Other than helping you find an internship in Cape Town, the Connect-123 team is always on hand to let you know what’s fun to do. We will be publishing a series of interviews with the Cape Town team where they share some of their personal favorite things about Cape Town. Hopefully this will help you to discover the good life in the beautiful city they live in.

Our first interview is with Eimear, the South Africa Program Director:

You’re Irish, where’s the best place in Cape Town to get a pint?
First place in Cape Town that I had a pint when I moved here was the Irish pub Cátú – and I don’t think I’ve had nicer since!

What’s your favourite dinner spot?
One that I keep going back to is a little restaurant on Church Street in Stellenbosch called Basic Bistro – their Dukkha Chicken is delicious!

You’re always out and about hiking – what’s your favourite trail?
I still have loads to discover! But one of the most spectacular is definitely the Pipe Track trail which takes you along the side of Table Mountain with stunning view of the sea, Camps Bay and the Twelve Apostles.

What’s been your best weekend away around Cape Town?
This is a tricky one but probably a weekend on the West Coast – staying in a whitewashed cottage in the fishing village of Paternoster, walking along the shellstrewn beaches, eating the freshest seafood, with trips to Tittiesbaai nature reserve and to the absolutely stunning West Coast National Park on the way back to Cape Town.

I know you appreciate a good wine, what’s your favourite wine farm?
Absolutely 100% impossible to answer – there are so so many beautiful ones – but the most recent one that blew me away was Zevenwacht near Kuilsriver, as much for the idyllic setting, great food and peaceful atmosphere as for the wine itself. It’s also got a spa and spots to braai and have picnics!

Other than the traffic, I’ve heard Durbanville, the suburb where you live, is a great place – what do you do for fun around there?
My favourite thing about living in Durbanville is being 5 minutes drive from Tygerberg Nature Reserve – it’s not huge but has quite a few different trails and is big enough that you can do a 1.5 hour walk well away from noise and traffic, with stunning views of the sea and Table Mountain, as well as back towards the Hottentots Holland Mountains.
There’s loads of birds and wildlife too. Generally you’ll meet a few striped mice, one or two mountain/leopard tortoises and they even have 7 or 8 bontebok that are happy to let you get quite close and watch them grazing – and now there’s a little one too!

Durbanville is also a well known wine-producing area with several beautiful old wine farms with historic buildings, picturesque settings and of course yummy wines to drink. Being a little more off the tourist trail than Stellenbosch and Franschoek prices can be lower and you’re more likely to mingle with locals rather than busloads of tourists! Try Poplars restaurant at D’Aria wine farm for brunch under the oak trees, and then spend the afternoon meandering around to the many other wine farms – see the Durbanville Wine Valley website for ideas!  Nitida has a very popular farmers’ market on the last Saturday of the month.

Travelling to a new country for an internship is an exciting and challenging experience. Cape Town is a unique destination for interns to explore their field of study, whether it is business, health care, journalism, social work or other areas.

The difference between a good internship and a great one is a combination of where you are placed and what you experience within your placement as well as outside of the workplace. The Connect-123 team strives to get to know applicants on a one-on-one basis before they arrive. We’ve learned that the more we understand your goals and interests, the better chance we have to find the ideal internship for you.

Starting at any new organisation as an intern can be intimidating, especially in a foreign country. Of course, we do everything we can to assist you in this settling down period at work. The key is to be proactive and show your new colleagues that you are a self-starter, that you have a keen interest in their mission, and that you have a will to learn and grow. Colleagues recognise this quickly and as you challenge yourself more, inevitably amazing experiences come your way.

Outside of the workplace there are people to meet and lots of places to explore in Cape Town. Arriving in a new place with new faces is like wiping clean a chalk slate of past experiences, opinions and ideas and filling it with new perspectives. Connect-123 attracts students from all around the world and frequently organises social events so there are lots of opportunities to interact with international peers as well as with local South Africans.

South Africa has unique social challenges and Connect-123 interns are able to give something back to the local communities by becoming involved in mentorship and education programs, sports coaching and other social programs. Not only does this contribute tangibly to the underprivileged in Cape Town but it helps interns understand more about the challenges facing many developing countries around the world.

So, to sum it up, a successful internship takes a positive attitude, which can only be enriched by creating a balance between work and play. Along the way, don’t forget to explore your surrounds and yourself. And get ready for the time of your life!

Every year, thousands of fresh-faced young philanthropists head out into the world on a mission to “do good”. Whilst their positive attitudes and genuine desire to contribute to international society are to be lauded, the enthusiasm, skills and education of international volunteers are wasted unless their recruitment and placement is properly managed. Unless skills and needs are properly matched, these international helpers may end up burdening the very people they are trying to assist.

In the New York Times article, “Too Many Innocents Abroad” (January 8, 2008), Richard Strauss outlines the problems that the Peace Corps is having in this regard. The article argues that genuine experience and wisdom are needed in designing and implementing actual sustainable solutions for developing countries.

Connect-123’s mission is to drive equal value to our volunteers and to the local organisations where they work.  Cognizant of  the potential for negative impact described by Strauss, we take the time to understand the needs of both applicant and host and then carefully match skills with projects. Our tailor-made approach means that we can create or find successful internship and volunteer opportunities for undergraduates, graduate students, as well as professionals.