Megan Cox - VACorps

Megan Cox

Colorado, USA

“When my plane landed in Cape Town, all I could think to myself was “Wow, my dream of coming to Africa is finally here.” Ever since I was 10 years old, all I wanted to do was come to Africa to be able to make a difference in the lives of others, and I was finally here. Then as soon as I walked off of the plane, I went into panic mode. Here I was 9,000 miles away from home, alone and in a completely new country. But that moment of panic quickly subsided when I was greeted by a VAC driver who was taking me to my house. Within minutes of arriving, I met at least 10 people from all over the world. And within days I had met all 17 of my roommates and I knew that this was going to be an amazing experience. From Elephants Eye to Table Mountain, from petting Cheetahs to Great White Shark Diving, from walking the beaches of Clifton to swimming in the waters of Muizenburg, it was wonderful.

“For my internship, I was at a mental health psychosocial rehabilitation center called Fountain House. I was able to work with people who had many different types of psychiatric disabilities. From Depression to Bipolar Disorder all the way to Schizophrenia. It was such an amazing time. I always knew that I wanted to work in some sort of field of Mental Health but this definitely made me 100% positive. Fountain house is a great place to go if you are in need of experience in the field of mental health and to be able to work and interact with people with psychiatric disabilities is life changing.

“South Africa was a once in a lifetime experience for me and I am so glad that I was able to spend two months there. I went there to change the lives of people, but in the end, they are the ones who changed me.”