What inspired you to leave Switzerland and come to South Africa to work with DAKTARI?
After I got my Bachelor in Business Management, I had no precise idea of which jobs to apply for or which master’s program to start. I even wasn’t sure if I wanted to work in this domain. So I decided to take the opportunity to try something that I really wanted for a long time, something really different: work with children and animals.
Picture at DAKTARI with Tumelo and Shawn, my first week
Can you tell us about your role as part of the Outreach Team?
As part of the Outreach team I am in charge of the Eco Club, homestays, Job Hunting Program, and community projects.
This means I go to two different schools so that students that come to DAKTARI, and wish to keep learning about nature and the environment, have the chance to do so. The Job Hunting Program is one to three weeks during school holidays where DAKTARI welcomes young people and helps them to find a job. I am the link between some homestay families in the Oaks and our volunteers. The homestay experience gives them a chance to experience 24 hours of living in a traditional South African family. Finally with the community project, we try to help the Oaks village, which has a really good touristic potential. We organize some cleaning projects and some meetings with the community leaders, etc..
Our team includes two people. Since I don’t speak Sepedi, I am more in charge of the organization and the planning—all the administration. My colleague who is a local woman helps me with some tasks in the office and is the one in contact with the community as it is easier to talk in their mother tongue. We always go together to give the Eco Club lessons as a team.
What do you hope to learn from your current role?
I hope that I will be able to decide if this is the lifestyle and kind of job I want (which is really different from what I have studied), or if I prefer to keep going in my domain and have a more “classical” life in Switzerland.
Preparing the Eco Club lessons
Can you tell us about what Eco Clubs are?
Eco Clubs are extra lessons for children that came to Daktari and want to keep learning. These are facultative lessons after their normal school day. Every week the lessons are different and talk about subjects such as water, wind, earth, and the environment. We conduct these lessons in their school instead of having them at Daktari, which is very different experience. They feel much more confident because they are comfortable in their school setting, and therefore participate much more. I really appreciate these moments in their school.
What is the Job Hunting Program?
This program aims to help young people find a job. It mean that for a week, they come to DAKTARI and follow the whole program precisely created to help them find a job. It mainly consists of learning how Word works, how to create an email address, to understand what a CV and a cover letter is. Then they will learn why these two documents are useful and they will create their own.
Finally, some workshops are organized after these weeks so we can stay in contact with the students and follow them in their job search. During these workshops we look what they have done and the results in order to give them some instructions for the next steps. We can also train them for a job interviews.
At lone creek falls in Sabie with some colleagues
Why are you proud to work with DAKTARI?
Because I really feel like I am helping others and animals.
How do you use your background in Business Management in your current role?
My studies taught me how to be very organized and intentional. Organization is really helpful today since the outreach program is covers many people. My studies also asked me to do a lot of oral presentations which are really useful since I feel comfortable talking in public. And finally, I know how a business works which allows me to understand DAKTARI as a whole, and not only the Outreach team and the Outreach objective.
What makes South Africa and DAKTARI special?
South Africa has a really difficult and unique past. Because of that, it is really interesting to see how things and the people here have evolved over time in response to those events. It is also an amazingly beautiful country that offers a lot to see as tourist.
DAKTARI is special to me because it really allows people to work with children and animals. I think DAKTARI is a real family—the ambiance is really nice and comfortable. Finally, the fact to have all week-end free and some holidays is an amazing opportunity to experience the country.
With our baby antelope (Tango)
What does meaningful travel mean to you?
It means it is a travel that fulfills you. Travel that really makes sense to you.
In my case, working in South Africa is a meaningful travel because I really needed to try this kind of job and this lifestyle to make a decision for my future, and because I really wanted to help others.
Do you have any advice for people hoping to live and work abroad?
Stop hoping and be courageous enough to make the step. And always pay attention to the climate!
