Program Reviews

It was certainly a lot more epic that I thought it would be. The marketing and social media internship is certainly not your typical internship. I did not make a single cup of coffee during, I did no filing and I only learned how to use the photocopier on my very last day. I was perhaps a very poor intern. I think that the internship that I did with African Impact reflects well on African Impact and it’s core values. Nothing that African Impact does is typical or mundane. Its work transcends the ordinary and dances with the giants of awesomeness. So it is perhaps fitting that my intern experience with them reflects this.

I was from my very first day given challenging tasks to complete that allowed me to revaluate what I thought I was capable of. I was at all times encouraged to suggest new and innovative ways of telling the African Impact story. Whilst with African Impact I was given the chance to thoroughly explore and develop my creative side, I suspect that this involved a good deal of indulgence and patience on their end but it has opened up a whole new world of opportunities for me. I learned a new set of skills that will undoubtedly help me on whatever path I choose for my future.

Aside from personal development that one should expect from any internship programme; African Impact gave me all the knowledge and advice that I needed to create my own adventures. The people that work for African Impact are all fiercely proud of their home city (Cape Town) and will stop at nothing to make sure that you experience absolutely everything that it has to offer. I cannot think of better tour guides. I was given insider information, on which mountains to climb, which breaks to surf, where to eat, where to drink, what to see and what to avoid. I can honestly say that some of my exploits in Cape Town will remain with me for the rest of my life. Even if the internship programme were crap, which it was not, the opportunity to spend three months exploring Cape Town would have been worthwhile in itself.

So how do I end this review? I suppose pretty much how I began; it was epic and thoroughly succeeded my expectations. People often ask whether or not I would recommend the programme to a friend or not. I don’t like this question because I have weird friends, some of them are afraid of wind and might not like Cape Town. If, however, you want to have an awesome experience, learn new skills and explore one of the most beautiful cities in the world then I would thoroughly recommend the Social Media and Marketing internship that I did.

I participated on the teaching project with African Impact in Livingstone, Zambia and had a wonderful experience. The staff was extremely helpful and did their best to make sure you were comfortable and feeling at home. They also did a great job of addressing unexpected situations that arose, which are common in Africa.

On the projects, we would teach every weekday in the mornings, then have a break for lunch, and then volunteer for a few hours in the afternoon at various places such as after school reading clubs or the old people's home. We had the weekends off to participate on any adventures or excursions that we wanted to! The volunteer house also has plenty of activities for the volunteers. There is a pool, bar, and rock climbing wall out back, and plenty of couches and areas to kick back and relax.

Volunteering abroad was an amazing life changing experience that opened up my eyes to other parts of the world. Don't be discouraged if you don't have any teaching experience. I didn't either and I was able to catch on quickly with some help from the on-site staff and other volunteers. I volunteered for just 2 weeks and was able to meet tons of lifelong friends from all over the world. The people in Livingstone were so friendly and welcoming, and it is a joy to work with the kids and see how eager they are to learn.

Working with African Impact was the most profound and fruitful experience of my entire life. I advise any potential volunteers to embrace the culture and keep an open mind in order to learn more about yourself and the world around you through the experience of giving. Thank you so much for allowing me the opportunity to build relationships with so many wonderful people from all ages and walks of life in the beautiful community of Livingstone!

This internship is one of the best things I've ever done. After my degree I couldn't decide whether to start looking for work or to take a gap year and travel, so this was the best of both worlds. Cape Town is amazing - my new favourite city! When I first arrived everyone told me that I wouldn't want to leave and they were so right. There's so much to see and do. Beaches, mountains, shopping, bars, museums, sports, vineyards... The list goes on. Shark-cage diving was a particular highlight.

Working in the African Impact office was great. The Marketing and Social Media Managers are both lovely and I learnt a lot from them. You get to take on a fair amount of responsibility in this role as well so it was a great opportunity to develop practical knowledge/skills. When I eventually came home and started applying for jobs every interviewer just wanted to ask about the internship! It really stands out on a CV.

