"Coming across the Volunteer Adventure Corp website was one of those wonderful accidents that happened to me. VACorps offers internships at the best organisations in Cape Town and is the best way to explore, live ... read more
“My internship placement was, as I would say, banging!! It was the best ever! I got to experience my dream job of delivering babies right before my eyes. And I just didn’t get to watch ... read more
"Forget everything you have ever been told about Africa… This is THE ultimate experience that will virtually transform you into a new person. Stop functioning and start living: welcome to Cape Town! My name ... read more
Michelle Pinter-Petrillo
Genre of Internship: Urban Agriculture
Dates of Participation:
January 2011 - April 2011
“During my sophomore year while looking at options for studying abroad I quickly realized that I did not want to study at a university. Instead of spending my time in a classroom I wanted to ... read more
"My experience with the Volunteer Adventure Corps has been an amazing one. I first heard of the program through a friend who traveled to Cape Town the previous year. I had to see for myself ... read more
Cameron Giammalva
Genre of Internship: Wine Industry
Dates of Participation:
January 2011 - June 2011
"Interning with VACorps was an amazing experience that I would do all over in a heart beat. I had such a wonderful time that I extended my stay twice and only left because my second ... read more
“My experiences in Cape Town would not have been the same if VACorps was not involved during the duration of my stay! Cape Town is such a beautiful city with so much to do, in ... read more
"My experience with VACorps was truly amazing. I had a very professional internship working at Steenberg Vineyards. My fellow colleagues were so friendly and passionate about their work, that it made it hard not to ... read more
“Leaving the United States for the first time to travel to South Africa was exciting and nerve racking. There was a variety of significant information and details that were necessary to fulfill for my trip, ... read more
“The past two months have been some of the best times of my whole life. I will never forget my experience here. I literally haven’t had a second to rest the whole time I have ... read more
“VACorps is an amazing way to combine professional work experience with living abroad. The program gives you incredible support and opportunities to explore Cape Town, but also always allows you to be as independent as ... read more
“When it came time for me to find an internship, I really wanted to find something unique to my program. I did an extensive Google search and found this program. Cape Town and South Africa ... read more
“Spending three months away from home on the other side of the world while forced to adjust to a new culture and people can be stressful and intimidating. The second I arrived in Cape Town, ... read more
"When I decided to spend my summer in South Africa, I was embarking on something I had never done before and needless to say, I was a little nervous. Having never traveled to Africa before, ... read more
"To state ambiguously that the episode of my life spent in Cape Town as a VACorps intern was fantastic, splendid, or any other similar adjective would veritably do my memory an injustice. The internship, working ... read more
Claire Brighton
Dates of Participation: Between November 2009 & February 2010
"On the 19th of November 2009, fresh out of law exams, I boarded a plane bound for Cape Town, South Africa, in the pursuit of sunshine, adventure and a wee bit of career direction…During my 2 ½ months there with VACorps I found all of the above, and somewhere along the way, fell in love with Africa. My first day was a bit of a jet-lagged blur. It started when I was picked up from the airport by a friendly staff member named Sly (with crazy dreads and the most incredible smile), and ended with me collapsing in a heap at the back of the VACorps minibus much to the enjoyment of my fellow interns who, it seems, had been taking bets on how long I would last on 11 hours jetlag. Somewhere in between I had moved into my house, met my 12 other flatmates, piled into the minibus, been wine tasting at two different wineries and had dinner by tiki torch and moonlight in the secret garden at La Caorrone Estate. Claire, meet Africa. Africa, meet Claire.
My internship was with the Western Cape office of the Commission for Gender Equality, one of a number of quasi-government institutions set up following the end of Apartheid. I happened to time my arrival perfectly with the start of the 16 Days of Activism (against gender violence) and was therefore co-assigned to representing the Commission at various events and seminars put on for the 16 days. I also worked with the Parliamentary Officer on two projects: first, drafting submissions for the amendment of the CGE Act that established the Commission, and then later on arguments for a High Court custody case. Coming from New Zealand, where gender equality often sits somewhere in the company of issues like equal pay and career opportunities, single-mothers’ rights, abortion, and, generally speaking, the right to slap any man who talks to you 20cm below your face for longer than, say 10 seconds, while I was aware of the issues regarding gender in SA, but had no idea of their magnitude. Through working with the Commission I came face to face with hard statistics, the people behind them, the realities that they face and the Law’s successes and failures in protecting those who can’t protect themselves. I met Members of Parliament, Rights workers, rape survivors and inmates facing life sentences for murder because they had struck back after years of domestic violence. One of the most striking moments was at an event at Pollsmoor prison, when an inmate who was speaking broke down part way through explaining how rape at an early age combined with a cycle of abusive relationships had led her into prostitution, gangsterism and finally, murder. As she attempted to compose herself, a woman from one of the MPs tables stood up and started to sing an African freedom mantra, which was then taken up by the inmates choir who had just performed and within minutes the whole room was alive. I have never witnessed anything like it in my life, and I doubt I will again.
That said, there is more to an internship with VACorps then work. Cape Town is truly the funkiest, most diverse and exciting places to travel. If it’s not the beaches that get you hooked, it’ll be the Old Biscuit Mill where you can go and not feel like a criminal for drinking strawberry daiquiris at 10 in the morning; if its not the view from table mountain, it’ll be sitting with your flat mates drinking wine chilled in the reservoir at the top – and if all that doesn’t quite get you hooked, then I can guarantee that the people you meet definitely will. Deciding to intern through VACorps was one of the best of my life, and if you’re reading this then I’m guessing that you could make it one of yours as well – my advice is go for it, you won’t regret it…promise."
-Claire Brighton participated in VACorps from November 2009 through February of 2010
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