Abang Africa Travel

Placement organization

Name of organization: Abang Africa Travel
Town/city: Cape Town
Country: Zuid-Afrika
Website: http://www.abangafrica.com/

Name of student: Loes Peskens

Specialist area: ITMC
Placement period: 2014-2015

Information about placement organization

Type of organization: Sustainable tour operator
Organization’s activities: Abang Africa Travel offers their clients responsible itineraries, tailor made travel packages in Southern Africa and the other countries like; Swaziland, Lesotho, Namibia, Botswana, Victoria Falls and Mozambique. Moreover, the company gives the tourists the possibility to be part of an experience which will change your life. As a tourist you can take part in the several community based projects and sustainable volunteering in South Africa.
Target group of the organization: European market
Company culture: Working at Abang is relaxed and informal. Basically you become a member of the Abang Family.
Number of employees: 9
Dress code: casual
Did the organization meet the agreements you made beforehand? yes

Information about your placement

In which department(s) are you working? Abang does not have different departments within the company.
Brief description of your daily activities: My daily activities basically consist out of my company assignment.
Brief description of your company assignment: Abang started a new project in order to make volunteering in South Africa more accessible for international travellers. It happens more often now a days that volunteering in a foreign country is expensive because it is arranged via an intermediary (company), situated in the western countries, who asks for a lot of money. What we would like to achieve with this project is to exclude the intermediary and to bring the volunteer in direct contact with the volunteer organization. Abang will start to cooperate with several volunteer organizations, and create more awareness through a new, developed website. One of the most important things is that Abang in cooperation with the organisations tries to offer something unique and memorable to the volunteers.

During the whole of my internship I am working on this assignment. This projects has not been launched yet so basically I am one of the members who helped from the beginning. I have several tasks within this project: I contact potential projects, I visit them to see if we have the opportunity to collaborate together. I work on the content for the website, I make sure that everyone who is involved is informed about the last updates and in the end I have to make sure that we have a mutual agreement with the projects so that a contract can be signed.
Comment briefly on your supervision by the organization: I could not with for a better supervisor. Henko gives you the opportunity to become a full-time employee within the office and helps you grow as an individual. He gives you enough freedom and helps you whenever he notices that you need help. As a supervisor, he is relaxed, easy going and will always make time for you whenever it is necessary.

Requirements for students on placement

What kind of personal skills are required for this placement? teamplayer, social, independent, open-minded
Additional company requirements for this placement? language skills, writing skills, microsoft office
English: Advanced
Spanish: Basic
French: Basic
German: Basic
Italian: Basic
Other languages:

The trip

Mode of transport to reach your destination: airplane

Accommodation

How did you arrange your accommodation? via 4exchange, agency
How did you go to work every day? foot

Visa / work permit / vaccinations

Do you need a visa? yes, exchange visa for an unpaid internship
Do you need a work permit? no
How did you arrange the necessary documents: embassy
How much time did it take to arrange the necessary documents? 2-3 months
Did you need certain vaccinations? Yes
How long in advance? I already had them because I went to Asia

Language course

Did you take a language course before you started your placement? No
Would you recommend to have a language course prior to this placement? Yes, if you face difficulties with the English language

The costs in euros

Travelling expenses (e.g. return ticket): € 1000
Accommodation (monthly): € 280
Local transport (monthly): € 15
General costs of living (monthly): € 200-300
Costs of visa: € 150
Costs of work permit: €
What did the company pay for/to you? –

Culture

How did you prepare for the country’s culture?
I read books and I did some research online
Did the culture of the country influence your performance during the placement in any way? no

Future students on placement

Future students are free to contact me for further information: Yes
My e-mail address: 121654@edu.nhtv.nl

Other information

Recommendations on what to do and what not to do: –
Leisure possibilities in the city/surroundings of where the placement took place: –

Media

Youtube link Youtube placement video link