South Africa Internship Social Media
Joy Bötcher
BA Childhood Education, completing her Obligatory internship in Port Elizabeth, South Africa
My internship in South Africa has now come to an end and had a special conclusion. In the last week, all the interns and volunteers registered the children who are particularly good at a sport for a scholarship (see picture). We write down the names, school classes and ages of the children who have performed particularly well in sport. With a bit of luck, the children will then get a place at a good high school outside the townships, where they will receive a better education and extra support in their sport. This gives these children a better chance of obtaining a good educational qualification and possibly leaving the circle of poverty.
There are almost always excursions at the weekends or we all do something together. The best excursions are, for example, the safari, shark cage diving or bungee jumping. But it is also very interesting to see the most popular sports such as rugby and cricket live in the stadium.
As all the coaches also live together, we spend a lot of time together after coaching. We usually play cricket together in the garden or go to a restaurant together.
We also often all go out partying together. There is also a soccer match every Thursday, where the United through Sport team plays against the locals.
Here are a few impressions of the coaching sessions. Coaching usually takes place on a field or paved surface. The children can choose between rugby, cricket, soccer, netball, basketball and field hockey. After the sessions, they often sing or dance together.
Every day, all of the organization's coaches travel to 4 different schools. The "Learn to Move" program takes place every day at the first school.
We coach the youngest children at the school (approx. 5-7 years old). We do balance exercises, running games and everything else they like to play at that age. At the end of the session, the children are allowed to do whatever they want with our equipment. Afterwards, the children go back to their classes and we drive to the next school.
This is an example of what a township looks like here in Port Elizabeth, South Africa.
Picture no. 1 shows a house as it usually looks here. Very simple and little space for often many people. But these people are still doing well, because those who only live in corrugated iron huts don't even have electricity or running water. Picture no. 2: In the townships, people run their own small businesses such as car washing, tire sales and so on.
Image no. 3: This is a typical primary school. It usually has several "small" buildings with a few classrooms. Often the schools also have a paved courtyard and a larger area for playing. We also have our coaching sessions in these areas. Picture no. 4: This is a classroom. Often several children have to share the benches because there are too few of them. Otherwise, it is simply equipped with a teacher's desk and a blackboard. Sometimes there are also bookshelves in the classroom.
In the first few days in Port Elizabeth, we went on a township tour to get to know the area where we work better, but above all to understand how the children live.
The picture shows a "Sheep Head", which is also called a smiley here because it looks as if the sheep is laughing. It is cooked on the roadside in a pot over an open fire and sold to the people for around 50 Rand (approx. €2.95).
Off I go to South Africa for my internship abroad.
The good weather and the children from the townships are already waiting for me. But first I will get to know Port Elizabeth better with the other interns/volunteers. This includes the first tour through the townships to get to know our working environment.