Youth for Understanding South Africa International Youth Exchange
NEWSLETTER FEBRUARY 2012
Dear YFU Friends and Members, A long time has passed since the last newsletter in November. The students went on the Cape Tour, it was time for a couple Orientations and our new Outbound students left for the Netherlands and Germany. Also a new year is ahead of us. So I wish everybody all the joy and happiness for 2012! Since this is going to be my last newsletter, I want to say Good-Bye and thank everybody for the great time I had in South Africa!
WHY BE BORING IF YOU COULD BE EXPLORING?!
Enjoy reading about all the things happened in YFU SA! Warm regards, Annika (YFU - Intern, Gauteng)
Every year YFU SA sends out student to explore different cultures. If you want to be one of them don’t hesitate and go to our Website and look for the application!! Or ask us for further information. www.yfu.sa.co
____________________CAPE TOUR 2011_____________________ From the 24th of November till the 9th of December all the exchange students enjoyed a wonderful trip down the coast: the cape tour. We were counting the days down until the bus started collecting us from Middelburg. We picked up the Pretoria students and travelled down to PE. From there we drove down till Cape Town, moving every other day. We rode ostriches, visited the Cape of Good Hope, Robben Island, National parks and shopped. In the end we were lucky to get back to our host families. We were tired, but happy! From Lieselotte (exchange student from Germany in Pretoria) Youth For Understanding South Africa Newsletter February 2012
Youth for Understanding South Africa International Youth Exchange
_________DECEMBER ORIENTATION - OUTBOUND ___________ Day 1 Arriving late from Cape Town we (the Capetonians together with Carridene from Durban) were welcomed with open arms by Rynette, Ngoako, Annika and all the outbound students from Gauteng. Introductions were made only as YFU-students can: by joking, laughter and smiles all around. Personally I was bursting with excitement; not only was this my first pre-departure orientation, but by the looks of the students they couldn’t wait for the journey they were about to embark on. Our great intern from Germany, Annika, and I started preparing some dinner (in gourmet-bundu-bashing style) so we could fill up all the students’ tummies before the first session of the PDO commenced. Day 1 was a
Youth For Understanding South Africa Newsletter February 2012
Youth for Understanding South Africa International Youth Exchange
great success – the teamers (being myself, Ngoako and Annika) were “ready, set, go” to work with this group of 11 energetic, talented and motivated students. Day 2 Wake-up call at 7 am followed by a booming breakfast – we had a long day ahead of us filled with informative sessions and fun ice-breakers. Hans came to talk to the students and their responses to his questions caught me completely off-guard. Each one of them, in their own way, had extremely valuable insights and questions. The day just got better as every session we conducted made a visible, lasting impression on our students. Carridene Naidoo (Durban) commented, “the sessions were awesome because the teamers took the initiative to treat us like adults and not like kids. These couple of days we were a big family and I’m really grateful to YFU…” Carridene was also overheard saying Ngoako has the best, uplifting laugh! Go teamers! The day ended with a braai for dinner – boerewors, braaibroodjies, potato-salad and cookies. Of course us teamers follows the motto “work hard, play hard” – and the night ended with a series of team-building games. We ended up with stomach-aches after all the laughter and Prudence Nxumalo (Pretoria) said, “I wish I could stay longer or have the PDO all over again”. After a long and exciting day, our beds were straight from heaven that night. Day 3 The last day! Together with the students I felt sad about going home. “We formed great bonds in a short period of time, having fun while learning is an unstoppable combo”, said Miche Jagjibon (Johannesburg). On day 3 country specific information was discussed. This year we’ll be sending 9 outbound students to Germany and two will be going to the Netherlands. We made sure that Sonja and Miche (who will be going to the Netherlands) knows how to ride a bike… The students bound for Germany couldn’t stop asking Annika questions and the excitement in the air was palpable. We were happy to hear that they felt “much more excited than nervous” and their lust for adventure was clear when we played the YFU games. Sabelo wrote, “Ngoako + Annika + Lea + ice-breakers (games) + energizers + sessions = a fantabuliciousnessthebestesteverever”. The Albatross-family came to visit the students on day 3. Unfortunately Ngoako and I couldn’t spend too much time with them as we were both “busy”, but the students were convinced that we looked very similar to the Albatrossian-man and -woman. With every session our students would respond with insights from the previous days’ conversations – for the teamers this meant clear success! Everybody “loved it” (Edward Botha, Bloemfontein) and, even though we follow Africa-time, the PDO ended with more than enough space for many games and laughter! YFU wishes all our students the best and remember: it’s not right, it’s not wrong, it’s just different. Now go and show them your (South)-African spirit guys! From Lea (volunteer from Cape Town)
Youth For Understanding South Africa Newsletter February 2012
Youth for Understanding South Africa International Youth Exchange
____________ORIENTATION JANUARY INBOUNDS____________ The Orientation with Annika, Ngoako, Barbara and Kagiso was nice. We learned more about the rest of our travel, about South Africa and about ourselves, I think. We came from all parts of the world and we could communicate, laugh and play together. It was amazing and the beginning of a great experience. (Maelle – IB volunteer from France)
Paulina (Chile) with a chickenfeet…
Group picture with our new Inbounds, Teamer, Magda and Rynette!
