First Day on the Job at Obzside Adventure Centre, Cape Town, South Africa

by Kate Fleming

The first day of my internship was exciting, yet stressful.  I got to work that morning hardly knowing what to expect and left that afternoon with my first project successfully completed…victory! I first met with Sean, my boss, who oriented me to the office, and told me what was expected of me.  Then he put me straight to work. I was in charge of going to backpackers’ hotels and hostels all throughout Cape Town and talking with them to make sure the backpackers book their scuba adventures through Obzside.
So, on my first day, my project was to make a display for the brochures. Sean showed me my computer and told me to get to work…I sat there staring at a blank screen for a solid twenty minutes considering why I didn’t brush up on my Photoshop skills before I came to work… “Oh, THAT’S right….I have NEVER USED Photoshop!” Sean nonchalantly mentioned that he thought it would be nice if the project was completed by this afternoon, and so there I was again having an “oh s*** I am in Africa” moment… feeling lost, beads of sweat starting to form on my upper lip, and looking at the plain white, empty document gazing back at me from the computer screen, when all of a sudden, another employee asked if I wanted to go catch some lunch. I think I was out the door before he even finished the question. I am sure he thought I was the fat girl who had only been in the office for an hour and already jetted for the door when there was mention of “food” …but oh well…I wasn’t going to get anything done sitting at that desk, might as well have a scrumptious snack to kick start my brain-right?
     Well, I got back from my lunch break and got to work, starting to push and play with random buttons in Photoshop and decided to use a combination of old Obzside projects from the computer AND my creative juices. As it turned out, I finished the brochure display by 4:30 pm and was very happy with the work.  I started that first day feeling completely ill-prepared and under qualified, and now I am leaving this organization with a full portfolio of Photoshop projects and a lot more confidence.
     When I first arrived I was little hazy on how I could make an impact at Obzside Scuba Diving Club because it seemed to be a perfectly functioning business. But after about a week of going to meetings, observing, and talking to other employees I realized there were many things in the organization that needed improvement. I thought my ideas to fix these problems were relatively simple, but when I presented them to my boss, he was shocked at how “right on” my suggestions were. I think that just being an outsider gave me an advantage. They had been struggling with a brochure for months, but all they needed were fresh eyes and an outsider’s new perspective to make it a success. I also think that coming from the US I have a different perspective on the business environment, so my international ideas paired with their knowledge of South African business flourished into a recipe for success.
     The most important benefit of my internship has been to gain real life experience in a business environment. This has been my first internship and it was not what I had expected. I was unaware how much work interns were expected to do, but I rose to the challenge and am so thankful I was out in the business world working hand in hand with business executives and not that girl in the office making copies and serving coffee. Even more important than just gaining real life experience has been doing it abroad. I feel now that if I can survive in the South African business environment, I can survive anywhere. I not only had to move across the world alone, adapt to culture differences in both the social and business environments, and make new friends, but I had to work. On the professional level I have flourished. I am confident when speaking with people at higher levels than I am, and I no longer look to Sean for approval with everything I do. And through this professional development I have acquired several positive personal skills: I have become sovereign, self-assured, and have gained more experience in 3 months than most people do in 3 years.

 

October 28, 2006
Cape Town, South Africa

Today is my last day in South Africa after three and a half weeks of travel. In a mere 43 hours of travel, I’ll be back in Eugene. These past four days in Cape Town have been absolutely terrific. I have been able to connect with Oliver Hagan, an alum of UO who now lives and works in Cape Town and his business partner Sean Walpole. His business is to place students in internships in the Cape Town area and then support them in terms of orientation and living arrangements. When we were first put in contact I thought this might be as perfect a local partner as IE3 could ask for and indeed my thoughts have been confirmed. I had a series of meetings with Volunteer Adventure Corps, the name of Oliver and Sean’s company and we have identified five new opportunities for IE3 interns in Cape Town. The diversity of the sites, which include marine conservation, social services, agriculture, advertising and marketing, coupled with the strong on-the-ground support we will be able to provide students, will, I an convinced, provide a strong hub in Cape Town for interns from a variety of academic backgrounds and with a range of previous travel experience. Oliver and Sean’s experience in Cape Town, as well as their understanding of international student needs and their passion for their work will be a great complement to the strong support that IE3 already provides to its students.

Moreover, Cape Town is truly a beautiful place. The coastal areas along the peninsula remind me of parts of Oregon along route 101, where the sheer cliffs drop off into the ocean leaving spectacular view points along the way. However, unless we have some serious global warming impacts in Oregon, the Cape Town climate is decidedly more tropical and the expensive vacation homes probably outshine even the flashiest ones in the U.S.

I paid the 23 rand ($3) toll one day and drove along the Chapman’s Peak road, probably one of the most breathtaking coastal roads anywhere. As you curve out towards the point, there are spectacular views back across the water to the town of Hout Bay. Parts of the road are literally carved into the side of the cliff with no margin of error on either side of the road. At the other end of the road you arrive at the even smaller town of Noordhoek, which has an incredible white sand beach that is almost as deep as it is long. In the strong beach winds people use large kites to actually lift themselves off the sand and fly several meters at a time. The surf is great, too and so there are plenty of surfers. But being the Atlantic side of the Cape peninsula, wet suits are pretty much a necessity.

Certainly South Africa continues to have its problems. A series of heists of cash transit vehicles is causing an uproar among cash truck drivers. Taxi drivers are also protesting against increasing regulations, which has even led to some strikes and minor violence. And the 14-year-old democracy still struggles to find the right balance between racial inclusion and celebration of cultural and ethnic diversity. But it is making progress. And with the World Cup coming here in 2010, one gets the sense that there is anticipation of the event as an opportunity to further pull the country together, take a leap forward in terms of infrastructure and reintroduce the country on a world stage.

So, after such a long and productive trip, I am looking forward to returning home and getting to work on some of the exciting new opportunities that have begun to develop here and sharing more with you. The diversity, complexity and possibility that is everywhere in South Africa is exciting. But more importantly, it demands our attention and respect. I am personally thrilled that IE3 will now be able to offer students a full range of options to learn from and engage in South Africa’s progress.