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My whole experience in South Africa was based around my opportunity to volunteer at Gary's Surf School in Muizenberg. Gary is a boisterous surfer who has been in the surf scene for many years. He runs his surf school with a salesman pitch who whole-heartedly loves surfing and all it has to offer those who try the sport! My job entailed working with tourists and local kids on their surfing skills in the water. Being that I learned to surf the first day I got here, I was a little intimidated by the idea of being an instructor. The thing I learned though, is that I could do it!
While being in the water every day was great, and it gave me an opportunity to surf all the time, my favorite time was on Thursday and Friday afternoons when the kids would come from the local orphanages. They were so excited to learn and participate it was amazing to work with them all. They listened intently and followed all the directions they could, and I could not get over how generally excited they were just to be there are having help to do an activity!
By the end of my time here, a group of 15 kids were selected to get lessons once a week to improve their surfing skills. This new class was Gary's new project. He rotates in a small group of local kids at the school to get talented kids involved in contests and active in something they are good at. The whole project is a great idea, and often on school days, the kids scramble down the stairs of the shop stripping off their school uniforms to get into a wetsuit and jump into the ocean! Gary allows them to use all the equipment when it is not too busy. I truly enjoyed working with these kids. It was great to even see some of the older kids, like Kwezi, an internationally known surfer, work at the shop and teach the new batch of kids. The whole experience felt worthwhile in the end due to my time with the kids.
previous travel blog entry
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