South Africa
Time of travel: November 2023
Price: 13.999 kr.
The travel to South Africa will focus on social sustainability and cultural encounters.
South Africa is a country of great contrasts. A place where Africa and the West are fused into a unique culture. We guarantee that this is a trip where you cannot avoid being moved as a human being. When you see and experience the contrasts and become aware of your own culture and behaviour in the enounter with the South African culture, you cannot help but reflect.
We are going to Cape Town. Cape Town is a modern metropolis, one of the most beautiful cities in the world and named the city in the world that is easiest to fall in love with – it’s beautiful, wild, raw, polished, modern and classic.
Social sustainability
We will experience modern South Africa in a city that in many ways resembles European cities. But we will also experience a side of South Africa, that you wouldn’t necessarily meet as a tourist. We will visit projects for street children and visit townships where people are living in poverty. We will do workshops with them and thereby look at the ways to think and improve quality of life and sustainability for yourself and others.
We will visit a number of projects and institutions that work with social sustainability. These are projects where you as a volunteer can travel to South Africa and work for 3-6 months in collaboration with an NGO called Scanza. We will visit a boys’ home for street children, where the oldest boys have the role of being the “big brother” and role model for the younger. An orphanage, where young volunteers work to look after 0–5-year-old children in a safe atmosphere and the school, Learn to Live, for vulnerable young people, where we are collaborating to make a workshop for the students. We will also do a workshop with “The Big Issue”, which is a street project similar to “Hus forbi” in Denmark, where we previously have made musical instruments with children living on the streets.
The theme around social sustainability will be a mixture of visits to a number of people and projects, but also doing workshops in collaboration with the organizations.
The cultural encounter
South Africa is a young democracy. The population lived under Apartheid from 1948-1994, where the population was separated by the racial categories: black, white, Asian and coloured. The country is still struggling today with the repercussions of the Apartheid system. The circumstances for the black community have in some ways improved; there is better opportunities for education and high positions in the public sector. But unfortunately, there is still a huge difference between rich and poor. There are 30 million people living in poverty in South Africa, the vast majority of whom are coloured or black. On many levels, we will gain insight into how cultural sustainability is hard to achieve in a quarter of a century.
We will do a workshop with Rainbow Academy, which is a dance and drum troupe, that works in the poorest areas. We are also going to a Baptist church with a friend, Feziwe, who lives in the Township Langa. Afterwards we will visit Township Langa and Feziwe, who lives with her mother, siblings and little son.
We will also visit some of the richest neighbourhoods, delicious markets, sit on the beach at sunset and drink cocktails and ponder on how two worlds that are so different can be next door neighbours.
As a part of the trip we will follow in Nelson Mandela’s footsteps and gain insight into how South Africa went from one of the world’s most oppressive countries to the country in the world that has the most democratic constitution.
All in all, the trip will be a mix of magnificent nature experiences and cultural meetings. A trip where we will enjoy the beautiful and wonderful atmosphere of Cape Town, taste the amazing and varied South African cuisine and see both wild animals, overwhelming landscapes, where you can go mountain biking, hiking and try cable cars!