Hannah joined the VACorps Program in January 2022 as part of her GAP year and participated in an education internship at a local school.

“I chose Cape Town to be my home for three months during my gap year due to the wide range of activities and culture that it provides (and the sunny weather was a nice bonus). I was able to meet people who I have grown to absolutely adore in my short time here, learning how to live on our own and carry out our day-to-day lives in a new environment. Cape Town had everything that I could’ve asked for in these past few months: great swimming, great people, great social scene, a great job, great weather, great everything. Since coming here, I’ve found myself learning how to love myself more and just overall becoming a happier person. I feel as though I discovered a new admiration for the people around me and realized how much I genuinely adore teaching kids. The life that I’ve lived here is the way I dream of living my life for a long time and I think that knowing that I have found a life that can make me so deeply happy has really changed me as a person. I’ll never forget skydiving with Allison and Scott in that rickety plane that we saw absolutely no safety concerns with, or when myself and Amanda for two months were fully convinced our neighbors had a pet lion (it was a dog). I’m going to miss waking up to Lila singing as she cooked chicken noodle soup for dinner, and I’m going to miss the blinds in my room that do nothing to keep the sunlight out so I ended up waking up at 8 am even if I don’t have anything until 12. I’m going to miss the place I’ve called home for the last three months, but I think I’m going to miss my friends the most because they were the ones who got me up when all I wanted to do was lay down. They were the ones who took care of me when I was sick and the ones who made me laugh so hard I think I almost had a heart attack. I came into this program anxious and blind as to how the next three months would go, and now I want more than anything to stay and never leave. So… my best advice to those who are readying themselves to come to cape town, let yourself be blind. let yourself be stunned by what this beautiful and joyous place has to offer. Do everything you can because no matter how long three months may initially seem, it will never be long enough in the end.”