As mentioned in our previous blog post, we welcomed two international university students to our organisation in January. One of the young ladies is Merel, a third year Applied Psychology student from The Netherlands. Merel’s internship is with Royal Dutch Visio, our Dutch partner with whom we share the Bona uBuntu programme with, and her time was split between RSA and The Netherlands.
During Merel’s internship at NF she worked in the awareness department, with a focus on parental empowerment. During her time with us, she created content for the Foundations Facebook page, presented a 3 day parent empowerment training alongside an experienced team member from Royal Dutch Visio and also worked along side our Awareness Coordinator, Cashelle to create a community level awareness programme.
Due to the spread of the COVID-19 virus internationally Merel had to end her internship early. Although her internship was cut short the impact she made on the organisation is ever lasting. Below is a summary written by Merel about her time in South Africa.
‘I have enjoyed my time at Nkosinathi Foundation very much and I am sad that I have had to leave earlier than planned. I especially enjoyed working on the community level awareness programme and having the opportunity to interview a variety of clients from NF, the results of these interviews will be used as input for information sessions in communities.
When arriving in South Africa I was happily surprised by the big heart and big love for family and friends people have here in South-Africa, and the passion that the NF team have for their work. A highlight from my internship was being able to give a training of empowerment to the parents of visually impaired children. The training was very successful and I am proud of the openness and the inner strength of the participating parents.
Thank you NF for playing your important as an organisation. Be proud of what you have achieved together, because I’ve seen it’s hard working for a NGO in South Africa. I hope that a lot more people can be assisted by NF for rehabilitation and skills development services in the future!’