YFU SOUTH AFRICA Newsletter March 2019
Contents
News from the YFU Office: - YFU calendar - Interns: Vera from Switzerland - Interns: Camila from Chile Outbound Programme: - Nia’s exchange to Japan Inbound Programme: - Exam time - Living on a farm - Hosting an exchange student Tours and Events: - Cultural Exchange - Mid-Year Orientation - Kruger Tour
NEWS FROM THE YFU OFFICE
YFU Calendar
What’s happening in YFU South Africa? 01-03 March
Post-Arrival Orientation for late arrivals
15-16 March
Post-Return Orientation
22-25 March
YFU International Conference in Mexico
20 April
Family Fun Day
May
KZN Tour (Bushward Safaris)
24-26 May
Re-Entry Orientation
23 June
Departure of inbound students
July/ August
Host Family Orientations
Staff & Interns
VERA FROM SWITZERLAND Hoi everyone! My name is Vera and I’ve been YFU South Africa’s intern for the past 4 months. Unfortunately, there is only so much time left before I finish my work at our office and go back to Switzerland. Having been an exchange student in Limpopo myself in 2015/16, I was more than excited when the opportunity to do an internship here presented itself. However, the last five months have been nothing like my own exchange: I neither had a break down at Christmas, nor did Rynette send me a warning letter after I showed her the video of me bungee jumping in Soweto! :D My time with everyone (the whole office staff, as well as the volunteers and the students that I finally met at the orientation!) has been amazing and now I will enjoy every moment of the last few days in this country. I hope that it will not be the last time I work with this super awesome YFU family!
Staff & Interns
CAMILA FROM CHILE Hello! My name is Camila Provoste, I am from Chile and I will be working as an intern for YFU South Africa in Pretoria. I was an exchange student in the United States in 2009/10. I am 26 years old, I live in Santiago, the capital of Chile, but my hometown is Puerto Natales, a small town in the south of the country. I am an actress but I also work as a theater producer. I have been a YFU volunteer since 2015 and I have done inbound and outbound orientation, school presentations, and many others activities for volunteers and the staff back in Chile. I’m excited to get into the South African culture, to know more about it and enjoy every single day here, and I hope to meet all the volunteers and students.
OUTBOUND PROGRAMME
Outbound Programme
GOING ON EXCHANGE TO JAPAN I am Nia van Wyk, a 16 year old girl from Durban, South Africa. In January 2019 I was fortunate enough to go on a short-term student exchange program to Japan through Youth For Understanding (YFU). For those 3 weeks, I stayed in Kyoto with the most hospitable host family. I also attended an amazing high school in Osaka. In this school, I had the most fun experience. Classes were never boring and club activities gave me a unique, entertaining experience. Everyone that I met always took the opportunity to help me adjust to school life and teach me the language. I also made many friends in class and around the school. I eventually found myself extremely excited to go to school every morning – something that was quite new to me. I experienced things in Japan that I would never be able to at home; I went to karaoke, visited Universal Studios Japan and ate lots of delicious Japanese food! I gained many new experiences like travelling to school on my own every morning. (I took a bus and 2 trains twice every day - it was quite an adventure!). During the exchange, I tried to keep an open mind and embrace the culture as much as possible. Because of this, I enjoyed every single bit of it!
Outbound Programme
This exchange program has opened my eyes to the diversity that can be found around the world. After making new friends, learning a new language and experiencing a new culture, this unique learning experience will remain one of my fondest memories. I will forever be extremely grateful to YFU who ensured that I had the most enjoyable exchange ever. By Nia van Wyk (exchange student to Japan)
INBOUND PROGRAMME
Inbound Programme
EXAM TIME AT A SOUTH AFRICAN SCHOOL Having final exams at the end of the school year was a very new experience for me. When we got the timetable for the exam period, I got very excited about all the free days we would have between the exams. I would finally have more time to spend with my friends from school! Well, it didn't really turned out the way I had expected. The days on which I was writing an exam, I went to school and after the two or more hours of the exam I went straight back home. I was very busy preparing for the exams during the free days – and so were my friends. By Remi Claus (Exchange student from Belgium/Wallonia)
Inbound Programme
FROM A HOLIDAY TRIP TO A NEW LIFE Hello my name is Zsuzsanna. I am a 17 year old exchange student from Hungary. I came to South Africa five months ago, but I have only been living with my current host family for only one and a half months. At home I lived in a big city, so when I came to my host family’s farm for a 2-week holiday I had the opportunity to experience a very different life. I am really grateful to my new host family who decided to take both me and another student in for the second half of our exchange. We live on a huge farm, but it is not that kind of farm you would imagine, with cows and agricultural lands. We keep antelopes and even have a meerkat as a pet! We are usually very busy with family activities and we always have something to do. Every second day we fed the antelopes before we go to school. We have also painted the whole house, washed some of the farm equipment, and many other things..
