In 2015, we ran a year-long intern program in South Africa. During this time, the interns engaged in classroom teachings, hands-on experience, leadership opportunities, and a trip to other projects in Africa – all within a cross-cultural context. Tom Gregory, a UK resident, reflects on this experience and how it has impacted where he is today.
Why did you choose to intern at Ten Thousand Homes?
I first went to TTH when I was 23. I can remember feeling quite old at the time (which I now realise was nonsense!). I had been to university, moved to a big city and got a job. On the face it, I suppose I had the life of someone who was hitting all the right metrics that society wants you to hit.
Don’t get me wrong, there were aspects of my life that were so much fun. I learned important life lessons that I would otherwise not have learned. I also have friendships from that time that I treasure to this day. But on the other hand, I felt this enormous, pervasive emptiness.
If you’d had asked me this question at the time, I would say I went to TTH to “have an impact”. Looking back, I think I went because I was looking for meaning.
How did it impact you?
In so many ways. For the first time, I started to understand who Jesus was for myself. At [the TTH campus] and in the communities TTH served I experienced an authentic, humanising love that was compelling. It was a window into God’s kingdom that cut through my cynicism.
The 23-year-old me would loathe this, but I also met my now wife whilst I was at TTH.
Finally, on the internship I felt God clearly speak to me about justice and call me into a career in law. I am now a lawyer.
It would not be an understatement to say some of the main threads of my life are rooted in my time at TTH. I consider myself very blessed to have been there!
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