I'd recommend an internship with African Impact in a heartbeat. A return visit to Cape Town has also been added to my bucket list.

I have just returned from two weeks in st lucia with African impact and have to say, they were just amazing.The co-ordinators ( from Monique & Miriam to Vlekkie ) are so committed, enthusiastic,motivated and passionate about their projects ( it makes you so proud of them ).They make you feel at home as soon as you arrive and you become one big family. The zulu staff are supportive and also an important part of this project,their knowledge of the area and the community really puts you at ease,i soon became part of the community !!! people of all ages recognise you and just love to talk !!. As for the projects, you really do feel as if you make a difference and a great help,from cleaning peoples houses to being part of the reading club ( very rewarding ).The house in which you stay is very comfortable and clean,it is very close to shops,resturaunts and cafes. Please Please make the plunge and go, i can assure you you will not be disappointed.

I volunteered with the African Impact for two weeks in Cape Town, South Africa. At first, I was so scared about flying all my myself and I didnt know much about the African Impact organization. I was able to make 30 hours of flight to South Africa from United States, and as soon as when I arrived Cape Town, there was a really sweet lady who was waiting for me with my name on the sign. She was so friendly and welcomed me to the volunteer house. I met so many nice people from all over the world in my volunteer house in Cape Town. They were all passion about helping others. I volunteered with the Veterinary assistance and abused animal shelter project and it was wonderful! There were so many inspirational people in Cape Town and they have opened my eyes so much. There were so many things to do in Cape Town, I went to shark caged diving, Lions Head mountain hiking, restaurants, and many others with other volunteers from my house. The volunteer house was so nice and welcoming. You will learn a lot lot in Africa, and I am SO glad I went!! I almost didn't went, because I wasn't sure if it would be worth it. But it was more than worth it and I miss every minute of it! I say go for the experience because it will be once in lifetime. I wish I could go back! African Impact is such a wonderful organization and everyone who works for the organization was perfect!

I was with the Medical project in St. Lucia for 5 weeks in July/August 2013 and it was just an incredible experience. When you travel around the world to a new place knowing no one, there is bound to be some anxiety but I found that I truly felt 100% at home and welcome from the moment I connected with the AI team. Monique and Miriam (project coordinators) were just incredible, so full of good advise, good cheer and great attitudes, they are just the best. The rest of the staff and the Zulu team were incredibly supportive.. The work itself was busy and I was glad there was variation in our days. You would go out on projects in the morning and afternoon, each week you were assigned duties and you knew what you needed to prepare for. We all learned the ropes quickly and each day you would wake up to a new experience. Working in the villages with the people was very rewarding, especially the elderly and children. On the medical project, you were able to go into homes to check on the ill or infirm and you got to know the people on a personal level. Every day was an adventure and I learned so much, not just about the culture and the way they lived but also about myself. I would go back in a nanosecond and hope to someday.

I volunteered with African Impact on the Medical Outreach and HIV Awareness Program for two weeks this year and it was a truly incredible experience. The Zulu and international staff made me feel welcome from the moment I arrived. There is such a great sense of community at the volunteer house; I met so many amazing people from around the world. The passion of the staff is inspiring and they were a great source of motivation and support throughout my experience.

Every project I volunteered on; from helping with intake at the local clinic, teaching HIV Education to the local primary school children, home based care and the 10 families project were all really well received and appreciated by members of the community. You can really tell the projects African Impact has created are making a positive impact on people’s lives. I loved working in the communities and feeling like I was making a genuine contribution to the project’s success and a difference in the lives of the wonderful people I met.

I can highly recommend volunteering with African Impact St Lucia if you are considering volunteering abroad due to the amazing projects, inspirational team, community spirit of the volunteer house and stunning location.