Inbound Programme
We often do activities on the farm, like playing cricket or frisbee, have a braai or swim in the pool. My host family has given me a lots of opportunities to do sports. Now I swim, I do athletics at school and I practice archery. Archery is very new and very interesting for me, so I am sure I will continue doing it in Hungary. I will really miss this family and the farm life. They are so amazing and have really made us part of their life! By Zsuzsanna Varga (Exchange student from Hungary)
Host Families
HOSTING AN INTERNATIONAL EXCHANGE STUDENT My name is Marilé Coetzee and I live on a farm in Thabazimbi with my husband, TWO children, mother and father. Hosting an international student crossed my path unexpectedly and the decision was a very impulsive one. I just informed my family that evening about my decision and I will never ever forget their faces. Actually on my way to the airport I could feel how I was getting an anxiety attack. I thought to myself, what did you do???? Well, what a surprise! If all the international students are like my Vicky, I will host a student every year! Vicky immediately became part of our family. She adapted very quickly to her new environment as well as her new “family” in spite of the language barrier. She started school and with some extramural activities on the Monday directly after the Saturday on which she landed.
Host Families
She is not at all a demanding child and only a pleasure to accommodate in our house. She is adventurous and full of fun. Everybody loves her and we are going to cry a lot when she goes home. I don’t think I must take in another student because I will not find another Vicky! By MarilÊ Coetze (host mother)
TOURS AND EVENTS
Cultural Exchange 2018
A WEEK IN A RURAL SOUTH AFRICAN COMMUNITY On the 2nd of December, myself and five other students met in Pretoria to spend the week in the village Tsitsing. We drove with the YFU bus and were taken to our different host families. Me and Mathilde lived in a big family with parents, sons, daughters, cousins, and the grandmother. During the day we mostly stayed at home because it was 40 degrees outside – in other words VERY hot! But in the evenings we met with the other exchange students or visited our host sister’s friends. All the people in the village were incredibly nice and open. They always wanted to talk to us, or learn a few words in our language. We even learned a little bit of Setswana! I think all of us had an amazing week, we learned a lot of different things, met so many new people and found friends for life. A big thank you from all of us to the YFU team and to the Tsitsing community for making this amazing week happen! By Kyra Hosbach (Exchange student from Germany)
Cultural Exchange 2018
Students and their host families in Tsitsing, December 2018
Mid-Year Orientation 2019
THE MID-YEAR ORIENTATION During our exchange year we have three orientations, one in the beginning, one in the middle and the last one right before we go home. On these orientations, YFU prepares you for the coming year, you reflect on your decisions and learn how to handle homesickness, family issues and hard times. In addition, you meet the YFU volunteers and other exchange students from all over the world. Exchange is not only about getting to know the culture and the people, but also about getting to know people from all over the world! Think about how great it is to have friends in America, Africa, Europe, Asia and Oceania! You share experiences with them and you can learn from each other. You also have more than enough free time to play in the pool or go for a walk with your new international friends. That is the thing I like most about the orientations. This Mid-Year Orientation really allowed our group to bond, and we had so much fun! We danced, swam, ate, talked and laughed constantly for three days. We are already excited to see each other again at the Re-Entry Orientation in May!.
By Mathilde Evensen Ranum (Exchange student from Norway)
Mid-Year Orientation 2019
Kruger Park Tour 2018
LEARNING ABOUT WILDLIFE AND CONSERVATION We were 13 exchange students from different parts of the world, travelling together for 7 days on a trip organized by Bushward Safaris. It was such a wonderful opportunity to learn about the wild life in South Africa! We saw leopards, lions, giraffes, elephants, hippopotamus, birds and more. Every day we started with a bush-walk at 6 a.m. on which we learned about the history of the place and had contact with the animals.
Kruger Park Tour 2018
In the afternoons we had interesting sessions about spiders, snakes, scorpions and other animals. We learned how they live, how to act when you are in front of them, where you can find them and so on. We also learned about antipoaching and rehabilitation programmes for injured animals. We also did river rafting, visited amazing places like God’s Window, and spent a whole day in the Kruger National Park. This tour was an amazing experience for all of us! Not only did we see animals, but we learned about them, we had a great time full of laughter and conversations, and most importantly, we learned about each other. By Liat Lasa (exchange student from Chile)
CONTACT US
Contact information
Contact us! Comments, contributions, suggestions? Get in touch with us!
YFU Office in Pretoria
YFU Office in Cape Town
Phone: +27 12 547 0312 Mobile: +27 82 464 3957
Phone: +27 21 906 4929 Mobile: +27 82 337 3563
E-Mail: rynette@yfu.org.za Rynette Scholtz (Regional Director)
E-Mail: info@yfu.org.za Nina Voges (National Director)
Visit our website: www.yfu.org.za Follow us on social media: @YFUSouthAfrica