Youth Social Work Internship in Cape Town, South Africa

I had a great time during my internship with Roots Interns. The work was meaningful, and I learned a lot about community development and cultural exchange. The team was supportive and inspiring. I would definitely recommend this program to others.

Overall, this was an amazing experience. Extremely fulfilling, full of learning, but also filled with fun, love, and laughter throughout it all. Cape Town is a beautiful city, and I was lucky enough to discover everything it has to offer through this internship.

Volunteering in the project was beyond amazing. The community is so welcoming and really eager to make change. Working with the youth and watching them grow and achieve their goals was probably the best part. Feeding the community and putting a smile on hundreds of faces makes all the hard work pay off. Will definitely be coming back!

I was unsure of what to expect when I touched down in South Africa. I had high expectations but was a little unsure of myself in the new country. After about a week or two I felt much more comfortable with my work and began to feel very fulfilled with what I was doing. The children of the Ubuntu Centre are incredible. They are so inspiring and helping them with their homework, cooking them food as well as playing games and setting up activities for them was something I was more than happy to do. They inspired me so much that I can only hope I left as much of an impact on them as they did me. Another aspect of my work was working with new volunteers coming in on their own programs. Spending time with these volunteers from all over the world was a joy. Gaining perspective from all over the world, Spain, Brazil, Germany and of course South Africa did wonders for me and I cannot put into words how much I feel I grew due to this aspect of my work. My time at Yogashala and the Ubuntu Centre was unforgettable, I could not recommend the internship enough, especially for recent college graduates.

The internship has been absolutely amazing and life changing. I not only worked with lovely people, but I made some life long friends along the way as well. It was great to have been exposed to the wonderful culture of South Africa and it is something I will never forget. Working here in Cape Town has impacted me so much that I definitely plan to come back and visit in the near future to see all the great faces I have met here.

Throughout this internship I had an incredible experience at the community center, at my accommodation Yoga Shala, and exploring Cape Town. At Projekt Ubuntu I met so many inspirational kids who taught me so much about resiliency in different circumstances than I was used to. Although I have a degree in Elementary Education it was extremely beneficial to teach in such a different environment than I was used to. I worked with children ages 2-15. With this wide variety of ages I was able to expand on my capabilities as an educator. At my accommodation, Yoga Shala, the sense of community was unmatched. I enjoyed every moment there and met so many people I will call friends for the rest of my life. During my stay in Cape Town I learned to surf in Muizenberg, I went cage diving with sharks, I saw penguins on the beach in Simon's Town, and I went on a wine tour in Stellenbosch. Every single one of these experiences will stay with me forever.

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I am proud of all the challenges I had to face everyday. It was different work everyday and sometimes it got very hard for me to accept some circumstances. I stayed strong all the times and I gained a lot of self confidence during my time in South Africa. All the different issues und values at project level were hard to deal with at some point and to be able to help those people was the most beautiful thing I did during my whole life.

I learned chiefly about the selfless pursuit in giving back to the community. This was a value that got to be accentuated in my time at Projekt. With this, I got to wholly give myself in my tasks and the results were both satisfying and rewarding.