Meike in Saint Lucia

Participant

Meike

Programme

Internship

Country

🇱🇨 Saint Lucia

Duration

10 weeks

Short bio

I’m 19 and I’m studying on the ‘sustainable living environment adviser’ course. So this course focuses more on sustainability and less on sport. I also work in a supermarket back home in Holland, and my sport is majorette.

How satisfied were you with the support from Holland?

I found the support in Holland really good: a good first conversation, an introduction to where you can do the programme and what it involves. After that we had a follow-up conversation and a conversation with the internship supervisor in the country where we did the programme.

My story

“During this internship you don’t just build a bond with your housemates and coaches, but also with the children you teach, and that made this internship feel even more special.”

Meike · internship in Saint Lucia

For my course I did a 10-week internship abroad in Saint Lucia. At first I found it quite nerve-racking to join this programme, as my course doesn’t focus on sport or coaching. But right from the start they offer lots of help and you’re supported by other interns and volunteers. I really appreciated that, because it makes it easy to build a bond with your housemates. In the first lessons you mainly shadow others and you’re free to settle in and watch, and along the way you learn more and more about your role and where you can help. They really build up your independence and you’re never just left on your own. You can also really grow here: if you have a learning goal, you can easily say what it is and how you can work towards it together.
As well as building everything up in the lessons, you also get to know the children better and better and learn how best to teach them. So it is, and keeps becoming, a really great internship.

Besides the internship, there’s also the house where you spend your time. Between lessons you also have time to go back to the house to cool off and rest. In the house you of course live with your housemates, who you spend most of your time with. I really enjoyed that too; I went on trips with them that we organised ourselves, and we also did excursions together.

The excursions on offer are really cool too; I went on 3 excursions myself. First I climbed the Piton, a famous mountain in Saint Lucia, second I went ziplining, and last we had an ATV tour, which was truly unforgettable.

As I mentioned, the excursions aren’t the only thing you do; we often just went out with housemates, to a different beach or the capital, for example.

For me personally, this internship was truly unforgettable, because I really built up my self-confidence enormously, learnt more about working with children and got to learn what it’s like to teach and coach. During this internship you don’t just build a bond with your housemates and coaches, but also with the children you teach, and that made this internship feel even more special.

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

For future interns and volunteers, my advice would be to go into this adventure with an open mind. It’s OK if you still need to get used to everything, but try to put your best foot forward and help wherever you can. That way you’ll find out sooner what your role in coaching is.