Daan in South Africa

Participant

Daan

Programme

Internship

Country

🇿🇦 South Africa

Duration

16 weeks

Short bio

Hiya, I’m Daan! I’m 22 and I’ve spent the last 4 months in South Africa for my third-year internship for Sport, Management and Entrepreneurship at the Amsterdam University of Applied Sciences. As well as teaching, coaching and working on my internship assignments, during the week I played 5-a-side football, played loads of padel and often went to the go-kart track. At the weekends we often did fun activities: skydiving, surfing, safari or going to the beach.
In my free time I mainly do sport and go partying.

How satisfied were you with the support from Holland?

The support from Holland was really good. First I had an introductory conversation about The Power of Sports. After that we had another meeting about internship assignments and what I could expect from my time in South Africa. Then I had a conversation with Nick, one of the founders of the foundation in South Africa, who could tell me more about the internship assignments and how they are strategic enough to make them into a third-year university internship. During my stay in South Africa I had some problems with my university and Ruben helped me really well with this, so it was quickly sorted 😉

My story

“Over the past months I haven’t regretted my choice to do an internship in South Africa for a single second, and I’d recommend going abroad on your own to anyone. Within a week you make new friends and before you know it, the time is already over.”

Daan · internship in South Africa

When I tell other people about my time in South Africa, I always get a smile on my face because I look back on it so fondly. The past 4 months have flown by, full of highlights and new experiences. The first few days were mainly an introduction, and I found out everything United Through Sport does for children in the townships, and wow, it was impressive.

In the weeks that followed I was mainly busy coaching and teaching at schools, and 1 day a week I worked on my strategic assignment: How can UTS effectively introduce the tennis program for kids from grade 6 and 7 within townships communities.

For this assignment I spoke to pupils, teachers, local residents and professional top athletes to answer the research question as well as possible. By talking to these people I realised even more what a difference a volunteer/intern can make for the children here!

On a weekday we went to several schools, starting with a learn to move session with children aged 5 to 8. After that we went to 3 other schools in the townships to give sports sessions of 1 hour each. All to inspire children and put a smile on their faces. Once you’re back at your house you’re free for the rest of the day, and we often went on outings, like going to the beach or a bar, or we played a 5-a-side football match in a team we’d set up ourselves.

So at the weekends we usually went on fun outings. The ones that have stayed with me most are:
I learnt to surf at 1 of the best surf spots in the world (Jeffreys Bay). The safari where we saw most of the big 5 animals, and we even spent the night in a treehouse in the middle of the safari park. I also went skydiving and watched at the highest bungee jump in Africa. Besides these organised outings, I also went to Durban (another city in Africa) with friends. We went out for dinner and chilled on the beach.

In November I also went to Cape Town and saw the most beautiful spots of the Garden Route along the way. That week was a really lovely end to an amazing time in South Africa. Along the way we stopped at Storms River, Mossel Bay, Plettenberg, Oudtshoorn and Cape Town. There’s so much to do in Cape Town that I stayed on even longer with a few new friends from UTS. The best part was climbing Lion’s Head and Table Mountain, definitely recommended if you go there.

What advice would you like to give future interns and volunteers?

Over the past months I haven’t regretted my choice to do an internship in South Africa for a single second, and I’d recommend going abroad on your own to anyone. Within a week you make new friends and before you know it, the time is already over.