Monica in South Africa
Participant
Monica
Programme
Internship
Country
🇿🇦 South Africa
Duration
5 weeks
Short bio
My name is Monica and I’m 19. I play handball in Amsterdam and I’m in the final year of the level 4 sport and movement coordinator course at college in Amersfoort. I also work at a gym as a fitness instructor. I’ve always found travelling really fun and interesting. I knew that at my school four 4th-year students were always chosen to do an internship in South Africa.
Sadly, from this school year onwards, that partnership with the organisation no longer went ahead. Even so, I really wanted to do an internship like that in South Africa, so I went looking for an organisation on my own initiative. In the end I came across The Power of Sports | United Through Sport, partly because it was also the most affordable internship. I then got in touch with Ruben, and through that I drew up an internship plan with school.
How satisfied were you with the support from Holland?
I was really happy with the support from Holland. First of all I had a meeting with Ruben from The Power of Sports, in which he explained exactly what the foundation United Through Sport in South Africa was all about. I could ask all my questions and he was able to help me with my internship plan. I also had his phone number, so I could reach him if I had any more questions. He always replied quickly, which meant I could prepare better and better for my trip to South Africa.
My story
And off we went. 5 weeks away on my own to South Africa. At first it was quite nerve-racking, because I was travelling alone to the other side of the world. But once I arrived at the United Through Sport accommodation, I immediately got the support I needed. They also explained how everything worked and what the plan was for the coming weeks.
Because no one (the other interns and volunteers) knew each other yet, we played team-building games at the weekend to get to know each other better. It was really fun and interesting, and I felt at home straight away. At the weekend we also discussed how we were going to teach at the schools and how we should go about it. We were also given a tour of P.E and all its neighbourhoods, which gave us an idea of what the deprived neighbourhoods where we would be teaching look like. That was quite a big difference in just a few metres.
Because I already had teaching experience, I got off to a slightly easier start than the others. It was different, though, because these children also spoke another language and you had to teach in English, but in the end you get used to that pretty quickly. The children are also really interested in you, because you come from another country and that’s unusual for them. They touch your hair, give you a high five and ask you questions out of interest. It was a really nice feeling to hear that they were interested in you too.
The children are really grateful that you teach them. Some children are a bit more difficult than others, but of course you’ll always have that. I taught football, basketball, hockey and rugby. At weekends we went on excursions, such as a safari, shark diving, skydiving and going to beaches in the area. That was really fun to do, and it also makes your relationships with the staff and the other volunteers stronger. It’s also nice to tick things off your bucket list and see more of the culture ;). Overall, I found the atmosphere super chilled and I thought it was an incredibly fun and educational internship. I really enjoyed these 5 weeks and it’s definitely one of the highlights of my life.
Monica’s photos
