YFU South Africa Newsletter - February 2011

Youth for Understanding South Africa International Youth Exchange

Youth For Understanding South Africa Newsletter February 2012

NEWSLETTER FEBRUARY 2012

Dear YFU Friends and Members,

A long time has passed since the last newsletter in November. The students went on the Cape Tour, it

was time for a couple Orientations and our new Outbound students left for the Netherlands and

Germany.

Also a new year is ahead of us. So I wish everybody all the joy and happiness for 2012!

Since this is going to be my last newsletter, I want to say Good-Bye

and thank everybody for the great time I had in South Africa!

Enjoy reading about all the things happened in YFU SA!

Warm regards,

Annika (YFU - Intern, Gauteng)

____________________CAPE TOUR 2011_____________________ From the 24th of November till the 9th of December all the exchange students enjoyed a wonderful

trip down the coast: the cape tour. We were

counting the days down until the bus started

collecting us from Middelburg. We picked up

the Pretoria students and travelled down to

PE. From there we drove down till Cape

Town, moving every other day. We rode

ostriches, visited the Cape of Good Hope,

Robben Island, National parks and shopped.

In the end we were lucky to get back to our

host families.

We were tired, but happy!

From Lieselotte (exchange student from

Germany in Pretoria)

WHY BE BORING IF YOU COULD BE

EXPLORING?!

Every year YFU SA sends out student

to explore different cultures. If you

want to be one of them don’t

hesitate and go to our Website and

look for the application!! Or ask us

for further information.

www.yfu.sa.co



_________DECEMBER ORIENTATION - OUTBOUND __________ _ Day 1

Arriving late from Cape Town we (the Capetonians together with Carridene from Durban) were

welcomed with open arms by Rynette, Ngoako, Annika and all the outbound students from Gauteng.

Introductions were made only as YFU-students can: by joking, laughter and smiles all around.

Personally I was bursting with excitement; not only was this my first pre-departure orientation, but by

the looks of the students they couldn’t wait for the journey they were about to embark on. Our great

intern from Germany, Annika, and I started preparing some dinner (in gourmet-bundu-bashing style) so

we could fill up all the students’ tummies before the first session of the PDO commenced. Day 1 was a



great success – the teamers (being myself, Ngoako and Annika) were “ready, set, go” to work with this

group of 11 energetic, talented and motivated students.

Day 2

Wake-up call at 7 am followed by a booming breakfast – we had a long day ahead of us filled with

informative sessions and fun ice-breakers. Hans came to talk to the students and their responses to his

questions caught me completely off-guard. Each one of them, in their own way, had extremely

valuable insights and questions. The day just got better as every session we conducted made a visible,

lasting impression on our students. Carridene Naidoo (Durban) commented, “the sessions were

awesome because the teamers took the initiative to treat us like adults and not like kids. These couple

of days we were a big family and I’m really grateful to YFU…”

Carridene was also overheard saying Ngoako has the best,

uplifting laugh! Go teamers! The day ended with a braai for dinner

– boerewors, braaibroodjies, potato-salad and cookies. Of course

us teamers follows the motto “work hard, play hard” – and the

night ended with a series of team-building games. We ended up

with stomach-aches after all the laughter and Prudence Nxumalo

(Pretoria) said, “I wish I could stay longer or have the PDO all over

again”. After a long and exciting day, our beds were straight from

heaven that night.

Day 3

The last day! Together with the students I felt sad about going home. “We formed great bonds in a

short period of time, having fun while learning is an unstoppable combo”, said Miche Jagjibon

(Johannesburg). On day 3 country specific information was discussed. This year we’ll be sending 9

outbound students to Germany and two will be going to the Netherlands. We made sure that Sonja

and Miche (who will be going to the Netherlands) knows how to ride a bike… The students bound for

Germany couldn’t stop asking Annika questions and the excitement in the air was palpable. We were

happy to hear that they felt “much more excited than nervous” and their lust for adventure was clear

when we played the YFU games. Sabelo wrote, “Ngoako + Annika + Lea + ice-breakers (games) +

energizers + sessions = a fantabuliciousnessthebestesteverever”. The Albatross-family came to visit the

students on day 3. Unfortunately Ngoako and I couldn’t spend too much time with them as we were

both “busy”, but the students were convinced that we looked very similar to the Albatrossian-man and

-woman. With every session our students would respond

with insights from the previous days’ conversations – for

the teamers this meant clear success! Everybody “loved

it” (Edward Botha, Bloemfontein) and, even though we

follow Africa-time, the PDO ended with more than

enough space for many games and laughter! YFU wishes

all our students the best and remember: it’s not right, it’s

not wrong, it’s just different. Now go and show them

your (South)-African spirit guys!

