Communication Intern to a Capetown Girl : Stefanie's Unforgettable Trip to South Africa

In the following month I had the chance to experience a lot more moments like the Joy Walk. My personal highlight was a 50‘s-party in an elderly home, which I organized by myself. The location for the party was not just a regular retirement home, but appeared to be a last haven for elderly living on the street, who were already too weak to make it on the streets on their own. Many of them had to sit in a wheelchair or needed crutches to walk, but when they eventually heard the 50‘s Jives pealing through the sound system smiles appeared on their faces. They sat excited in their chairs starting to clap to the music and laugh while others who felt fit enough started dancing with us. They sang to the hits they knew from their past and enjoyed the conversations they had. After 3 hours we had to clean up and a lot of the guests came to us, explaining that this was one of the best afternoons they had in a long time. It certainly was a special day for me too which I will never forget.

After those kind of events my task as a Communication intern was clear: Promotion! - which meant editing photos, adding logos and sharing them on social media platforms. Due to the organization‘s huge and also very active community one of my main responsibilities also was to respond to all the comments and messages. Furthermore I wrote reports for our blog on a regular basis which I uploaded on our website and later used for our newsletter. I drew up press releases which I distributed to all relevant contacts who worked for newspapers themselves. Consequently the internship – as expected – was the perfect combination of gaining practical experiences while having a good impact on the community.

Cape Town offers a lot of after hours activities. I was planning to try most of them but hardly managed to cover most of them. The so called „Rainbow-Stated“ lives up to that name: beside gigantic mountains you can find wonderful white beaches and if you rent a car to drive a few kilometers into the country, you are suddenly surrounded by the desert. No matter whether you love to hike or simply want to relax at the beach, in Cape Town there is something to do for everybody. Many people I met either came from places from all over the world or were the proud „Capetonias“ with roots from different countries. That‘s why there are a lot of foreign restaurant with many different flavors to find within the city center. Cape Town is diversity – through and through!

Although Apartheid has been over for more than 20 years, the differences between the rich and the poor are still huge. The color of your skin still plays an important role and also the crime rate is in relation to European standards really high. I thought about this a lot before I came here, especially whether the idea to travel here as a young girl would be such a smart idea. Eventually, I am very happy, that I dared myself. Of course, you need to watch out a lot more than at home – don‘t wear expensive watches or similar things and present them in public to everybody. Also, you shouldn‘t walk home alone at night. When you consider those „rules“ you should be on the safe side. Eventually, you can find pickpockets in every single city, but that should never ever hold you back from fulfilling your dreams and see this magical place. To me, South Africa is the most beautiful spot on Earth, which I can recommend without any doubts!