Newsletters from South Africa

The 27^th of April 1994 was a monumental day in South African history. After more than fifty years of a government system based institutionalized racism, apartheid (in Afrikaans meaning "apartness"), South Africans from all over the country, no matter what race came together to vote in the first ever democratic election. That is why the 27^th of April is considered "Freedom Day" and celebrated by South Africans as a public holiday.

International AIDS Day calls citizens all over the globe to recognize that HIV/AIDS is a worldwide pandemic and move people to take action in order to educate, treat and save people's lives. Volunteer Chantelle Terrio organized an HIV/AIDS march in Lavender Hill, where she lives and works, to hand out red ribbons and pamphlets educating about HIV/AIDS infection. The HIV/AIDS infection rate is unknown in this area, but most likely close to 30%. The march was also to voice outrage at violence against women. Lavender Hill is plagued with unemployment, drug use, domestic violence, lack of education, alcoholism, etc. We marched through the streets of Lavender Hill talking to some of the local residents, we had a lot of receptive people taking interest. Thank you Chantelle for all your hard work!

Gary’s Surf School is one of our newest projects for Projects Abroad volunteers. Gary Kleynhans, a former South African surf champion, owns a surf shop located in Muizenburg, one of the most popular surf spots in the Cape Peninsula. Gary focuses his energy on teaching the surf culture to street and township children from neighboring disadvantaged areas.

On September 9th, our volunteers, some host family members and staff strapped on our walking shoes and participated in the Blisters for Bread Walk, to raise money for lunch programs for schools in the Western Cape. The Blisters for Bread Charity Walk is orchestrated by the non profit organisation, Peninsula School Feeding Association (PSFA), who was established in 1958 when the previous apartheid government discontinued school feeding.

Dana Myers is the new Country Director for South Africa. He started as a Care and Teaching volunteer for Projects Abroad in the northern part of South Africa, and has since taken over the role as Director, creating Cape Town as a new destination point for volunteers and overseeing the conservation project in Botswana on the Legodimo game reserve. He holds an undergraduate degree in History and Education from Washington State University and a Masters in Intercultural Youth and Family Development.