Teaching in South Africa

Hello to all,

I will be headed to Cape Town, South Africa on April 13th to volunteer. In the mornings, I will be helping as a teacher’s aid in schools, but in the afternoon, I will be working in an after school program designed to get children into positive, empowering activities. These are children who are more often than not coming from abusive or broken homes. They can really benefit, not only from having a safe place to go after school, but also from gaining a skill and a passion that has a positive and uplifting impact on their lives.

The after school program that I will participating in is a surf outreach program in which I'll be helping to teach and mentor children through learning how to surf. I think this is valuable for so many reasons. On a base level, a sport like this gives children a physical activity and an emotional outlet. It also provides connection to their community, nature and environment. Most importantly, it provides a motivational force to work towards something that can increase joy and develop self-confidence. I would like to be of any help that I can be this spring, but I would also like to learn how I can take these tools of teaching sport for physical and mental well-being and continue working with this concept for others in the future.