I've been working with Rushin for a month now. My job is to create content for sites like Facebook, Instagram and YouTube. We work well together, he is my writer and I'm in charge of the design. We have put a lot in place to move in the right direction. The aim is to create brand awareness for Khaya as the ideal intern and travel volunteer organisation, to give insight into the experiences of volunteers and what we do. It is an exciting experience to be able to work as a marketing intern as well as a volunteer and to share this amazing opportunity with you.
I progress every day in English, even though it can be challenging because I am the only French person in the house. Everyone helps me and tries not to talk too fast.
All the tasks that have been allocated to me as a marketing intern has given me the ability to improve myself every day and for that I am forever grateful. This is not the only thing that I am grateful for. I am able to visit all the projects, meet different people and of course create content which I absolutely love to do.
So, I had the chance to visit the Project, Penguin Rescue and Rehab:
I left with Ylva, a volunteer who is working at this Project. The day starts around 10am and ends at 5pm. During this day I was again lucky because there were not as many people as expected so I was able to really participate actively in the day.
This place is quite incredible, the centre takes care of the penguins and feeds them every day. This was really a unique experience; these penguins are only found in Africa and I was able to easily observe and touch them.
I accompanied Lara and Sandra for a day at this project. They leave at 7:30 in the morning and finish at 3:00. This project is located in the township of Missionvale.
Missionvale care centre was created in 1988, this centre looks like a small town in the heart of the township. A haven of peace in the heart of Missionvale.
The centre consists of:
- Normoyle Primary School for Children
- Afternoon classes for adults who need to obtain their matric certificate
- After-school child development program. Various fun activities.
- Community garden to acquire new skills
- Crafter unit: The ladies of the Craftsmen's Unit work every day on various projects, including curtains, doilies, handbags. These items are then sold.
- Gigantic clothing warehouse that gathers all the donations. They are then sorted by size, washed and distributed to those who need them most.
- A church
- A community hall for special occasions such as weddings, funerals, training.
- A medical unit with a pharmacy, nurses and volunteer doctors.
- A Christmas room: Preparation of 7000 Christmas gifts for the children of the Missionvale township
- Finally, a nutrition unit
I accompanied Lara in the morning to the nutrition unit. They serve bread and soup to about 500 people a day. We had to prepare all the food parcels for the people when they arrive.
Before noon we met with people outside to pray with them before the food distribution. It was a very strong moment for me, I had tears in my eyes. It's different from other projects because you're in contact with adults who are really poor and who have children to feed.
We distributed food for a very long time. First to the oldest, then to women, then to men and finally to the youngest.
After that we had to prepare a special donation. Each week, the people on the list can collect soap, 5 tea bags, sugar, flour and two cans. Doing all of this is productive and makes one feel like one has really made a valuable contribution to the project and to the people.
That is not all, after the nutrition unit, we spend some time with Aunty Rachel in the Christmas room preparing gifts for the children. 7000 gifts get distributed each year to children between the ages of 1 to 16 years old. We use newspaper to wrap the gifts and paint them afterwards to make them look pretty for the children.
I was touched by this project, it opened my eyes by being able to see the positive impact that volunteers make and would recommend this project to anyone who is planning to travel abroad to South Africa.