WANTED: Host Families!!! YFU is looking for families who would like to open their hearts and their homes to one of our students. If you would like to host one of our students or you know someone in your community who would, please contact us!
________________MID – YEAR ORIENTATION_________________ We were at the Mid-Year-orientation from the 11th to the 14th of January near Pretoria in Bundu Inn. We had the chance to talk about the previous six month of our stay here in South Africa and how we hope that our next six month are going to be. It was nice to hear from the experiences and also problems of the other exchange students and to meet them all again. Also enjoyed we our free time in the chalets and the pool just to be together and relax. The atmosphere was really nice and everybody enjoyed themselves. Thank you YFU for the nice days we had!! Alex and Patrick
Youth For Understanding South Africa Newsletter February 2012
Youth for Understanding South Africa International Youth Exchange
______________NEWS FROM PORT ELIZABETH_______________ Hi everyone, Best wishes for 2012, the best of luck and health to everyone. Be blessed! In Port Elizabeth everything is, after our wonderful festive season, up and running again. We are busy approaching schools, newspapers, radio stations and churches, this all because we want to raise awareness for our programs again. Thursday the 12th of January we had an interview with a few of our students at BayFM, it was amazing to see how this all works, in favour for YFU. Dominik from Switzerland, including his host-sister Nikita, Gesine from Sweden, myself and Iris we’re present during this interview. (see picture.) Thursday the 26th we had an interview with Radio KingFisher, this time with 3 other students, Noah from Switzerland, Eileen and Sophie from Germany, Roda who is Eileen’s host sister, and Keegan, Iris and myself. The interview took about an hour, and it was a great experience! The coming period will be a busy time for all of us, the mid-year orientations, finding host-families, ending your year as a exchange student, I wish everyone the best of luck, and lots of happy times for the last few months! Take care, Paco Bleeker (Intern PE from the Netherlands)
Youth For Understanding South Africa Newsletter February 2012
Youth for Understanding South Africa International Youth Exchange
_____________________MY TIME IN SA______________________ My name is Noah Geistlich and I am from Zurich, Switzerland. Currently I stay in Malabar – an Indian and Muslim neighbourhood in Port Elizabeth. For me time has passed very quickly and reason for that is the everyday differences I experience. Every single day is special on it’s own way. It is not always spectacular but in my opinion it is not the single event that makes the experience but the combination of unusual things you do not expect to happen. What I am talking about is just the different habits or the structure The travel of our Newsletter of a “normal” day. People are used to having unexpected guests over or vice versa, visiting the neighbours themselves. It is the The November Newsletter went a social way the South Africans live, with having a braai out of the long way, all the way to Germany. blue or a game of Cricket on the street, even an unplanned stay at My Grandparents requested a copy the beach. Everybody is spontaneous. of our newsletter in German to I really enjoy being part of that lifestyle; being able to live it. For read it and share it with everybody me even a normal day here bears a lot of potential and chances. A in town. day at school is never like the one before. There is more to an experience than just the experience itself. Going and experiencing a new school and getting used to the school is two totally different things. You will see the school in another light once you get used to it. It is amazing to not just experience but to live a different life. Cheers, Noah (exchange student in PE)
UPCOMING YFU EVENTS February 25th – March 9th
Cultural Exchange – Mpumalanga
March 31st
Family Day in Pretoria
April 1st – 8th
Durban Tour (not YFU)
April 21st – 22nd
MID – YEAR 6 month students
June 1st – 3rd
Reentry Orientation Mid-Year Jan. students
Youth For Understanding South Africa Newsletter February 2012
The YFU SA Newsletter is getting famous! ;)
YOU WANT TO CONTACT US… YFU Office (Cape Town)
021 423-1677
Rynette (Pretoria)
082 464-3957
Iris (Port Elizabeth)
082 519-2590
www. yfu.sa.co