A
Year of Service Around the World
Mncedisi Vilakati, from Swaziland, is spending a year in Goshen,
Indiana, as part of MCC’s International Volunteer Exchange
Program (IVEP).
In Swaziland, Vilakati worked with Faith Bible School, an MCC-sponsored
organization, where he has served as an HIV/AIDS peer educator
since 2004. Along with his team, he visited schools and churches,
presenting dramas and leading discussions about AIDS prevention.
Through IVEP, Vilakati is participating in a vocational and
cultural exchange. He lives with a host family in Goshen, and
in his service assignment, he works in three different areas
for MCC.
Two days a week, he works in the MCC Great Lakes Office, where
he helps with mailings, answers phones or does other office
tasks. Other days he works in the Switchyard and Whistle Stop
– the MCC thrift stores – where he sorts donated items,
helps pickup and deliver items and counts money. Or he works
at the material resource center, packing kits, baling clothes
or helping with other tasks.
“It’s a good adventure to experience another culture
from another country,” he said. “It’s a good
opportunity to feel the presence of Christ even while not worshipping
in the same way that I’m used to.”
Vilakati has quickly made friends and gotten involved in a
variety of activities in Goshen, including playing on soccer
teams and singing in the Voices in Harmony gospel choir. He’s
also taken trips to Ohio and Pennsylvania to visit friends.
Although he admits it was hard at first, he said, “I’ve
begun to make connections with peers and friends and feel more
at home.”
Other IVEPers in the Great Lakes region are Alejandra Perdomo,
from Hondruas, working at Goshen College in Indiana; Khamla
Phomsavath, from Laos, working at the Save & Serve Thrift
Shop in Millersburg, Ohio; and Véronica Curo, from Argentina,
working at Central Christian Early Learning Center in Kidron,
Ohio.
While these four individuals have come to the Great Lakes region
for a year, fifteen other young people from the Great Lakes
region are also having year-long cross cultural experiences
with the Serving and Learning Together (SALT) program in places
like Indonesia and Nicaragua.
In fact, it was his interaction with SALT workers in Swaziland
that prompted Vilakati to apply for IVEP. “I was touched
that people who just completed college would want to come to
Swaziland, instead of getting a job right away like many people,”
he said. “I saw their heart.”
Visit the MCC website for more information on the SALT
program and the IVEP program.
