Staff Spotlight: Kholosa Potwana

Title:
Program Advisor

Photos

Kholosa Potwana is born, bred and buttered South African and Capetonian but originally from Eastern Cape, South Africa. Kholi is a facilitator, artist, and entrepreneur. She has a passionate and loving personality and is warm and adventurous.

What is your favorite travel memory?

My favorite travel memory was when we traveled with interns to the Cedeberg Mountains on a VAC weekend away. Cedeberg is an area located three hours outside of Cape Town, but it feels like a different world once you are there.

This trip was my first experience going out to explore nature in a long time. It was also my first time traveling with my team and the students. We played, hiked, sang along on the transport, wine tasting slept in the wild on tents, it was a magical experience for me. I had been with the team for a few months then because I started working for VAC this year and at this point I was still getting overwhelmed by all the adventures and the work that I am supposed to do in my new job, not sure of how to reach everyone, but this trip helped me a lot as I realized how special and amazing it is just being yourself amongst people from the different parts of the worlds and still remain appreciative of life and nature around you and how great it is for everyone to just be.

We really had a blast on the trip.

How have you changed/grown since working for your current company?

How VACorps has been family-oriented is really just mind-blowing for me. I have never thought I'd enjoy life and grow so much mentally and physically within a short space of time that it feels this was meant for me. The amazing interns/students we host, to the team that I work with every day, life is just beginning to make sense for me as I am really working with the originals or better authentic people. I am really just grateful to the people who take from their time to come and explore South Africa and do it through our program.

What is the best story you've heard from a return student?

The best story has been when one of the guys that came in February of 2019 decided that she wants to come back and continue working for her site. She got her visas and everything and was allowed to come back. I think I also appreciate that she's just stayed in touch with us at the office and it feels like a privilege to have been the first ones to host her in her journey and had facilitated the journey to her meeting with the site and for her to open up her world to the big change and allowed herself to be open to the big change and chance that her universe had to offer. And in all for me really as a new employee has received a lot of messages from the program's alumni to express the changes and adjustments that they had to get back to and how much they miss us.

If you could go on any program that your company offers, which one would you choose and why?

I would go on Law. This field provides a lot of diverse opportunities to tackle challenges faced by the people from the upper spheres of government to society at large especially in a country like South Africa. Human Rights Law is specifically the field I would feel I am contributing a lot to people's well-fares and having direct communication from speaking to the constitution and the government by involving my self with the organizations that are trying to help bridge the gap between people and it's government and leadership. Knowing and making a change in this regard can help benefit our people a great deal.

A constitution is supposed to benefit its people. Our society needs passion, loyalty, strict rules and policies to protect them and not to fail them. To be part of that development and change could be an achievement. Traveling and learning to gain experience and exposure to the different societies in the world could really be a lifetime achievement and bringing back those skills home to implement steadily what could be a necessary need in the countries wellness. People don't have to suffer in the hands of capable to make their lives better laws and constitutions.

What makes your company unique? When were you especially proud of your team?

I believe what makes us unique is the support and love for each other as a team and for our work. The time and the efforts that we make to make everyone, individually and as a collective, to feel welcomed and loved that goes all the way from when a person arrives until the end of their stay. The drive that we have to make sure that everyone has a unique experience.

We ensure their wellness and safety by providing support 24/7 during the time that they are in the program. Our working space is created so that everyone feels like they belong. Office etiquette and the family-oriented team is the engine of successful achievements that our interns get to experience abroad. It is more like we create a home away from home for them!

What do you believe to be the biggest factor in being a successful company?

Passion and drive for what you do. Skills and development of the team members. Good communication. Empathy and social skills go a long way. Technical skills and the availability of resources to carry out work at level best. Promotion of different sets of skills and practices within the workspace to equip staff. Acknowledgment and support structure for employees.