitful life. This camp is the last phase of the Lovelife programme. The participants have gone through a series of leadership exposure and are attending the camp to prepare them for the "outside" world. Through this camp, they learn more about their own strengths and weaknesses and what suits them as a career through personality tests and discussions by the facilitators.

Initially, I thought I would have several problems with the Lovelife group. Based on last year reports, there were several problems with their requirements and the facilitators were also far from being role models. Members of the group were also difficult to control, were noisy and rowdy.

My first love life group has just ended, and it was one of the best group that I ever had.

The group was very well-disciplined. I was immediately impressed the first day when the main facilitator Max asked the participants why lovelife chose to come to golden gate. As a young adult, he was able to control the group, and the group was also participative. Throughout the entire camp, not only did the facilitators managed the group well, even the participants had control over their own group. It was fun being with them throughout the week.

Bringing them for canoeing was not work. It was like an outing with a group of friends. It was one of the most pleasant group that I brought. There was no splashing or shouting. Everyone was just enjoying the serenity of the place. It was very heartwarming to see the excitement in many of the faces.

Bringing them for a walk at cathedral cave was not work. The participants followed instructions well and walked in a line throughout the session. They asked a lot of questions, and listened attentively when I was presenting. It was amazing. In the cave, we had a warm sharing session and discussion on their Basotho Culture. Even though I was with the group for the entire day from 8am to 6.30pm, I did not even feel tired due to the adrenaline I had!

Thinking back, I have been working for 14h everyday for the entire week! I had to wake up at 5.30am to fetch the cooks, and only returned home at 8.30pm!

But the group was worth it.