From Lea (volunteer from Cape Town)



WANTED: Host Families!!!

YFU is looking for families who would like to open their hearts and their homes to one of our students. If you would like to host one of our students or you know someone in your community who would, please contact us!

____________ORIENTATION JANUARY INBOUNDS___________ _

The Orientation with Annika, Ngoako, Barbara and Kagiso was nice. We learned more about the rest of

our travel, about South Africa and about ourselves, I think. We came from all parts of the world and we

could communicate, laugh and

play together. It was amazing

and the beginning of a great

experience.

(Maelle – IB volunteer from

France)

Paulina (Chile) with

a chickenfeet…

________________MID – YEAR ORIENTATION_________________

We were at the Mid-Year-orientation from the 11th

to the 14th

of January near Pretoria in Bundu Inn.

We had the chance to talk about the previous six month of our stay here in South Africa and how we

hope that our next six month are going to be. It was nice to hear from the experiences and also

problems of the other exchange students and to meet them all again. Also enjoyed we our free time in

the chalets and the pool just to be together and relax. The atmosphere was really nice and everybody

enjoyed themselves.

Thank you YFU for the nice days we had!!

Alex and Patrick

Group picture with our

new Inbounds, Teamer,

Magda and Rynette!



______________NEWS FROM PORT ELIZABETH_____________ __ Hi everyone,

Best wishes for 2012, the best of luck and health to everyone. Be blessed!

In Port Elizabeth everything is, after our wonderful festive season, up and running again.

We are busy approaching schools, newspapers, radio stations and churches, this all because we want

to raise awareness for our programs again.

Thursday the 12th

of January we had an interview with a few of our students at BayFM, it was amazing

to see how this all works, in favour for YFU. Dominik from Switzerland, including his host-sister Nikita,

Gesine from Sweden, myself and Iris we’re present during this interview. (see picture.)

Thursday the 26th

we had an interview with Radio KingFisher, this time with 3 other students, Noah

from Switzerland, Eileen and Sophie from Germany, Roda who is Eileen’s host sister, and Keegan, Iris

and myself. The interview took about an hour, and it was a great experience!

The coming period will be a busy time for all of us, the mid-year orientations, finding host-families,

ending your year as a exchange student, I wish everyone the best of luck, and lots of happy times for

the last few months!

Take care,

Paco Bleeker (Intern

PE from the

Netherlands)



_____________________MY TIME IN SA______________________

My name is Noah Geistlich and I am from Zurich, Switzerland. Currently I stay in Malabar – an Indian

and Muslim neighbourhood in Port Elizabeth. For me time has passed very quickly and reason for that

is the everyday differences I experience. Every single day is special on it’s own way. It is not always

spectacular but in my opinion it is not the single event that makes

the experience but the combination of unusual things you do not

expect to happen.

What I am talking about is just the different habits or the structure

of a “normal” day. People are used to having unexpected guests

over or vice versa, visiting the neighbours themselves. It is the

social way the South Africans live, with having a braai out of the

blue or a game of Cricket on the street, even an unplanned stay at

the beach. Everybody is spontaneous.

I really enjoy being part of that lifestyle; being able to live it. For

me even a normal day here bears a lot of potential and chances. A

day at school is never like the one before. There is more to an

experience than just the experience itself. Going and experiencing

a new school and getting used to the school is two totally different

things. You will see the school in another light once you get used to

it. It is amazing to not just experience but to live a different life.

Cheers,

Noah (exchange student in PE)

The travel of our Newsletter

The November Newsletter went a

long way, all the way to Germany.

My Grandparents requested a copy

of our newsletter in German to

read it and share it with everybody

in town.

The YFU SA Newsletter is getting

famous! ;)

UPCOMING YFU EVENTS

February 25th – March 9th Cultural Exchange – Mpumalanga

March 31st Family Day in Pretoria

April 1st – 8th Durban Tour (not YFU)

April 21st – 22nd MID – YEAR 6 month students

June 1st – 3rd Reentry Orientation

Mid-Year Jan. students YOU WANT TO CONTACT US…

YFU Office (Cape Town) 021 423-1677

Rynette (Pretoria) 082 464-3957

Iris (Port Elizabeth) 082 519-2590

www. yfu.sa.co

Documents

YFU South Africa Newsletter - February 2011