Remote Internship in South Africa with VACorps

I originally chose South Africa to do an internship in-person, but unfortunately Covid-19 ruined those chances. I wanted to intern in South Africa because I believe it has a very interesting culture, it is a place that comes with a sense of adventure and I wanted to be doing something that was positive and helping those in need. I chose to do Human Rights Law with a South African company because I wanted to gain industry experience that I could use in my future career as a lawyer in Australia.

I learnt a lot about South African law, the struggles many people face in SA and the difficulties of Zimbabwean refugees. I learnt a lot from my cultural sessions and wish I had more time with my team. I will miss the calls with the VACorps staff, they were really friendly and did their best to deliver an authentic experience for me.

There is a lot of value I received from working with a NGO that defends the rights of refugees living in South Africa-- personally, I think I developed a lot as a person because of this experience. I am more culturally aware because of this experience. Working with my internship site supervisor was great. It was really inspiring to see someone work so hard for making the world a better place.

I chose South Africa because of the previous projects they had and the opportunities matched up well with what I want to do in the future. What I loved the most about my internship was the people I worked with-- communicating with them was fun and easy.

What I learned about myself through this internship is that I do well when working with others and can take constructive criticism and create something everyone can agree on. What I will miss the most is creating and planning projects with my team. I wanted to become more comfortable and practice creating social media posts and I was able to accomplish this goal! I also enjoyed editing the proposal for funding, I was able to put my excel skills to use!

I chose South Africa, due to my interest in the country and yearning to help others in an environment that included diversity and challenges to what I knew. I wanted to expand my knowledge in law and be able to put into practice what I have been learning in university. What i loved most was the variety in cases I worked on, it was everything from family law to law of torts with a heavy dose of constitutional law. I was given a a goal with independence on how to get there which pushed me to think outside the box and view things multidimensionally rather than one from one point of view.

What I learned about myself is that I definitely want to continue learning how to use law as an instrument of good rather than enrichment and I appreciate so much what my supervisor does for people. It is truly inspiring and his easy going attitude along with his sense of duty to each client made me feel really secure about going in to each case. I will never forget the feeling I felt when my supervisor asked us to help draft a case that was supposed to go up before the High court in order to amend refugee law-- I felt a great commitment to my fellow human beings who are displaced in the world not by choice and depend entirely on the laws of a foreign nation to provide them mercy. What I will miss the most is literally just working, because that is how much i enjoyed it.

I have thoroughly enjoyed my time spent working with the team in South Africa. Having a virtual, international internship was challenging and rewarding in many ways. I wish I had been able to be there to see the progress and effects of my participation! Unfortunately, with the current pandemic, that was not possible. I do think the experience has taught me a lot about time-management and what my abilities are, as opposed to what I thought they were....I will miss the smiling faces and kind words from those with whom I worked. I hope that I left a lasting impression as well.

I was able to work in a real-world environment with products and experiences that mattered for more than just trying to obtain a good grade. I was introduced to the world of non-profit organizations and the difficult, yet rewarding aspects that come from being involved with them. The experience and advice I was given by Dr. White-Ndwanya will be crucial to my obtaining employment in the future!

I chose to do a remote internship with VACorps as a pre-cursor to coming to South Africa. During the three months I learned a lot about the culture and the people. This was possible due to the weekly remote interactions and video calls and I would not be as knowledgable coming to Cape Town if I didn’t get the opportunity to understand more about the country I am going to travel to.

I loved the intimate buddy calls - I could ask anything I wanted to know more about and I felt welcomed without actually having stepped a foot on the ground yet.

As a Human Rights Intern, I was under the supervision of Kelly and Simon. They were wonderful mentors and gave me the freedom to work flexibly and at my own pace. Their warm personalities aided in my remote experience and I look forward to meeting with them in person.

I would highly recommend an initial remote internship experience to others wishing to go to South Africa - coming from a completely different society and culture, it made my understanding of the people and country more fulfilling and it eases the transition into going to Cape Town in person.

