Sarah Bergs

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Sarah Dawn Bergs is from Hoedspruit, South Africa and currently runs a non-profit called Nourish in South Africa. She grew up in the world renown Timbavati Game Reserve where she developed an intelligible love for nature. She was home schooled for much of her school career. She loves travelling, thai food, yoga, reading, and TRAVELLING. She volunteered with The Expedition project in May 2012.

Why did you decide to volunteer with The EXPEDITION Project in South Africa?

I am a South African and what makes The Expedition Project quite rare is that it is open to international and local volunteers. Usually experiences like this are too expensive for locals to participate in the way international volunteers do, however The EXPEDITION Project makes special provisions for locals to participate. I run an NPO and wanted to work with The Expedition Project during periods when I was not busy with my project duties and similarly The EXPEDITION Project wanted to see what my NPO was all about so for me it was an exciting opportunity and i enjoyed it thoroughly!

Describe your day to day activities as a volunteer.

The most exciting aspect about The EXPEDITION Project is the fact that it is not a project based in one place so it was an opportunity to be able to see SA and travel. Joining the TEP team gave me the opportunity to make more contacts in the industry while volunteering for a good cause. Our day would consist of a team breakfast in the morning where we planned out our day ahead which would be driving for a bit of the day and then visiting projects, charities or adventures as part of our tour whether it was visiting a Cheetah rehabilitation centre or a local school.

What made this experience unique and special?

Another unique aspect of the project is that we are able to stay in such varied accommodation from hotels to game farms to B&B’s to home-stay which means you get to really experience so much from different angles. This is something i love having travelled much myself. And depending where we were we got to eat the local food and experience the atmosphere of the area through the people, projects and activities available. It was a unique mix of work and fun through a combination of travelling so that you never got bored.

How has this experience impacted your future?

Being apart of the project for a short time in 2012 gave me more enthusiasm to continue with my NPO and continue to work with The Expedition Project when I can. It has shown me that collaboration and partnerships is the key to a charity’s success. Personally I feel passionate and fortunate to live in a country like South Africa with so many amazing people and places – I recommend everyone visits this amazing country! It creeps into ones heart and soul. This is why my project fuels me and i think my time with TEP was rewarding in that I got a lot of other insight into problems in SA and also solutions that are in progress!