VAC Internships Cape Town Reviews

My time in South Africa with VACorps was a refreshing surprise. I come for a holiday, a break after graduation and I was not disappointed. The VaCorps staff go above and beyond to ensure you have a safe and fore-filling time in this beautiful country. The biggest surprise for me was that after my time here I did genuinely feel comfortable and a part of the community in Observatory. I have honestly loved my time here and would return in a heartbeat. As for my personal goals in my legal internship, wanted to achieve who expose to real client interactions. To witness and learn how to engage with clients as they are describing their problems, to be understanding but also to keep them on track. I was exposed to this on my first day and continued to be exposed to it during my internship. I also really enjoyed the shift in the back end of my internship to a greater focus on the refugee community as a whole, through the ride-along with a detective in Bellville and the day spent at a Zim school.

I came to Cape Town as part of my university course requirements which stated that I had to work for a period of 3 months in my related field. Alongside my desire to leave my home country, after discovering the community, opportunities and support VACorps had to offer, I set my scopes on Cape Town. I loved the atmosphere of my work as they gave me a huge amount of responsibility that I would seldom get at home. In addition to this, the camaraderie I had with my colleagues was fantastic. A part of my experience that I will certainly look back on with fond memories will be the many many people from different cultures and backgrounds that I met during my time here. It certainly widens your scope and overall perspective of the world. I stayed for 3 months, however, found I could have possibly done another month or two following it.

The VACorps staff are an exceptional bunch of people. All of whom go above and beyond the call of duty for any person that requires it during their time in Cape Town. They are your friends as well as your guides and it really wouldn't be the same without each of them doing what they do!

Put yourself out there and ask to be involved in the various projects on offer. The amount you put in is what you get out.

I chose Cape Town because I was always fascinated by the history and culture - and it did not disappoint! The program was helpful and there was always someone available to assist me if I needed anything. I would not recommend going to Cape Town without a program like VAC! Despite the fact that it was the winter, the weather was lovely and I was still able to do many outdoor activities. My internship sight was incredible and I had an amazing supervisor. It was an extremely meaningful and educational experience, and I will take away these lessons that I learned in my internship and in Cape Town as a whole into my career, education, and personal life moving forward! I did about six weeks and enjoyed it, though many people stay longer. The weekly activities are great and cover a lot of the bigger trips that I want to do, like Paarl/Spice Route, Muizenberg, Simon's Town, and Cape Point. I was a graduate student and there were several other graduate students and it was a meaningful work and social experience for a graduate student.

I really enjoyed my internship with NICRO through VACorps. My supervisors at NICRO and VACorps were incredibly supportive and helpful in my professional growth. Kelly (VACorps) was so great in educating me about the NGO I was working at and guiding me in my work. I am thankful for her assistance. Venessa (NICRO) was an amazing mentor at NICRO and took me under her wing while I worked there. I enjoyed getting to know both of the supervisors and being able to help out at this wonderful organisation. I would recommend the program for those looking for a human rights law internship. The internship was great but it is more for someone who is flexible and willing to not always go into the office. I worked on the criminal record expungement database at NICRO and interviewed subjects using their intake tool. I helped put together and run a seminar they were planning.

I was originally attracted to Cape Town because of its rich human rights history and beautiful nature. I wanted to do an internship because I felt like it would be the best way to get a true understanding of Cape Town, its history, and the problems that it faces today. I wanted to be able to interact directly with Cape Town residents and have the most authentic experience possible. This was probably my favorite part of interning here - getting to know the people here. Being in Cape Town has definitely been the most transformative experience of my life. I was presented with so many incredible opportunities that I would not have anywhere else, and I am super thankful for everything that I have been able to do here and all of the wonderful people, both from VACorps and my internship, that I was able to meet. I think that 8 weeks was the perfect amount of time to be here for - it's not too long where I felt like I've exhausted all of the things to do here, but not too short where I feel like I was able to do everything that I wanted.

I came to Cape Town as part of my university course requirements which stated that I had to work for a period of 3 months in my related field. Alongside my desire to leave my home country, after discovering the community, opportunities, and support VACorps had to offer, I set my scopes on Cape Town. I loved the atmosphere of my work as they gave me a huge amount of responsibility that I would seldom get at home. In addition to this, the camaraderie I had with my colleagues was fantastic. A part of my experience that I will certainly look back on with fond memories will be the many many people from different cultures and backgrounds that I met during my time here. It certainly widens your scope and overall perspective of the world. I stayed for 3 months, however, found I could have possibly done another month or two following it. The VACorps staff are an exceptional bunch of people. All of whom go above and beyond the call of duty for any person that requires it during heir time in Cape Town. They are your friends as well as your guides and it really wouldn't be the same without each of them doing what they do!

