POLOKWANE – Deciding what you want to do or study after you complete your gr. 12-year is often difficult. Due to this simple fact, many young adults decide to take a gap year to travel, either locally or abroad.
Mitchell House Enrichment Centre decided to seize this opportunity by offering these young adults the chance to help them with young children. The students helping out at the centre this year are Zoe Hutcheson (18), Anna Haas (19) and Kathryn Henderson (19). Review managed to get an interview with them and we wanted to know more about their experience in South Africa. These three women have been in South Africa since 2014 and have been travelling through the country.
“I am from Scotland and I love the diversity of South Africa. Working with the children is amazing,” says Anna.
“We went to Johannesburg and Cape Town for Christmas as well as Koffiebay, Hermanus and Durban,” says Zoe who also hails from Scotland.
Anna’s family will visit her during the July holidays and Kathryn and Zoe will visit Mosambique and Zimbabwe.
“I come from Northern Ireland and South Africa’s weather is amazing. I just love it here, but I miss my family and boyfriend,” says Kathryn.
Anna says she loves working with the children as they always brighten her day.
“It feels like the children loves you. It is nice knowing that you are wanted.”
For Zoe there are more than just family and friends she misses. She says she also misses her cat and some of the food they have. “Some of your cold drinks have the same name as ours, but they taste different.”
She decided to become a gap-student when she was on a school trip to Rwanda and enjoyed it so much she wanted to stay.
Anne felt she was not ready to go into further studies and therefore wanted to experience something different and Kathryn had no idea what she wanted to do after school.
“I’m planning on studying geography when I get home,” says Anna while Kathryn is planning on studying psychology and Zoe will study education and disabled studies.
