Living Lands

Placement organization

Name of organization: Living Lands
Town/city: Baviaanskloof
Country: Zuid-Afrika
Website:

Student

Name of student: Julia van Bokhoven

Specialist area: ITTI
Placement period: 2018-2019

Information about placement organization

Type of organization: non-profit
Organization’s activities: Rehabilitation of the environment, improving the living situation of the locals
Target group of the organization: people interested in sustainability
Company culture: Informal culture, communication through WhatsApp. Everyone helps each other when needed. It is NOT a tourism organization but more focused on sustainability and the rehabilitation of the environment
Number of employees: 17-50
Dress code: casual
Did the organization meet the agreements you made beforehand? yes

Information about your placement

In which department(s) are you working?

Tourism department

Brief description of your daily activities: everything that was needed at that point: writing texts for the accommodations on the tourism website, website development, creation of the tourism destination map, finding funding for the company
Brief description of your company assignment: I tried to find out what the current online media reach is and how this could be improved positively
Comment briefly on your supervision by the organization: Nice supervision. My supervisor did not live in the Baviaanskloof but we had a lot of check ins and she visited once a month

Requirements for students on placement

What kind of personal skills are required for this placement? independent, motivated, reliable, hard-working
Additional company requirements for this placement? MS Office, depends on your interests a bit of knowledge of Google Analytics
English: Advanced
Spanish:
French:
German:
Italian:
Other languages:

The trip

Mode of transport to reach your destination: Airplane and car

Accommodation

How did you arrange your accommodation? company
How did you go to work every day? Living Lands arranged transport

Visa / work permit / vaccinations

Do you need a visa? Yes, exchange visa
Do you need a work permit? no only the exchange visa
How did you arrange the necessary documents: embassy in NL
How much time did it take to arrange the necessary documents? approximately a month
Did you need certain vaccinations? Yes
How long in advance? 2 months

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? no unless you want to learn Afrikaans

The costs in euros

Travelling expenses (e.g. return ticket): € 960
Accommodation (monthly): € 460
Local transport (monthly): € 0
General costs of living (monthly): € 60
Costs of visa: € 35 plus extra costs for the documents you need
Costs of work permit: € n.a
What did the company pay for/to you? nothing

Culture

How did you prepare for the country’s culture?
I did not prepare that much, I bought things that were suited for the living situation (very remoted and dusty) but I do no think that you can prepare that much and you just have to experience it.
Did the culture of the country influence your performance during the placement in any way? not sure

Future students on placement

Future students are free to contact me for further information: Yes
My e-mail address: 160706@buas.nl

Other information

Recommendations on what to do and what not to do: Don’t expect too much, go to the placement with an open heart and be flexible. The area is amazing but you really have to give it a chance and get used to it.
Leisure possibilities in the city/surroundings of where the placement took place: Hiking, enjoying nature, wild life, braai

Media

Youtube link Youtube placement video link