Living Our Twin Ideals In South Africa

Recently we heard from Stasia, a sister from our Gamma Tau chapter about how she is living our twin ideas of "the brotherhood of man and the alleviation of the worlds pain." Now we want to hear from you! How are you embodying our twin ideals in your life?

Dear Sisters,

As I am writing this, I am looking at a lagoon that is on the Indian Ocean. As you may have assumed, I am not in America but I am in the beautiful land of South Africa! I have been in Knysna, SA for almost a month now, and am due to come home at the end of April. I am here teaching at social studies at a middle school and it is quite different than it is in the States. Not only are the textbook and styles of learning and teaching different, but the context in which it is taught is very different. I am lucky that I am teaching on the American Revolutionary War and slavery, and not South African or African history!

This is not my first excursion to Africa—Last summer I lived in northern Kenya for eight weeks, teaching literacy in the bush and doing some other non-governmental work. It was here that I saw firsthand the AIDS pandemic and poverty in that gorgeous land. In northern Kenya, I spent almost a week living in a hut, walking to get water, living in a tribe and building relationships. That was 'true Africa,' where people ran naked because they did not have money to buy clothes and where people literally died of starvation because they could not obtain money to buy food to eat. It was here where I knew that my life would have a purpose and that I had to do my part in helping alleviate this part of the world's pain.

Many people that I have met think that I am outlandish for being passionate about Africa, but they do not understand that I am simply fulfilling an oath that I took three and a half years ago. It was then that I joined a sorority who strives to alleviate the world's pain.

I am very proud to wear my letters here in South Africa. I wore a lettered shirt to dinner last night. I was left at the table alone, and a water polo player came and sat at my table, and he was intrigued by the letters on my shirt. The first thing he asked was "So, are you in one of those American sororities?" I proudly told him that I was! He left our conversation well informed on the things that occur in a sorority! That conversation made me realize, though, that sororities are a world wide thing that people know about. Now, our sorority is known by a South African man!

I hope that I am making our Founders' proud while I am here and truly living our twin ideals. I challenge you to do the same—be proud to be a sister in Phi Sig and be unconventional. Stand for the things that you believe in and be PASSIONATE. You can change the world.

Diokete Hupsala,

Stasia
Gamma Tau