Community Development Short-Term Internship in Cape Town

I had a great experience with GVI my stay at Woburn house has been very smooth due to the program manager’s multitasking skills and efficiency. He always ensured that we had everything we needed and always asked for our meals preferences. Transport to the fabric house was always on time and a staff were kind and dedicated to their job. I feel very privileged to have been part of this family and have witnessed people’s life experiences.

I loved my time on Karongwe and would highly recommend it to people. I would ultimately have fewer people there, as the small base became very crowded and tensions could rise. I would also make it easier to get off base. With only sunday off and having to rent a car it became very difficult and expensive to get off base, resulting in many people not being able to do as much sightseeing as they would like. I also wished staff members hadn't had such blatant favouritism. Certain volunteers became favourites, and then got first choice in a lot of drives, tools on reserve work and base projects, and even earlier choice and information on their placements that other volunteers didn't get.

I've seen some amazing sites which I'm very lucky to have witnessed as some may not ever have the opportunity. I've definitely gained a big 5 memory collection! However I was disappointed with the internship, staff management at times and especially disappointed in the head office at GVI. I feel like we are being overcharged for what we get, so much of our money goes into gvi but yet the bases we love at don't seem to get much from it. The plumbing kept having problems, the mattresses are well over due replacement and some of the beds and shelving is falling apart. On top of this coming to the end we had constant problems with the telemetry equipment which is such an important factor in the research that you think it would take priority to repair or replace. Money shouldn't be an issue with how much each of us got charged to be there. It's clear that the bulk of our money goes towards paying the top people a large amount of money each month rather than investing in its most popular programs.