With almost a third of the year behind us, I finally find time to do some more writing about the exciting developments at VACorps! In the past few months I’ve received several requests for participant testimonials, so do keep an eye out for the appearance of a “testimonials” section on the main page of our website (www.vacorps.com).

Truthfully, I rather despise the testimonial pages found on many internship program/ study abroad websites. After reading the first five to ten testimonials, you often get the feeling they have been written by the same person, or more likely, have been manipulated somehow. The authenticity of a testimonial is always in question, though studies have shown that these one-paragraph advertisements do help provide a website with legitimacy.

I’ve always enjoyed placing my own creative spin on convention, so rather than replicate the format of traditional online testimonials, I will be creating participant narratives in a magazine-style format. The final result will be 500+ word articles about each participant’s internship experience in Cape Town with the Volunteer Adventure Corps. Each piece will also feature a nice selection of photos (soon to be captured with my new digital camera!). I’m also looking forward to this project because it will give me the opportunity to revive my journalism skills.

The following paragraphs describe Kate Fleming, our energetic and ambitious participant from San Diego, California. I will eventually incorporate these notes and quotes into the first VACorps participant profile, though I want to share this information with you now because Kate’s story is, quite simply, inspiring and a testament of the Cape Town internship experience.

Kate, who studies at the University of Oregon, played lacrosse on the collegiate level until suffering a career-ending injury. She detailed this event in her life in her VACorps application essay:

"In our biggest conference game of the season, I tore three structures in my knee: my anterior cruciate ligament (ACL), medial collateral ligament (MCL), and the medial meniscus. It was a detrimental injury at the time because I had finally gained confidence as a player and was leading my team in most statistical categories. It was a long and rough road to recovery, and it made me realize that I had still not separated my identity from athletics. I entered into a state of depression because my entire self-image was significantly wrapped around my athletic ability and my role on my team. I feared showing weakness in front of my coaches and teammates, and thus kept my unhappiness to myself, which added to a sense of worthlessness and isolation. I was forced to pull myself out of this deep rut I had created for myself.

"This experience exposed me to the realization that I had yet to find true independence from my athletic identity, so I continued on my search. I rehabbed and six months later I was back on the field only to find weeks later that a cyst formed on my ACL. I played through the injury all of the 2007 season, and at the end of the season it was deemed a career ending injury. I was forced to retire my jersey with one year left of eligibility. It was a devastating fact for me to come to terms with, but it has opened up this next year for me to do a travel abroad experience, an option I never would have had if I were to play lacrosse my last year. I don’t know if I will ever be “thankful” for the injury, but I am ecstatic that going abroad has become an option. It was always something I had dreamed about doing, but never thought it would be possible considering my athletic career."

Although Kate could no longer play college sports, she suddenly found herself with enough free time in her schedule to study abroad and made the decision to apply for a VACorps internship through our academic partner, IE3 Global Internships. Given her academic background in business and passion for athletics, we decided to place Kate as an intern at the Obzside Adventure Centre. And oh, what a great choice!

To say Kate flourished in Cape Town would be an understatement. Just over a week after her arrival, she purchased a vehicle and went on daily missions throughout the city. Every time I checked in on her, she would share a different adventurous tale about one of her work-related excursions. Kate literally “hit the ground running!”

During the first few weeks of the VACorps internship program, our participants typically go through an adjustment period whereby they feel out their surroundings and acclimatize to a new country and culture. When we first met Kate, she arrived with an attitude that exuded equal parts confidence and curiosity. After her arrival orientation, she needed no hand-holding whatsoever. It was obvious she would make the most of her 90 days in Southern Africa.

I’ll share more specifics about Kate’s internship in her profile. In the meantime, I leave you with this amazing quote that she wrote with less than a week remaining before her departure from Cape Town.

"This is one of those experiences that you have to live to fully understand its value. The written word doesn't do justice to my experience as an intern in Cape Town. To move across the world, to work in an unfamiliar business environment, and to live with students from all around the globe forced me to erase any boundaries that I had limited myself to in the past. Before I came to Cape Town to work as an intern at Obzside, I pictured myself working as a business woman in the US. However, this internship has helped me see that there is an entire world out there and that the US is just a tiny part of it. This has been a liberating journey for me, and the amount of personal growth and knowledge I have acquired by living and working in a foreign environment is immeasurable.”