As a recently graduated Masters student, I was still in the mind-frame of being the student/learner. It took me the whole three months to get out of that mind-frame. It was difficult to get a perception of what was needed of me when I didn’t have a real-life understanding of what was expected of me. However, I feel that now, once I reach Cape Town, I will be able to provide my knowledge and know-how in a more realistic and tangible way. I feel that this remote internship experience had a HUGE impact on my self-esteem and made me realise that I have more potential than I thought I had. I felt that this remote experience was necessary for my in-country experience in the next few months.

From the start of the internship, VACorps was a big help. The staff in South Africa was easy to contact and they helped find the right program for me. At the beginning of the 8-week remote internship with Dr. Takiyah, my goals were established and throughout the 8-week program and my goals were accomplished.

My goals for my internship were as follows: 1) to expand knowledge on research 2) learn how to reach different demographics, and 3) build health programs for communities in need. Now that my internship is finished, I can say that I have done so much research during my internship while achieving these goals!

I participated in research on grants, history, townships and a variety of other Public Health topics. For example, during my internship with Ms. Takiyah, I built a Hypertension campaign for black women stemming from a paper I wrote. I also did a COVID Prevention flyer for middle schoolers in South Africa and I assisted with donation handovers, that I really enjoyed. I have even published a page on Dr. Takiyah's memorial fund website, networked with some board members of the memorial fund-- all of which looks great on my resume! It has been an incredible experience and this remote internship has helped me to grow, professionally and personally. I feel more comfortable and prepared for my future career in the Public Health field. I even feel more comfortable and prepared for life after graduation.

I have just finished my remote internship where I was working on putting together a sports program design with a soccer academy for a group of underprivileged girls based in South Africa. Although I would have liked to visit Cape Town in person, I have still been able to meet some incredible people and truly experience the South African culture within the comfort of my own home. I feel I have made a difference in these girls lives whilst they have changed mine.

While participating in fun cultural workshops and weekly buddy chats with my new friend in South Africa, I was able to learn and experience as much of South Africa as possible remotely. The buddy chats were always the highlight of my week and are something I will truly miss. This experience has helped me gain perspective, think creatively, and explore my interests. I have had a great experience with Kaya Volunteer and VACorps from the very beginning of my program and can’t wait to visit South Africa in the near future!

If there was one phrase that described my remote internship experience in South Africa through VACorps and Kaya Responsible Travel, it would be “journey before destination.” While the end product (in my case a framework for a new sports development programme) was well worth the many weeks of hard work, it was the relationships that I formed along the way with people within and around the communities I was serving that set this experience apart.

I originally chose South Africa as a destination for an internship because even remotely, it is an ideal place to see the fruits of both domestic and international public health development programmes in action. What I was not aware of (and what ended up being one of my favorite parts of the experience) was just how rich and diverse South Africa is culturally while still maintaining a fairly universal workplace culture structured around familial relationships. From the moment I first interacted with my supervisor at my internship site and my “buddy” through VACorps, I felt known, valued, and appreciated in a way that I had not anticipated and very much appreciated. Specifically within VACorps, I was able to develop a close bond with my “buddy” Kuselwa Webu; she not only did an amazing enhancing the cultural learning experience but also provided a weekly opportunity to relax and chat informally about all things South Africa.

If I had to choose one thing that I liked the most about my internship, it would be the workplace culture. Somehow, my supervisor and my fellow interns and I created and maintained a workplace dynamic that always felt laid-back and non-intrusive while still pushing us to maintain the deadlines that we set for ourselves. This aspect of a workplace culture was quite unique for me, as it is quite different than anything that I have experienced in America. In terms of things that I will miss the most, I think that the unique workplace dynamics in place will be one of the most prominent.

Overall, I had an amazing experience interning through VACorps! I would highly recommend that they make an effort to continue working with my internship site in the future, and I hope that in the future, I can work with them again to visit South Africa in person!