When I arrived at the volunteer house we had an induction which outlined the goals for each project and the goal for the Sports Development project was to introduce a good to high standard of Physical Education (PE) while supporting the local head coach from a company called “Sports Choice”. This company works with local schools with in townships with backing from some charities to improve the quality of coaching and the amount of time children take part in organised PE sessions. Sustainability is really important to African Impact and that is very clear in each project in which I was involved in.
The schools were how I pictured a township school and not like the photo on the website of the volunteer provider. The photo was of a school African Impact used to work at a couple of months before and the school did not require more volunteer help as they progressed to a high level that they can sustain for many years to come. The areas that the children do PE were old netball courts with grass in patches on an asphalt surface on which all the children take their shoes off and have bare feet. I was surprised at first but I think back to the days I was at primary school in New Zealand and I just to go bare footed for everything. I overheard the coach saying that the school don’t let the children wear shoes due to it marks and wreaks the courts, which I think is a shame when the court is in quiet a poor state.
The first couple of sessions the head coach was in charge and it felt more like pre-season training rather than a PE lesion as all we did for 45 minutes were shuttles with the class split in to four groups which at least nine in each line. I thought this was crazy as I have learnt though practice and study that children should not be put in big group qued activities, one good thing was that the coach always got the children chanting as each group had a name and gained points for supporting pairs and teammates. After the first day I started to take more control of sessions from just a warm up to taking the whole session in which the children played more skill based games that include all the children most of the time, which I feel they would benefit from having fun and learning new skills as well.
Depending on the age of the children and the level of English would depend on the complexity of each game. I would explain to the rules and goals of the games to the children then speak to the coach so he knew why I am doing this particular active and what skills I am looking for from the children. If it doesn’t go quite right, just adapting the rules slightly makes the children more responsive. I gave the head coach a list of session plans that have key points for the session and a lot of different games based for different age groups instead of have just one set game for the children.
On Fridays as a team we plan sessions for the next week and brainstorm new games we could try as well making them age relevant games, we would also set a theme every two weeks as the head coach only sees each class once a fortnight. Also being based in two schools in the township of Langa only two days a week allows a very limited time with each class, but the goal is to provide PE and show how important PE is in the development of a child mentally as well as physically.
After two weeks on the volunteer project I felt time went really quickly and I just wanted to stay and continue the project as I really enjoyed it. I really enjoyed my time with the staff and the children as well as I felt I have grown in terms of taking a more leading role without stepping on the head coaches toes while putting my ideas out there and having the confidence in explaining and justifying the reason for this idea. When I was younger I feel I would have taken a back seat role and just let things play out as an observer.
This experience has shown me a different style and culture of coaching children and has opened my eyes to the fact that children have a massive respect for adults in this culture and been constantly hearing a collective “yes coach” and if you say something they do it, whereas some English children don’t have that level of respect of even close.
The more you put in to project the more you get out, it was one of the most rewarding experiences I have ever had.

African Impact runs a serious research project at Thanda. My work-holiday time there was a chance to learn about and to participate in meaningful investigations of wild animal behaviour. Suddenly faced with an eight member pride of lions I saw at once that I should have studied more closely all the preparation sheets I had been sent. Identifying individual animals from photos and detailed descriptions at first seemed impossible; and so recording their interactions appeared futile. This was no less true when an over 20 member herd of elephants surrounded us. (After an eight day search our 40-40 vision driver managed to get us this experience. I could say lots about our hyper-tuned bird dog drivers) Yet this is what this program teaches us to do. The challenge is to immerse oneself, before, during and after the numerous actual sightings, in the available material showing the animals’ features and group relationships. We volunteers, working together with trained staff, manually recorded and then entered electronically every observation. We were then able to analyze the data and to present trends in draft monthly reports. A few weeks here can be anything from a holiday to the beginning of a career. The food, accommodation, staff, camaraderie, who cares, it’s all great. So also are the times we spent helping people in surrounding villages and helping to keep vegetation under control. Where the opportunities are unique is with tracking and finding the animals, and then with the limitless challenge of studying and recording them.