VAC presented me with an opportunity to look at the world from a new angle. Academically and socially, I was able to become a better version of me. The services provided by the programme are very student-friendly, especially because the staff holds your hand every step of the way. Transitioning into a new place may be hard, but with VAC ensuring that you hit the ground while running you are sure to have an easy time. The city is beautiful and so are the people once you meet them. I could not be more pleased to say that I got what was on my list of objectives.

In terms of my internship, I found it very fulfilling to have written a submission (first submission) for the South African Parliament with the help of the other interns and our supervisor! Helping in the general draft of a submission for courts and doing research work in support of cases was also an achievement.

I have had the most amazing time with VAC! I first chose Cape Town as my destination because I had never traveled abroad by myself and wanted to experience a very different culture and lifestyle. What I have learned, seen, and taken in during my stay at Cape Town has exceeded my expectations beyond everything. I have been greatly exposed to the people, customs, and rich history of a deeply complex nation.

The aspect I loved most about my trip was that I had the ability to focus not only on professional development, but also my development as a traveler, global scholar, and just plain individual. I have learned the value of curiosity and to ask questions about many different things. I would advise people to come for at least a full 6 weeks to truly take in all that Cape Town has to offer as there are so many different things to do and even as I leave I am aware that there are many areas and avenues that I was not able to explore.

Be open to doing different things during your stay here-from going outdoors and taking hikes to explore food markets to attending exhibits- you have to do it all! The thing I loved the most about Cape Town was the amount and variety of different people I met along my travels, not just in VAC but in many different places. I have realized that everyone has a story and if you are fortunate and wise, you will take all the time to listen!

I chose to travel to Cape Town to satisfy an internship requirement at my university. I have never traveled before, and I thought since my university offered an internship abroad opportunity, that I should go for it! I had a friend last year travel to South Africa and she loved it so much, it made me decide to come to Cape Town and see for myself! I feel that I was placed in the perfect internship and that it challenged me and taught me a lot about working in my field. I loved all of the weekly activities we did, and I feel that the activities were very well thought out.

I stayed in Cape Town for 3 months and for a while, I thought it was such a long time, but now, I wish I didn't have to go! I absolutely loved working at Alpha! It was difficult in the beginning while my class was getting familiar with having me in the classroom, but once they got used to me, things went so much more smoothly! I learned that in order to be successful at Alpha, you need to be patient, compassionate, willing to learn, and also ask questions as they arise. It is important to be aware that every learner has different challenges, and that you need to sometimes be creative with finding an appropriate method to overcome that obstacle. I also loved that I had the option to stay in a classroom, but also work with Occupational Therapy and Speech Therapy, which are both of interest to

I came to Cape Town just after my graduation, to do the one thing that I want to do most in life: wine. I always thought learning how to make wine is such a timeless, natural knowledge and acquiring natural knowledge is my personal passion. Here I mean learning straight from plants, natural processes, and animals remind us how everything is a mimicry of the pure existence, and it makes me feel more connected with the earth and therefore with myself. Luckily enough, that is what I managed to find down here. I worked with a natural winemaker, a true magician I would say, who lets the grapes be themselves and just helping them to express their identities in the form of wine, through adding a lot of passion and creativity to the bottle. I'll never forget how Mphumi's wine turned everyone tasting them, regardless of who they are, to humble humans enjoying what nature had given to us, and how a creative mind transformed it. I'll never stop being inspired by what I've witnessed during my internship here.
And the city of Cape Town, where you can meet with countless people from different walks of life, one of the most alive cities I've ever been to. In my experience, this city is not about buildings from hundreds of years ago; not because it doesn't have a history, it indeed has one of the most interesting history lines I've ever read, but still, this city is about today. You need to actively be alive to keep with the pace of this city, if you get too relaxed on the streets you'll probably attract some trouble, and if you get too tight you'll miss all the beauty and fun Cape Town has to offer. I love this mode of living.
Thanks a lot to VAC for making the journey even more amazing, by making us experience the city, country, and life here closer than we could've ever managed to. VAC staff have and will always be there to help you any way they can and share your journey, and they're awesome people to spend time with!